Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods) has been selected to write and direct the X-Force spinoff movie for 20th Century Fox.
Deadline has the scoop, confirming that Goddard, who was once poised to launch a Sinister Six film for Sony, currently has his hands full with Bad Times at the El Royale (Thor: Ragnarok‘s Chris Hemsworth), but will soon switch gears to begin writing X-Force for Fox. Behind the scenes, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner and the Merc himself, Ryan Reynolds, will leverage producing duties.
Furthermore, it’s understood Reynolds’ Wade Wilson will be placed front and center for the long-rumored (and potentially R rated?) team-up movie. With Cable (Infinity War‘s Josh Brolin) by his side, Deadline’s report goes on to note that X-Force will largely revolve around a “Black Ops force of down and dirty mutant warriors who are far more ruthless than their X-Men counterparts.” It is, as expected, the adult-oriented version of the X-Men universe, and Fox will no doubt have a spring in their step following the back-to-back success of Deadpool and Logan.
Even after Goddard’s appointment, it’s still early, early days for Fox’s mutant ensemble movie. But now that news is out in the open, fans can readily expect some form of Easter egg and/or after-credits sequence to be included in the David Leitch-directed Deadpool 2, which is due to scurry into theaters next summer.
Looking further afield, perhaps X-Force will occupy one of those six release dates staked out by Fox? Two months ago, the studio reserved multiple launch windows for future Marvel movies, so we assume they already have a tentative due date in mind for Goddard’s mutant extravaganza. Stay tuned for more.
Next up for Fox’s burgeoning cinematic universe is the release of New Mutants on April 13th, 2018, before Deadpool 2 and X-Men: Dark Phoenix follow suit on June 1st and November 2nd, respectively.
