Fox's X-verse is Exploding

X-Men, X-Force, Deadpool and Magneto too?  What in the name of Kirby is going on over at Fox?
As anyone who follows superhero movies knows, Fox has had control of the X-Men movie rights for sometime and has put out three main X-Men movies, one X-Men First Class and one Wolverine (with the second about to be released).  And as anyone who has followed these films knows, the continuity amongst these movies is a total mess.  Which in a way is appropriate since the same could be said about their source material.  But I digress.
To hopefully solve some of these issues, Fox is working on X-Men: Days of Future Past, a story that will involve many of the characters from first three films and those from the First Class film.  In some cases at least we may even get two versions of the same character.  Tying all of this together is the use of time travel.  In the comic books, Kitty Pride, in a future in which mutants are nearly extinct sends her consciousness back to her younger self to warn the X-Men to stop the assassination of Senator Kelly.  It was Kelly’s death that set into motion the chain of events that led to Kitty’s bleak future.

How will the films adapt this?  Especially since Kelly died as a result of Magneto’s actions in the first film and we never really see the famous Sentinels that dominate the landscape of Kitty’s future.
Recent revelations provide us with some clues.  First, the villains of the film are Bolivar Trask who created the Sentinels, and a young William Stryker, the villain of the first Wolverine and second X-Men films.  We have also been told that we will in fact see the Sentinels, meaning that Trask will be fairly close to his comic book counterpart.  The other major revelation is that Kitty will somehow send Wolverine back in time, though how this works is unclear.  Apparently, her powers can somehow phase through time as well as space.  What does all of this mean?  Why is Logan the one who is sent back?

From descriptions of footage shown at ComicCon we will get at least glimpses of a very Future Past-like future, brought about by the government turning strongly anti-mutant and killing many of them, forcing the few that are left to work together.  This is clearly seen in that both Magneto and Xavier are prepping future Wolverine for what he will have to do once his consciousness wakes up in his younger self.  Wolverine could be sent back to talk Magneto out of going on the path of mutant liberator which is what causes the death of Senator Kelly, the near extinction of humanity in X-Men 2 and the revolution and unleashing of the Phoenix in Last Stand.  Of course, it may also be to stop the creation of the Sentinels by Trask and Stryker.  And then of course there is the inclusion of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, also known as Magneto’s kids.  However this all goes down, we can be sure that it will be interesting.
One thing besides financial gain that Fox is hoping to get out of this movie is a totally revamped and presumably internally consistent X-Men movie universe.  And recent rumors confirm that they are already looking beyond Days of Future Past to a new slate of films designed to capitalize off the presumed success of the revamp.
Two of these films have actually been discussed for years.

One of course is Deadpool, featuring the merc with a mouth who was horribly mangled in Wolverine.  This movie would presumably star Ryan Reynolds and has been teased perpetually for years now but seems to be going nowhere.
Similarly a movie about a younger Magneto has been rumored for even longer with a treatment by David Goyer floating around somewhere.  The mill had been dead for a while but has just been revived by a tweet from famed comic artist Rob Liefeld saying that he has been informed that Fox is indeed working on a Magneto movie.  What it could possibly be about is anyone’s guess though since First Class pretty much made it clear what Magneto was up to in his younger days and Future Past is set to shake up the the timeline.
Finally, Liefeld also tweeted that he was informed that an X-Force movie is in the works as well.  Liefled created X-Force as the successor to the New Mutants back in the 1990’s and thanks to some original characters like Cable (the future son of Scott Summers and Jean Grey), Domino and the aforementioned Deadpool the book met with a great deal of initial success.  In fact, it’s first issue is still the second best selling comic ever.  The team has been through a number of different incarnations of the years but has most often been conceived of as a covert para-military group that is more than happy to use lethal force and this is likely the version we will get.  As for the roster, you can be certain that Cable and most likely Domino will show up.  It could also be the vehicle that allows us to see Deadpool done right.  Wadlow recently expressed admiration for the classic team as well as the current lineup in Uncanny X-Force.  This could mean we get Wolverine on the team as well as Archangel, Warpath (who will be in Future Past) and a couple of others.  I would actually lay heavy money on Archangel as he is the same Angel we saw in Last Stand after a certain enhancement at the hands of Apocalypse, a villain who is rumored to be lurking somewhere in Future Past.

The story is also up in the air but I would not be surprised if screenwriter Jeff Wadlow (also writer for Kick-Ass) ties it directly to events in Days of Future Past and so truly begins building the coherent shared universe that X-Movie czar Mark Millar has promised us.

Stay tuned!!