X-Men News

The X-Men universe is quickly expanding, with an untold amount of comics, animated television series, and a feature film franchise that's spawning spin-offs left and right. So what's next for everyone's favorite mutants?

X-Men producer Lauren Schuler-Donner recently spoke to Empire magazine about what Fox and Marvel have in the works. Here are a few juicy tidbits:

On Wolverine 2: "It's actually the story we wanted to use for the first Wolverine film, but [Fox head honcho] Tom Rothman preferred to set the character up with an origin story first. What’s cool about this part of the saga is that Wolverine will be fighting in a different style to what we’ve seen before. Mariko’s father has this stick-like weapon, so Wolverine will have to fight against that. There’ll be samurai, ninja, katana blades, different forms of martial arts — mano-a-mano, extreme fighting."

On X-Men: First Class: "We want it to be like the recent, darker Potters. It should not be a kiddie movie: we’re in the X-Men world so you can’t suddenly change the tone. The First Class comics are really fun — they’re funnier than any other comics I’ve read. Basically in each one the kids are fighting strange villains, sometimes it’s aliens, sometimes it’s monsters. I want to get a flavour of that world."

On Deadpool: "I don’t see it as a problem that Ryan [Reynolds] is also playing Green Lantern. I mean, look at Harrison Ford – he was in Stars Wars and Indiana Jones at the same time and everyone was fine with that. Green Lantern could not be more different to Wade Wilson. Green Lantern is a guy who finds a ring and is thrust into this world, much like Spider-Man. Wade Wilson is a bad ass, a wise-cracking mercenary, who will go out and kill anyone for money. But the thing about him is that, underneath it all, and he wouldn’t want you to know this, sometimes he’s not such a bad ass after all."

One wonders where Bryan Singer might fit into all of this, as he recently stated that he'd like to return to the directing chair for another X-Men movie.

To read the full interview, head over to empireonline.com!

Well, that's not surprising. What gay man doesn't like a hot, buff dude who can sing and dance to showtunes?

What is surprising is that this statement came on the heels of an announcement Singer made at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea. Apparently, Singer may have more X-Men films in him..

"I'm still looking to possibly returning to the 'X-Men' franchise. I've been talking to Fox about it," Singer told press at the festival. "I love Hugh Jackman. I love the cast."

One can only speculate as to what this means for Warner Bros.' Superman franchise, as Singer originally left X-Men for the Man of Steel, leaving Brett Ratner at the helm. Methinks X-Men might be a little butt-hurt about that.

All in all, X-Men has been a profitable franchise for 20th Century Fox, with each film grossing more than $150 million at the box office. Singer's return would be welcome, though, as the reviews for X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine show a steady decline from Singer's X2: X-Men United, which is clearly the strongest of the series.

Fox currently has plans for a Wolverine spinoff and a film centering around Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool character.