This won’t come as much of a surprise given the enormous popularity of Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool (and the fact that Reynolds is reportedly co-writing the script), but producer Simon Kinberg has revealed that the Merc with a Mouth will be taking the lead alongside Cable in Fox’s X-Men spinoff X-Force.
“We are working hard on New Mutants, Gambit with Channing Tatum, Deadpool 2 and the new X-Force movie where Deadpool is alongside Cable and other main characters,” Kinberg told Deadline. “Then X-Force which is a combination of Deadpool, and Cable –they’re like the Black ops of the X-Men. They’re much darker and have an R-rated decibel. There are other X-Men characters coming into X-Force at different times in the comic, but it’s separate from X-Men.”
Kinberg also went on to discuss how the likes of Deadpool and X-Force will fit into the wider X-Men universe, and sit alongside the main series given the differences in tone:
“There is a larger architecture to tell these stories in,” stated Kinberg. “I talk to the studio all the time about this and there is a plan for how these movies can connect and be a part of a larger narrative. It’s something that’s fun, exciting and it will be interesting to see how we marry the different tones that we’ve been generating in these standalone movies of the X-Men universe. But we go into making the best movie we can. It’s not just about a Colossus or Deadpool cameo. Connecting all of these movies will happen when it organically makes sense. These movies aren’t simply being built as stepping stones to a larger story. Each one is wholly enclosed and a movie worth seeing.”
Last month, it was reported that Joe Carnahan has signed on to write and potentially direct the X-Force movie. But before we get to the team up, there’s the small matter of Deadpool 2, which will first introduce the character of Cable, and is expected to go into production soon under John Wick helmer David Leitch, for release in 2018.
Originally published March 10, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
