More capes, please. Today we get news on three very different superhero projects, all of which have the potential to be fantastic...if they ever get off the ground. So let's start off with the one probably foremost in people's minds right now...
Y'know all those times I've prefaced some story about the Kick-Ass 
sequel by saying "take Mark Millar with a grain of salt"? Well, it's because you need to take Mark Millar with a grain of salt. The creator of Kick-Ass, Wanted, and a number of other things likely headed to the big screen has been oh so talkative about the film, at one point saying and I quote "So the sequel’s greenlit, we can go ahead and do the follow up now, you know." That was September of last year, and it was complete bullcorn. Check out what Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn's frequent collaborator had to say on the subject...
sequel by saying "take Mark Millar with a grain of salt"? Well, it's because you need to take Mark Millar with a grain of salt. The creator of Kick-Ass, Wanted, and a number of other things likely headed to the big screen has been oh so talkative about the film, at one point saying and I quote "So the sequel’s greenlit, we can go ahead and do the follow up now, you know." That was September of last year, and it was complete bullcorn. Check out what Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn's frequent collaborator had to say on the subject...In case you couldnt tell, she basically said Mark Millar's full of it. Ok, she really said that Kick-Ass 2 is not in active development. Not yet anyway. I expect it'll happen eventually, but I doubt Millar will be the source we use for confirmation. Kick-Ass under performed according to analyst projections, but ultimately earned nearly $100M worldwide against a measly $30M budget.
Next we turn to the mutant corner of the Marvel Universe, and the latest issue of Empire, which features a pretty cool look at X-men: First Class directed by...Matthew Vaughn of Kick-Ass fame! Anyway, while some of the up close shots of the cast(particularly Azazel, Nightcrawler's daddy) are sweet, the real juice comes from producr Laura Schuler Donner, who says that we can count on X-men's 4 & 5 sometime soon...
Donner: “We took the treatment to Fox and they love it… And X4 leads into X5."
The X-men franchise has had a rough go of it, beginning with Brett Ratner's abysmal X-men: The Last Stand
. It was thought that the series might be put on ice for awhile, but new life is (hopefully) being brought to it thanks to Vaughn's X-men: First Class, which goes back to the days of the team's creation in the 1960s. Bryan Singer was initially going to direct, but had to step back in order to complete his Jack the Giant Killer. Vaughn was brought in to save the day, and depending on who you ask it's either been an awesome experience or a turbulent roller coaster. The only question now is how many X-men are even left alive after the last film!
. It was thought that the series might be put on ice for awhile, but new life is (hopefully) being brought to it thanks to Vaughn's X-men: First Class, which goes back to the days of the team's creation in the 1960s. Bryan Singer was initially going to direct, but had to step back in order to complete his Jack the Giant Killer. Vaughn was brought in to save the day, and depending on who you ask it's either been an awesome experience or a turbulent roller coaster. The only question now is how many X-men are even left alive after the last film!And lastly we can turn to that fountain of information, Laura Schuler Donner for an update on Deadpool, which has seen by far the most turmoil in ever getting started. Ryan Reynolds has been THE guy to play the Merc with a Mouth ever since the character was ruined in X-men Origins: Wolverine
. Reynolds has promised us before that the spinoff would be more like the comic book, with Deadpool being silly, mouthy, and super-violent. He'd be "breaking the 4th wall"(in other words, talking to the audience), and could barely be considered a hero at all. That all sounded awesome, but the problem in getting the film started was two-fold: they've never been able to find a director, with more than a few names having come and gone already, most notably Robert Rodriguez. And then there's Reynolds himself, who keeps coming up with new movies to put just ahead of it. Through all that, fans have just kept holding on, hoping to finally get the Deadpool his followers have been craving. Laura Schuler Donner seems to know what people are waiting for, and her words are the best confirmation yet that the wait might just be worth it...
. Reynolds has promised us before that the spinoff would be more like the comic book, with Deadpool being silly, mouthy, and super-violent. He'd be "breaking the 4th wall"(in other words, talking to the audience), and could barely be considered a hero at all. That all sounded awesome, but the problem in getting the film started was two-fold: they've never been able to find a director, with more than a few names having come and gone already, most notably Robert Rodriguez. And then there's Reynolds himself, who keeps coming up with new movies to put just ahead of it. Through all that, fans have just kept holding on, hoping to finally get the Deadpool his followers have been craving. Laura Schuler Donner seems to know what people are waiting for, and her words are the best confirmation yet that the wait might just be worth it...Donner: “It’s a total reboot…,” Donner notes, adding “it’s insane, it’s definitely comedy.But it’s an R script, it’s really irreverent and violent. Right away, we’re out of the X-Men world."
I hope she's not just pulling the mask over our eyes, because an uncut, R-rated Deadpool would be amazing. One of the things that I hate about what Marvel Comics has done with the character is soften him up so that we hardly see him being a badass anymore. I want that badass on the big screen. Period. But I have to also put on my business hat and note that Fox has to be thinking long term profits, and a PG-13 rating is probably best suited for that. I hope that doesn't happen, and that Donner delivers what she's promising.
