X-Force and the Future of the X-men

Fox’s expanded universe is the universe I like to talk about probably the most because it’s always changing. One minute it seems like its following a certain scheduled pattern and the future is written pretty clearly, then a movie like Deadpool or X-men: First Class really comes out of nowhere and surprises me.

I remember when I first started this blog I wrote a post on The Wolverine and where I wanted the X-men universe to go. I wanted Hugh Jackman to be visited by Samuel L Jackson and then the X-men universe would be roped back into the Marvel Cinematic universe and all would be right in the world. Then X-men Days of Future Past came out and not only did it solidify the X-men in Fox’s hands, but it opened up a lot of possibilities for future films.

It’s pretty obvious that X-men are going to stay within their own universe for the near future, especially with the success of Days of Future Past and the hype over Apocalypse. But from my perspective, Apocalypse has a very similar vibe to it that X-men: The Last Stand had in that it didn’t necessarily mean the franchise was ending but it was concluding a chapter for the universe. Apocalypse is definitely going to be the last movie for stars like Jennifer Lawrence and it seems to be the end of a trilogy that was started by First Class. On top of that, the final old guard is leaving with HughJackman’s last X-men film said to be the third Wolverine movie. Obviously a cast of new stars is being groomed for the future like Tye Sheridan and Sophie Turner.

The X-men universe is not over concluding with Apocalypse, but my question is, where do they go from there?

Well before Deadpool, it seemed like the person that was destined to take over the X-men universe as the new “Wolverine” was going to be Channing Tatum as Gambit. Originally the Ragin Cajun was suppose to be coming to theaters later this year. But with difficulties with the production of the movie, it looks like Fox has taken the Gambit movie off the slate for now.

Furthermore, the disappointment that was The Fantastic Four has sprouted rumors that Fox has sold Marvel’s first super team back to Disney. That hasn’t been confirmed, but there is definitely not going to be another Fantastic Four movie any time soon and it definitely won’t be connected to the X-men Universe for a while. So again, where does the future of the X-men universe lie?

Well honestly, it lies with Deadpool.

Deadpool is the highest grossing X-men movie of all time and if you watched the end credit scene from that movie, you know that they have bigger plans for sequels to the rated R comedy. They confirmed that the time traveling Cable is going to be in Deadpool 2 and Ryan Reynolds has said that X-Force is his next priority.

With the success of Deadpool, Fox is flirting with the idea of making more of their priorities R rated. This includes the 3^rd Wolverine movie and X-Force. I guess my question is, is there a place for the run of the mill PG-13 X-men movies we’ve come to know up until now?

The answer really comes with the success of X-men Apocalypse. If Apocalypse turns out to be not as big of a success as Deadpool, Fox might see the future of their brand, not with McEvoy and Fassbender and the new generation of X-men, but with Deadpool and the R-Rated superhero world.

Now the other question will be how well Deadpool and the R-rated X-men integrate with the mainstream X-men.

Now the PG-13 X-men movies have not been devoid of mature moments. The Wolverine actually has an uncut version that is definitely R-Rated and I was even surprised when they threw in an F-Bomb into Days of Future Past. But at the same time, from the beginning, the X-men franchise has been PG-13. Maybe flirting with R, but pretty PG-13 across the board.

The question I have for Fox is do they want to begin a shift for all their properties to be rated R?

Again, it all depends on how Apocalypse is received and if they have plans for the mainstream X-men, and if those future plans seem profitable.

Now the fun part about Fox shifting their focus from the mainstream X-men to a more R-Rated, X-Force centric universe is that it might be a perfect Segway to reintroduce Wolverine when Hugh Jackman leaves.

Now for the longest time, I was on the team saying that Wolverine should not be rebooted for a while. I think we can go for a little bit without a Wolverine to give some breathing room between Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and the new one. That way there is some time that if they brought in a new one they could give an actual good explanation as to why it’s a different guy, or they could reboot the entire franchise and the new Wolverine could be just as new as everyone else.

But with the X-Force, I could see that being a great way to reintroduce a new Wolverine, keep him separate from the original characters as to avoid any awkward conversations, but of course you can have Deadpool give him so much crap about not being Hugh Jackman. I think that would be hilarious!

I have no idea who they should recast as Wolverine and the good thing is we won’t be figuring that out for another year or two until the third Wolverine movie comes out. Maybe I will do a post on who I think should replace Hugh Jackman down the road but for now, I’m going to stay on the side of they shouldn’t reboot Wolverine.

It’s really fascinating to have the X-men franchise at such an interesting crossroads.

Obviously they’re going to try and milk as many X-men movies out of James McEvoy and Michael Fassbender as they can, they’re obviously going to build a franchise around the new characters introduced in X-men Apocalypse, and it really looks as though they are going to create a new sect of the franchise with Deadpool leading the charge as the punkish rogue that will show up every once in a while to do a fourth wall joke.

What does interest me is Fox’s future plans for the Fantastic Four.

Since the horrible turnout at the box office and the horrible critical reception, any news on future Fantastic Four movies have been very quiet. For a long time I thought The Fantastic Four were going to be a property that Fox was going to capitalize on and make a larger franchise within the X-men universe. But now that the sequel has been scrapped, there doesn’t seem to be a future for Marvel’s first super team.

There have been rumors that The Fantastic Four could be returning to Marvel, especially with no plans to do a sequel at Fox. That has not been confirmed and if it is true, there is a good chance they won’t appear until after the Infinity War films.

But the funny part is, that movie didn’t seem to hurt anybody. With the possible exception of the director Josh Trank, everyone involved with The Fantastic Four seems to be doing alright.

Fox soared to the top with Deadpool last month, Michael B Jordan is doing fine, especially with Creed, Miles Teller is in talks to play Han Solo (I don’t think he will but it means he’s still getting work) and I just watched Kate Mara in House of Cards… she’ll be fine.

The success of Deadpool and the excitement for X-men Apocalypse seems to be overshadowing any doubts people have about the future of the X-men universe.

Overall, this is an exciting time for Fox.

It’s pretty interesting because the X-men movies overall have been pretty self-contained adventures. While the Thor or Iron Man movies are self-contained stories unto themselves, it feels a lot more like a franchise. When Captain America comes into Age of Ultron, you feel the implications of a movie like The Winter Soldier, you feel like the crossover movies are continuing a personal narrative.

Whereas you could watch X-men Days of Future Past without watching The Wolverine and you’d be just fine.

I’m not saying either ways of doing things is a bad thing or a good thing, Marvel has its down side because it requires you to watch ALL the previous movies in order to get the full experience. Whereas X-men feels a little disjointed and not totally connected.

I’m really interested in seeing X-men Apocalypse. While I’m obviously excited about movies like Batman v Superman (10 days!!!) or CaptainAmerica: Civil War, X-men Apocalypse intrigues me more than I’m excited about it. That’s probably because I know less about X-men than I do about Batman v Superman or the Civil War storyline, but that’s also a good thing. Because I don’t know that much about the X-men universe, it could go in any direction and I can’t predict that direction.

But what do you think is the future of the X-men Universe? Do you think we’re going to be getting that Gambit film in the near future? Who do you think should play Cable in Deadpool 2? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as your requests for future movies to review and topics to talk about. If you follow me you can also get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I’ll leave you with this. In case you haven't seen it, here is the trailer for X-men Apocalypse. Its coming out soon! Enjoy!