With Disney’s acquisition of Fox, several intriguing projects were cancelled with the new regime taking over. One of those projects is an X-Force series, which would have served as a complement to Fox’s X-Men franchise. This would have allowed Fox to explore a different dimension of the X-Men universe, allowing for smaller characters like Deadpool’s Cable (Josh Brolin) and Domino (Zazie Beetz). Disney decided to axe the project, however, along with the X-Men franchise.
Speaking to ComicBookMovie while promoting his latest horror film Fantasy Island, writer/director Jeff Wadlow revealed his plans for the proposed X-Force universe, which similar to Fox’s latest X-Men trilogy, would have trotted multiple decades. Check out his comments:
I plotted out this three-movie arc that took X-Force from what it was in the 90s with Rob Liefeld with a band of kids fighting for what they believe in. And then by the third film, the group would have grown and changed and lost and picked up some new members, and basically turned into Rick Remender’s version of the X-Force in the early 2000s. That was a much darker hit squad and black ops team who had lost their way over the course of the three films.
Waldow’s plan on paper has a lot of potential, especially with its gradual shift to a darker tone being unique for the superhero genre. That being said, I completely understand why Disney decided to cancel this project, as it doesn’t fit with the family-friendly approach they have with their projects. It’s also fair to question whether Waldow would have been the right guy to helm the series, as his last two projects have received dreadful reviews from critics and audiences (both Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island hold under 20% on Rotten Tomatoes).
Would you have wanted to see an X-Force trilogy? Let us know in the comments!