Tag: Weapon X

Posted on in Features

Marvel Studios Needs To Hire The Creative Team Behind FX’s ‘Mr. Inbetween’ For A ‘Wolverine’ Series

Earlier in the week, I mentioned a desire to see Loki series director Kate Herron tackle Marvel’s X-Men reboot. Keeping with the mutant topic, I’ve been watching the Aussie hitman series Mr. Inbetween from FX (now it’s in it’s third season) lately and I can’t help to get huge Wolverine vibes from this show. I’m come to the conclusion that the show’s creator/writer Scott Ryan (also stars as Ray) and director Nash Edgerton (brother of actor Joel Edgerton) could be the perfect duo to bring a solo Wolverine series to life for Marvel Studios.

The show is dark, emotional, funny and action-packed something that I believe would be extremely attractive to Marvel. Nash Edgerton, like the John Wick fellas Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, is a director with a background as a stuntman.

If you’re unfamiliar with the show here’s a rundown and trailer from Mr. Inbetween.

Mr. Inbetween stars Scott Ryan as Ray Shoesmith, a hitman for hire who makes a life out of balancing his criminal activities with his obligations to friends and family. He tries to be a father to Brittany (Chika Yasumura), his daughter with his ex-wife, a loving boyfriend to Ally (Brook Satchwell), and a good caretaker to his sick brother Bruce (Nicholas Cassim). Ray also covers for his friend Gary (Justin Rosniak) when needed, and follows his boss Freddy’s (Damon Herriman) orders without question.

Marvel hasn’t officially announced any upcoming plans for any Wolverine projects despite online rumors of a Wolverine show potentially being in the works. Officially, they are indeed moving forward Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool 3 with writers working on the script and lacking any real updates are expected to reboot the X-Men movies sometime in the future.

Giving Wolverine his own series could be a way to properly tackle his military service during World War II that has been teased a couple of times, a real version of the Weapon X Program, Logan’s connections to Department H/Alpha Flight, his time in Japan/Madripoor, and potentially what he was up to during the Cold War against the Soviet Union. It could also help give other characters on the X-Men roster to take more leading roles in the MCU reboot.

We don’t have any idea who’ll ultimately take the Wolverine role from Hugh Jackman, but I’m leaning towards former Batman contender Cillian Murphy (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Peaky Blinders, 28 Days Later, Dunkirk, A Quiet Place Part II). The Irish actor has rubbed shoulders with plenty of MCU stars co-starring with Brie Larson in Free Fire, Chris Evans in the sci-fi thriller Sunshine alongside appearing with Thor’s Chris Hemsworth and Spider-Man’s Tom Holland in Ron Howard’s In The Heart of The Sea.

He’s a little bit older, however, not too much older than Moon Knight’s Oscar Isaac (42) or Doctor Strange’s Benedict Cumberbatch (44). While Cillian is slightly younger than Marvel’s new Blade actor Mahershala Ali (47).

Murphy is one of the few cast members from Danny Boyle’s Sunshine that hasn’t landed an MCU role as Chris Evans became Captain America, Benedict Wong plays Doctor Strange pal Wong, Hiroyuki Sanada briefly appeared as sword wielding Yaukza boss killed by Clint Barton in Avengers: Endgame, and Michelle Yeoh will be seen in Shang-Chi this September.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8BSlqHAhuY

If they wanted to hire a younger actor, Aussie lad Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers, Stranger Things, Baz Lurman’s Elvis Biopic) wouldn’t be a horrible choice and he happens to have family connection to Canada. His Power Rangers co-star Naomi Scott took the Princess Jasmine role in Disney’s live-action Aladdin movie with Stranger Things leads playing Marvel characters as David Harbour is The Red Guardian in Black Widow and Charlie Heaton played Cannonball in The New Mutants.

I can’t help but be reminded that Legion and Fargo showrunner Noah Hawely was developing a Doctor Doom film for 20th Century Fox before the merger, who knows if that will ever see the light of day. However, Hawley has since pivoted to an Earthbound series set within the Alien universe for FX On Hulu that has Ridley Scott (Raised By Wolves, Prometheus, Alien, Blade Runner, Alien: Covenant) attached to produce. I wouldn’t be shocked if we eventually saw Marvel Studios also look at the creatives at FX and Hulu to develop shows for them like Scott Ryan and Nash Edgerton.

Hiring a couple of Aussies could help the idea of shooting a would-be Wolverine series at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Fox Studios also happens to be where Mr. Inbetween is shot.

It’s the same studio facility used for The Matrix, Star Wars: Attack of The Clones, Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith, Superman Returns, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine, Mad Max: Fury Road, Alien: Covenant, Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings, Thor: Love & Thunder, and George Miller’s upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa.

Anyways, we’ll keep our fingers crossed Marvel will consider them for a hypothetical Wolverine series.

Posted on in Television News

Rumor About ‘Wolverine’ Series Coming To Disney+ Resurfaces

Back in 2019, there were rumblings that Marvel Studios was potentially considering an X-Men series for Disney+ that would include a faithful origin of a popular mutant character, the assumption was this could be Wolverine and his time in the Weapon X Program.

Well, it’s 2021 and the rumor has resurfaced over at That Hashtag Show. They’re adding that it’s in development at Marvel Studios taking an anthology angle and claim the first season will tackle Weapon X. The black ops weapons program that gives Logan his adamantium skeleton and claws could make for a compelling series.

However, we can exclusively share that Marvel is in early development on a series for Disney+. This series would be an anthology series based on the character of Wolverine. Since Wolverine is immortal and has a multitude of stories to tell, each season will focus on a particular story within the Wolverine mythos. Think like American Horror Story, where there’s a season long plot and then it resets. Only in this, you’ll have the center of Wolverine.

I’ve learned that while early in development, Marvel is aiming to adapt the famous Weapon X story arc for the first season.

Over the weekend, I mentioned in a feature article about Marvel rebooting/recasting the Wolverine role could lead to a Disney+ series as it would allow the studio to tackle multiple points in Logan’s life without overshadowing the new X-Men reboot film or other mutant team members. Covering things such as his service in WWII/Cold War, the Weapon X program, connections to Alpha Flight, fights with Hulk, and adventures in Japan/Madripoor.

Mark Ruffalo has talked-up multiple times his desire to see Wolverine and Hulk finally interact with each other, as Wolverine debuted in the pages of the Hulk comics before joining the X-Men. Ruffalo himself is going to be part of the cast of She-Hulk, another series on Disney+ that will focus on Bruce Banner’s lawyer cousin Jennifer Walters.

Wolverine’s Weapon X origin was explored in the forgettable mess X-Men Origins: Wolverine and there was a second attempt with a more faithful version with an action sequence in X-Men: Apocalypse. A new definitive take on Weapon X set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe could be a good way to reintroduce the character to audiences alongside the new actor.

Marvel Studios is developing Deadpool 3 but haven’t officially announced any other plans for their mutant lineup or who is creatively involved with the X-Men reboot. The studio hasn’t chosen a new actor to play Wolverine which means we’ll have to wait for Marvel to confirm this is actually happening.

The fictional X-Men location Madripoor had been introduced in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, which has been a stomping-ground for Wolverine adventures and could be seen again in future X-Men projects. Outside of the Princess Bar making a cameo, it’s unlikely that Wolverine himself will be appearing in the final two episodes of the MCU series.

Logan was R-rated but normally the originally programming on Disney+ has been PG-13, which would suggest this wouldn’t be as violent as Hugh Jackman’s final outing as the popular mutant hero. Star has been recently added to Disney+ in various international markets allowing mature content from Hulu, FX, and 20th Century Studios to be streamed on the service that had been originally imagined for families.

SOURCE: THAT HASHTAG SHOW

Posted on in Features

The Legacy of Wolverine & Who Marvel Should Cast As The Iconic Mutant

After the merger between Disney and 21st Century, the film and television rights to live-action X-Men projects reverted back to Marvel. This has led to the announcement of Jon Watts directing a reboot of The Fantastic Four, another group of characters that came home to Marvel in the wake of the merger. Marvel Studios doesn’t seem to be in any rush to introduce mutants into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the biggest task they’ll have is recasting the Wolverine role.

Getting the X-Men and Wolverine on the big screen took a bit longer than you might imagine. Apparently, development goes back to 1984 as Wolverine co-creator Roy Thomas (Conan The Barbarian, Conan The Destroyer, Red Sonja) and Punisher co-creator Gerry Conway (Fire & Ice, Conan The Destroyer) wrote an X-Men film for Orion Pictures before the studio had financial issues.

Another incarnation had James Cameron producing a version with Near Dark director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker) and a script titled Wolverine & The X-Men was penned by Gary Goldman (Total Recall, Big Trouble In Little China, Navy Seals) around 1991 for Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment and Carolco Prictures. When Carolco went bankrupt the project was essentially dead.

In 1994, producer Lauren Shuler Donner got her hands on the X-Men rights and brought it to 20th Century Fox hiring screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven, The Wolfman, 8mm, Sleepy Hollow, Fight Club, Event Horizon, The Game) to work on a script, he was also assigned to write a Silver Surfer movie for the studio that never saw the light of day. After multiple tweaks to the X-Men script from various writers (some uncredited like Christopher McQuarrie and Ed Solomon), David Hayter would eventually get the screenwriting credit. It was eventually shot in 1999-2000 in Toronto/Hamilton/Burlington, Ontario, Canada by director Bryan Singer (attached since 1996) and released in 2000 earning an impressive $296.3 million globally on a budget of $75 million.

The Hugh Jackman era was certainly a bumpy road as the Australian actor was a last minute replacement for the Wolverine role as Scottish actor Dougray Scott had a scheduling conflict as he was busy shooting John Woo’s Mission: Impossible II. During the Cameron/Bigelow incarnation, Bob Hoskins had been considered. Much later on actors such as Russell Crowe, Viggo Mortensen, and Keanu Reeves had been in the mix for Wolverine.

The commercial success of the first X-Men movie is often cited by many as the turning point for Marvel projects being appealing to wide-range of audiences. Alongside Blade, proved to Marvel that people were willing to go see popcorn films featuring their characters which at the time had been considered a niche audience as a multitude of comic book movies had failed to make money in the 1990’s. Many studios tried to chase the box office returns achieved by Tim Burton’s Batman movies only to lose a lot of money in the process.

Due to Wolverine’s popularity he ended up landing his own film trilogy at 20th Century Fox starting with the forgettable mess, X-Men Origins: Wolverine that was plagued with studio brass,Tom Rothman, meddling with production and threatening to fire director Gavin Hood. A workprint of the film had been leaked online ahead of the officially release with incomplete visual effects and wasn’t much better than the theatrical version, as it clearly had half-cooked effects and godawful digital claws. The horrible effects only highlighted how bland the film was.

Luckily, The Wolverine was helmed by James Mangold (replacing Darren Aronofsky) and became one of the better films of the X-Men franchise and led to a stellar final bow for Hugh Jackman in the sequel Logan. Hugh would announce his retirement as Wolverine following the success of Logan, even turning down multiple pleas from Ryan Reynolds to make a Wolverine vs Deadpool movie.

Marvel Studios is now in the perfect position to reboot the X-Men and remove all the silly timeline issues along with the character deviations that started with Singer’s first installment giving us faithful versions of the mutants. The only mutant project they’re currently working on is the R-rated Deadpool 3 starring Ryan Reynolds as they recently hired Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin to write it.

The Falcon & The Winter Soldier has introduced Logan’s stomping-ground Madripoor and I hope we’ll see the location in future X-Men projects. I’d love to see Marvel give Wolverine a faithful origin covering his adventures during WWII/Cold War, confrontations with Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, connections to the Canadian mutant team Alpha Flight or in the Weapon X Program as Marvel Studios would likely be able to explore this stuff in a Disney+ series as not to distract from the main X-Men team.

We’re still waiting on Marvel to announce the creative team working on their X-Men reboot.

Hiring the next Wolverine is gong to be a pivotal moment for Marvel Studios because Hugh Jackman has been the face of Logan for over 20 years and to some fans their entire lives. It’s sort of tough coming up with the “perfect list” of casting hopefuls to play the MCU’s Wolverine because those are big shoes to fill. However, I came up with a group that might skew a little older but I felt had the well-rounded careers that could be solid enough to be in consideration along with being names that I assume Marvel would want to target. Given that Moon Knight’s Oscar Isaac is in his forties it wouldn’t be that hard to imagine older/seasoned contenders for Wolverine.

HENRY CAVILL (AGE 37): Mission: Impossible – Fallout, The Witcher, Man of Steel, The Count of Monte Cristo, Stardust, Immortals, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Enola Holmes, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League.

CHRIS PINE (AGE 40): Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984, Hell or High Water, Outlaw King, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Unstoppable, Smokin’ Aces, This Means War, and The Finest Hours.

TOM HARDY (AGE 43): Band of Brothers, RocknRolla, Black Hawk Down, Locke, Taboo, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Peaky Blinders, Dunkirk, Legend, The Revenant, The Drop, Lawless, Warrior, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Bronson, Marie Antoinette, Star Trek: Nemesis, and Layer Cake.

CILLIAN MURPHY (AGE 44): 28 Days Later, Inception, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Peaky Blinders, Red Eye, Sunshine, Dunkirk, Free Fire, TRON: Legacy, Cold Mountain, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, and A Quiet Place II.

Posted on in Film News

Kevin Feige Sounds Open To More R-Rated Marvel Projects Beyond ‘Deadpool 3’ If They Deserve It

During the TCA (via Deadline), Marvel’s Kevin Feige talked a little about Deadpool 3 and the reasoning behind keeping an R-rating that was previously established with the first two films. He seems to allude that they’re not rushing out to make a whole bunch of mature projects but if that something deserves it they’ll have discussions.

FEIGE: “I think we target everything we’re doing for kids and adults, so I think your question is more adult or R-rated. Other than Deadpool, which has already established itself as a certain genre and a certain rating, that we already said we would not mess with when we started working on Deadpool — which we have — other than that, we haven’t encountered a story or a storyline or a character’s journey that a PG-13, or the tone, or the ratings we’ve been using up to this point has prevented us. We haven’t been held back by. If we ever are, than certainly there can be a discussion that can be had now that there’s other outlets like Star. But that just hasn’t been the case. We’ve told all the stories that we wanted to with the tonality and the rating we have now.”

I think Star certainly opens the door for mature series in the future but I don’t think we’ll see PG-13 characters make the jump to R out of the blue.

However, the way Kevin Feige talks about audiences having expectations about future Deadpool movies being mature feels like that point of view could be applied to the Blade franchise too. It was recently announced that the Blade reboot, titled Blade, The Vampire Hunter, nabbed a screenwriter Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Hunters, Watchmen), but it hasn’t been officially confirmed if they’ll be aiming for a PG-13 or R-rating.

I think it’s worth considering that all three Blade movies are mature (Feige was a producer on Blade: Trinity) and given that Eric Brooks essentially murderers blood drinking vampires an R-rating just might be needed due the nature of the Vampire Nation and the violence the franchise is know for, not unlike the Deadpool films.

Blade really should be essentially an action-horror version of John Wick, but watering down the violence or horror stuff for a PG-13 rating feels like a really bad idea on Marvel’s part. I love the Blade franchise but the films aren’t exactly character driven and while Marvel Studios will likely add that element taking away things we expect seems wrong.

A scene like the blood rave just couldn’t happen in a PG-13 film because of how the MPAA punishes movies for their use of blood. Marvel Studios movies certainly have their fair share of violence but nothing that compares to Blade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEeNoS3XMnk

We’ve seen PG-13 and R versions of both Wolverine and Punisher, but traditionally we know as Blade as a mature anti-hero just like Wade Wilson.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

The Russo Brothers Still Keen To Tackle Wolverine & Advises Marvel Take Some Time Before Rebooting

While promoting their upcoming film Cherry, directors Joe and Anthony Russo spoke with the Lights Camera Barstool podcast (spotted and transcribed by The Playlist) and revealed they’d still love to get their hands on Marvel’s reboot of Wolverine. The pair continually brings up Wolverine and Secret Wars as things that could draw them back to Marvel Studios.

JOE RUSSO: “Wolverine has always been such a special character for me. To realize him on screen, it’s very hard because Hugh Jackman‘s performance is definitive. It’s like Batman; you have to really think of a way to, you have to really find the right actor to come in and give a really different take to that character. But I would really love to see him on screen.”

However, Joe advises that the studio give the franchise some time before jumping into a reboot.

JOE RUSSO: “I think the best thing is to take a break, without question. You need a [palate cleanser], you need to rinse the towel a little bit, let everyone enjoy what was, and then come up with something new. But I’d love to take a crack at Wolverine at some point.”

We already got some signs from Marvel’s Kevin Feige they’re not in any rush to reboot as they’ve chosen to go with Fantastic Four first. It’s still unknown what they ultimately plan to do with Wolverine and the X-Men reboots. Even though, they’ve introduced things like S.W.O.R.D. and Madripoor that are directly connected to the X-Men comics.

There is a good chance they could be able to convince Marvel Studios to allow them direct a Wolverine or X-Men project if they’re that persistent about being able to play with the characters. They were able to bring new blood to both the Captain America and Avengers franchises, with the latter Marvel now hold the box office record for the highest grossing film as Avengers: Endgame toppled James Cameron’s Avatar.

Given their experience working with large groups of heroes and villains, The Russo Brothers could be alongside screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus might be the team to reboot the X-Men. We’ve already seen Marvel look at their existing directing bench for the Fantastic Four reboot as they announced in December that Spider-Man 3 director Jon Watts would be tackling it.

Wolverine certain could deserve to have his origin retold for the Marvel Cinematic Universe either connected to Alpha Flight or the Weapon X Program. I also believe that a project set during WWII giving them an excuse to have Wolverine in a period action-film. A solo project could give a new actor a great entry point and give the main X-Men reboot some space, as one of the big gripes that fans had with the Fox franchise is that Wolverine was the predominate character when he isn’t supposed to be.

Ryan Reynolds revealed on Twitter last month that one of the ideas they had for Deadpool 3 before the merger was convincing Hugh Jackman to end his retirement as they wanted Logan and Wade to do a road trip movie. They could also eventually meet up in an X-Force film.

Mark Ruffalo has also voiced his own desire to have Hulk interact with Wolverine in a project as the mutant debuted in the pages of Hulk comic books.

SOURCE: LIGHTS CAMERA BARSTOOL

Posted on in Features

Marvel Should Tackle ‘The Invaders’ In A Project Set During WWII or The Cold War

Yesterday, it was revealed by Deadline that Chris Evans was nearing a deal to reprise Steve Rogers aka Captain America in a small supporting role (similar to Robert Downey Jr. in Spider-Man: Homecoming) for an undisclosed MCU project. They also mention Evans might be returning for second thing, possibly a film but didn’t reveal what that could be either.

There are a couple of obvious options such as old Steve Rogers becoming a mentor to Sam Wilson in Captain America 4 as he takes over the mantle. Also, seeing what Steve was up to while hiding between Captain America: Civil War to Avengers: Infinity War, not unlike where Black Widow takes place in the MCU timeline. There is the multiple years between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, I’m sure there would still be threats in the wake of Thanos’ snap.

There is another option to add. Thanks to Avengers: Endgame, that Steve was able to go back in time to be with Peggy Carter and stayed there starting in 1948 just when The Cold War begins. Steve as an old man ends up handing Sam Wilson the shield at the end of the film and launching the events that will be covered in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.

The Multiverse also opens the door to other timelines allowing to them return to WWII.

I think it’s hard to imagine with all the threats surrounding him during that timeline and Peggy Carter’s work at S.H.I.E.L.D. that he doesn’t eventually jump back into the fray between his return and Avengers: Endgame. What would make a lot of sense would be Rogers leading his own team which has previously happened with The Invaders, a group mostly made up of WWII era heroes such as Namor McKenzie aka The Sub-Mariner, Union Jack, Spitfire, the original android version of The Human Torch aka Jim Hammond, Blazing Skull, and multiple other wartime heroes that could get some live-action love.

It’s worth noting that Wyatt Russell’s John Walker aka U.S. Agent, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes have been established members on the roster.

There is another superhero that was kicking around during WWII and The Cold War that has teamed-up with Captain America the comics that could make for another excellent addition to those ranks, that being the Canadian super-soldier Wolverine.

Luckily, since Logan doesn’t really age he can be able to time-hop to various eras of the MCU including something like WWII or even futuristic setting like with Old Man Logan.

Rebooting Wolverine is clearly a huge priority to the studio alongside the X-Men and having the anti-hero connect to various MCU characters beforehand wouldn’t be shocking since he’s, like Steve Rogers, he is part of a super-soldier program via Weapon. When his origin takes places in the MCU doesn’t seem to be set in stone and Marvel can certainly tinker with it to fit their needs but I’d personally like to see him running around WWII without his indestructible skeleton and then get it during The Cold War.

It might be a good idea to introduce Wolverine as a supporting character elsewhere so that he doesn’t dominate the main X-Men films as much. The fictional X-Men locale of Madripoor is going to be introduced in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, which had many fans jump to conclusions that Wolverine is connected to the Disney+ series, although, there hasn’t been credible information backing up these fan desires. However, it becoming a stomping ground for the mutant eventually wouldn’t a surprise.

If they’re genuinely going to bring Chris Evans back I think it is worth considering giving him another period project since while Captain America: The First Avenger canonically takes place during WWII, it felt like they copped-out by limiting how much fighting he did against the actual Axis. The Cold War era could be another fine option as Steve combating the new threat of The Soviet Union during the height of the nuclear arms race feels just as a plausible of a setting for another adventure.

X-Men villain Omega Red could be a good baddie to use as well given his connections to Soviet Union super-soldier experiments.

It’s worth mentioning we’ve previously seen Easter Eggs to canonical members of The Invaders lineup in previous Marvel Studios films.

Union Jack was teased via Iron Man 2 as Joey Chapman was listed as one of the racers going head-to-head with Tony Stark. The Human Torch is seen encased in glass and Namor’s Atlantis was briefly teased in Captain America: The First Avenger at the Stark Expo (blink and you’ll miss the underwater city nod). The S.H.I.E.L.D. boat called The Lemurian Star in Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a direct nod to Namor villains The Lemurians, a sign that something nefarious was happening onboard.

I’m sure we’ll start to get confirmation what Evans is actually going to show up in but I think fans are also quite comfortable leaving old Rogers alone as well given his satisfying ending.

Posted on in Features

‘Deadpool 3’ Should Consider Adding These Mutants

Back on Friday, there was finally an update on the status of Deadpool 3 with Marvel Studios moving forward on the sequel by hiring The Molyneux Sisters (Bob’s Burgers) to write the script. Along with it reaffirmed that the project will keep it’s R-rating, which is something that Disney/Marvel brass have been relaying to the press for years now, although, every couple of months it becomes newsworthy again.

I’ve come up with a list of mutants I’d personally like to see in Deadpool 3 and that would fit this R-rated corner of the MCU very nicely. The rating should discourage Marvel from trying to cram the main X-Men lineup into a violent Deadpool adventure which seems like bad idea when they have access to all these other cool X-Men characters that would fit the mature tone. I still suspect they’re going to allow them to work with a larger budget than the 20th Century Fox films.

Anyways, here is who I’d like to see show up in Deaddpool 3.

PSYLOCKE: Psylocke or Kwannon has a bit of a checkered past as the body of the Japanese woman that Betsy Braddock (sister of Captain Britain) inhabits was once an assassin under the purview of both The Mandarin (as Lady Mandarin) and The Hand/Yakuza. The character is more than weird and I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if they simply go with the Kwannon character instead of the messy body-swap stuff.

Kwannon is sort of more interesting given the connections to The Mandarin (the villain of Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings) and The Hand via Yakuza boss Matsu’o Tsurayaba (Wolverine villain). Having Psylocke start out as a villain for criminal syndicates then redeemed to become a superhero joining the ranks of the X-Men and the more violent X-Force would make for an interesting character reboot since she didn’t even get an origin in X-Men: Apocalypse. Actress Olivia Munn has gone on the record with her frustration with Simon Kinberg and Brian Singer’s lack of knowledge.

Psylocke also has ties to the country of Madripoor which is being introduced in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. The fictional Southeast Asian island nation could become a pivotal locale in future projects like X-Men films or something like Deadpool 3, as I think it’s about time they moved filming outside of Vancouver and explore some more different locations.

It would also be nice to see another Earthbound female Asian character outside of the Shang-Chi franchise kicking some ass in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, I wouldn’t rule-out having her moonlight as an assassin for the Atlas Empire or The Ten Rings. Then again, when Deadpool 3 shoots they’ll have full access to The Hand again.

OMEGA RED: Interestingly enough, Matsu’o Tsurayaba also connects to the next mutant.

Arkady Gregorivich Rossovich aka Omega Red originally had a bigger in Deadpool 2 as there was concept artwork making the rounds suggesting he was going to be a bruiser like The Juggernaut but he did briefly “cameo” in the mutant prison scenes. I’m not sure anyone would have noticed unless has had pointed it out and means the villain could get a second chance in the MCU.

In the comics, Arkady was a failed super-soldier experiment cooked-up by the Soviet Union and is considered to be one of the most dangerous mutants, giving Wolverine a run for his money. He’s worked has muscle for criminal syndicates like The Hand and feels within the wheelhouse of both Wolverine and Deadpool. I’m not shy about my desire to get this character on the big screen.

Since he’s Russian it could be a good excuse to connect him to Colossus’ time there.

X-23: Ryan Reynolds has been desperate to make his Wolverine vs Deadpool film, while Hugh Jackman isn’t likely return to the role anytime soon, Marvel is going to recast the role for the MCU making that a possibility in the future.

There is zero sign that Wolverine will be ready to go for Deadpool 3 but there is an established character they might want to use in the meantime that could make for an excellent surrogate, X-23.

We’ve seen Marvel Studios give second chances to J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and Jamie Foxx as Electro for their Spider-Man franchise, so there is some hope they could soft-reboot Laura Kinney aka X-23 while keeping Dafne Keen in that role for their X-Men/Deadpool franchises. It’s a bit of stretch to think they’d ask Keen to return but if they’re unable to use the new Wolverine, X-23 would be an excellent surrogate as her origin has already been covered in James Mangold’s Logan and you can fill in the blanks later.

MISTER SINISTER: There had been some suggestions that Sinister was going to be part of the never-made Gambit film starring Channing Tatum and he certainly is an untapped X-Men baddie that Marvel Studios could use for multiple films. He essentially could become the less conflicted than Magneto and take secure reigns as the main villain of the X-Men franchise before they attempt to bring in Apocalypse or others.

You could easily have Sinister, a former human geneticist turned mutant, be one of the people behind “the Workshop” from the first film and we ultimately see what has happened to those collared mutants that were sold-off as weapons on the black market. Possibly having him as a puppet master of a character like Sugar Man leading to Sinister being a bigger threat in other X-Men films.

ALPHA FLIGHT: Wade is Canadian and there happens to be Canadian Government sanctioned group of mutant heroes called Alpha Flight that have been long over due for a live-action adaptation. Adding Department H to the MCU could be one way to give a better origin to Wolverine and potentially expand the X-Men universe by including the obscure Canadian mutants. I’ve been championing that Alpha Flight be given their own Disney+ series as there is enough there to deserve a series over a feature film. Wilson is eventually going to get on Department H’s radar and could attempt to recruit him to disastrous results, they’re also goofy enough that they’d add to the comedic nature of the film.

CABLE & DOMINO: I’m still of the belief that Marvel will ultimately keep actors like Josh Brolin and Zazie Beetz in their respective franchise roles while potentiality giving their character designs a soft-reboot to look a little more like their comic book counterparts. They’re lower on the list because I think it’s less of a worry that they’ll get tossed. Although, hiring new actors wouldn’t be shocking given that Marvel can replace them if they chose to do so.

There are now plenty of examples of actors playing dual roles in the MCU and having Brolin return to the Cable part after playing Thanos wouldn’t be the strangest move they could make.

I’m sure we’ll start learning more about Deadpool 3 once Marvel Studios does an official panel for it.

Posted on in Film News

‘The Boys’ Star Antony Starr Open To Playing Wolverine In Marvel’s ‘X-Men’

There has been a small fan campaign online to get New Zealand actor Antony Starr into the mix to play Logan aka Wolverine in the Marvel Studios reboot of the X-Men franchise. 

While promoting the second season of Amazon’s The Boys, Antony spoke to Screen Greek where he revealed an interest in playing the berserker mutant if the opportunity knocked after being asked which X-Men character he’d like to play. 

STARR: “I would say Wolverine!”

“Big shoes to fill, man. Jackman’s pretty much put his mark on that, hasn’t he? So, I never say never, man – but at the moment, I’m just enjoying what we’re doing here. I mean, to be honest, Wolverine doesn’t wear spandex, which is definitely a negative for me. I do like the feel of tight pants, you know, if they can tighten the jeans up, maybe.”

“We can get some kind of tight leather jeans going on – or maybe a pants suit. I could be tempted – but I’m just happy to be doing what I’m doing, brother, and whatever comes, comes. I appreciate the fans, you know. We’ve got a great bunch of fans and they’re really enthusiastic and passionate, so, I love their ideas and their support. I hope they enjoy Season Two of The Boys and I’m just stoked we get a chance to do Season Three as well.”

The actor currently plays Homelander on the satirical superhero series The Boys, an extremely dark take on the Superman archetype. His co-star and fellow Kiwi, Karl Urban, just happened to play Skurge The Executioner in Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok directed by Taika Watititi. 

Season 2 of The Boys drops on September 4th on Amazon Prime Video and they’ve already announced Season 3 is moving forward.

Antony isn’t the role actor being suggested by fans. 

There has been relentless effort to have Kingsman actor Taron Egerton considered for the role which the actor has downplayed in various interviews over the last two years.

Taron has a connection to former Wolverine, Hugh Jackman, as they co-starred together in the sports comedy Eddie The Eagle. He called the persistent Wolverine rumors “flattering” while chatting with GQ recently but, yet again, downplayed their validity. 

EGERTON: “That anyone thinks I would be good for the part is really flattering. I love Marvel, but it’s just fan stuff. There is no grounding for those rumours.”

Speaking of Hugh, he had voiced his support for Mad Max: Fury Road actor Tom Hardy to take over the role before he eventually was cast as Sony’s Eddie Brock aka Venom.

Last year, X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn revealed to Coming Soon he wanted to cast a younger version of Wolverine with Tom Hardy for a film that would take place between First Class and X-Men: Day of Future Past. 

VAUGHN: “That’s one of the reasons I didn’t continue because they didn’t listen to me. My plan was First Class, then the second film was new young Wolverine in the 70s to continue those characters, my version of the X-Men. So you’d really get to know all of them, and my finale was gonna be Days of Future Past. That was gonna be my number three where you bring them all… because what’s bigger than bringing in McKellen and Michael and Stewart and James and bringing them all together?” 

“When I finished the Days of Future Past script with it ready to go I looked at it and said, ‘I really think it would be fun to cast Tom Hardy or someone as the young Wolverine and then bring it all together at the end’. Fox read Days of Future Past and went ‘Oh, this is too good! We’re doing it now!’. And I said, ‘Well what do you do next? Trust me you’ve got nowhere to go’. Then they did Apocalypse and it’s like… If you flip that round even it would have been better. Hollywood doesn’t understand pacing. Their executives are driving 100 miles-per-hour looking in the rear-view mirror and not understanding why they crash.”

Hardy is very unlikely to be considered given his current role in the Venom franchise.

Marvel Studios is currently dealing with a backlog of film and television projects after the Coronavirus pandemic paused multiple productions globally, combined with previous hints from Marvel’s Kevin Feige that they’re not in any rush to make a new X-Men film anytime soon. 

A Fantastic Four reboot is rumored to be the first former Fox property that they’ll be building a film around. However, neither a director nor a screenwriter has been announced. 

SOURCE: SCREEN GEEK