While the sudden departure of director Tim Miller may have sent the production of ‘Deadpool 2’ into turmoil, the character’s cinematic future nonetheless remains secure. Not only is work on the sequel continuing, with Fox reportedly eyeing ‘John Wick’ co-director David Leitch to helm the project, but the studio is apparently planning even farther ahead.
That’s right. Despite the speed bumps that have hit ‘Deadpool 2’ (and, to a certain extent, Fox’s entire ‘X-Men’ franchise following the disappointing performance of ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’), the studio is already in the very early stages of planning a third ‘Deadpool’ film. But wait, there’s more! For years there has been talk of an X-Force movie, both from the people in charge of the ‘X-Men’ films and from X-Force and Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld. But after years of the “will they, won’t they” back and forth of the rumor mill, it seems as if that project may finally be getting underway. According to anonymous sources cited by The Hollywood Reporter, not only is ‘Deadpool 3’ being planned, but the intent is for the film to feature X-Force. It’s not entirely clear (and indeed, the powers that be at Fox may not even be certain yet) whether this is intended as a crossover (as in the Avengers appearing in ‘Captain America: Civil War’) or a launching point from which to introduce the new team (something more akin to DC’s handling of Wonder Woman, for example), though based on what has been made public about the upcoming slate of ‘X-Men’ films, the latter seems more likely at this time.
Like today’s election results, this news manages at once to be unexpected, but not actually as surprising as it could have been. After all, while the natural assumption was that X-Force would debut (if they ever actually did) in their own film, the ‘Deadpool’ films have clearly been moving in a direction reminiscent of the build to X-Force’s introduction in the comics of the early ’90s. After all, the post-credits scene in ‘Deadpool’ promised an appearance by Cable in the sequel, and not only have the early reports from the production of ‘Deadpool 2’ borne that out, but the film is also reportedly casting another X-Force stalwart in the form of Domino. Regardless of what may come to pass in ‘Deadpool 3’, it’s clear that X-Force will be coming together in one form or another in the near future.
Are you excited to see X-Force take shape in future ‘Deadpool’ sequels? Would you rather see them introduced in their own film? Let us know in the comments!