'X-Force' writer Jeff Wadlow reveals the plan for his cancelled 'X-Men' spin-off trilogy

Deadpool 2 (Credit: Fox)
Deadpool 2 (Credit: Fox)

Plans for an X-Force movie are now uncertain at the Disney acquired Fox studio (now renamed Twentieth Century Studios) but for a time, it was all go with a new breed of mutant heroes set to inhabit the X-Men universe.

Kick-Ass 2 director Jeff Wadlow was to write and direct it, from the mind of comic book writer Rob Liefield, who co-created Deadpool, Cable and the New Mutants on paper.

This was all planned prior to Deadpool bursting onto the screen in 2016, with a potty-mouthed Ryan Reynolds under the lycra. A version of the X-Force were eventually introduced via Deadpool 2.

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Now Wadlow has spoken about how he had a trilogy of movies in mind, and how it would have taken on a kind of anti-X-Men type vibe.

“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 basically turned into [comic writer] Rick Remender’s version of the X-Force in the early 2000s,” he told ComicBookMovie.

A cover of Marvel's X-Force comic series, by artist Rob Liefeld. (Marvel Comics)
A cover of Marvel's X-Force comic series, by artist Rob Liefeld. (Marvel Comics)

“That was a much darker hit squad and black ops team who had lost their way over the course of the three films.”

Wadlow's X-Force movie was to be a foil to the rarified manor house situation of Charles Xavier and his group of superhuman misfits, with Cable in charge instead.

“What about the mutants that have to go to public school?” Wadlow went on. “What about the ones who don’t have the benefactor looking out for them, and what about the kids who have to figure it out on their own?

US director Jeff Wadlow arrives for the premiere of "Blumhouse's Fantasy Island" at the AMC theatre on February 11, 2020 in Century City, California. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
Jeff Wadlow (Credit: VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

“We then would have introduced that darker, more militant mentor in the form of Cable.”

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Instead, X-Force emerged with Reynolds, introducing Cable (played by Josh Brolin) and Domino (Zazie Beetz) in 2018's Deadpool 2.

It was later announced that Cabin In The Woods director Drew Goddard was then set to make an X-Force movie after the success of the Deadpool films, but since the acquisition of Fox by Disney, that project remains uncertain.