Deadpool Is Part Of Some Massive Future Plans For The X-Men Franchise

When writer/producer Simon Kinberg signed a three-year deal with 20th Century Fox last year to oversee the future of X-Men and Fantastic Four movies, he acknowledged a pretty straightforward goal: "Be like Marvel." Referring to the constantly growing cinematic universe at Marvel Studios, Kinberg revealed that he wants to do something massive with his comic book movies – and Deadpool is very much a part of that.

With X-Men: Days of Future Past set to soon arrive on Blu-ray and DVD shelves anywhere, I recently had the chance to interview Simon Kinberg about the future of the X-Men franchise, and he confirmed not only that the upcoming Deadpool movie takes place within the same continuity of the larger comic book universe, but also that it is setting up for something much bigger. I asked the filmmaker if there is a grand idea behind movies like Deadpool fitting in with the timeline of the long-established series, and Kinberg confirmed it, telling me,

"They do all feed into one another in the sense of wanting to tell this sort of massive story that can take place over multiple movies."

Drawing further comparisons to the work being done at Marvel Studios with films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Avengers, Kinberg said that the goal is to create a full experience watching one of the individual movies, but added that there is an "even fuller experience" to be found in seeing those projects get brought together. This thinking is having an effect on not only the actively-developing X-Men: Apocalypse (which Kinberg is writing), but also all of the other franchise features in the works. Said Kinberg,

"We are aware as we are plotting out Apocalypse and the other X-Men movies – both potential sequels in the future and standalone movies – and trying to build them all together so that there is a singularity of vision. And obviously a timeline that makes sense as well, because these movies all, well not all, but many of them take place in different time periods, so that all those things will link up and make sense for an audience."

As things stand with the X-Men franchise, Tim Miller’s Deadpool will be released on February 12, 2016; Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse is being planned for May 27, 2016; and another Wolverine film is in the works for March 3, 2017. Of course, things won’t just be stopping there. Kinberg’s comments suggest that there are so very big plans in the works, and it will be fascinating to see how it all unfolds – especially as it happens right alongside the rebirth of the Fantastic Four.

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.