Deadpool 2 may have introduced X-Force for laughs and then killed off the entire team in one of the movie’s best extended gags, one that roped in one of Hollywood’s biggest stars for good measure, but when Fox were still in control of the X-Men franchise they had much bigger plans for the team.
The series was no stranger to sequels, spinoffs and reboots, so it was only logical that the studio would be keen to continue capitalizing on Deadpool’s success while also building on the warm welcome afforded to Josh Brolin’s Cable. The project had been in development for a number of years, initially with Kick-Ass 2’s Jeff Wadlow at the helm, but at the time Disney set their takeover of Fox in motion, The Cabin in the Woods’ Drew Goddard was attached to write and direct.
Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld doesn’t seem to have much faith in Marvel Studios being in control of the former Fox properties, and in a recent interview, he revealed that Cable was set to be the focal point of the story, and not the Merc with a Mouth.
“Cable should have his own movie series. He can exist independent of Deadpool in a heartbeat. He has for years. If Deadpool’s been in like 330 comics, Cable’s been in about 520. Yes, I’ve counted…. In between Deadpool 2 wrapping and opening, I got really close with Josh. And he was very excited about exploring Cable in the subsequent sequels. The X-Force standalone movie that was, in his own words, Cable-centric.”
It would make sense that Cable would run point in the X-Force movie given that the entire purpose of the spinoff was to add yet another mutant franchise to Fox’s portfolio, and Deadpool had already headlined two movies of his own that had raked in over $1.5 billion at the box office. Fans might still be holding on to a sliver of hope that X-Force could yet find itself resurrected at Marvel, but for the time being, their first and foremost focus will be on rebooting the X-Men and Deadpool. As such, any further spinoffs could be a long way away yet.
