We had heard that Deadpool director Tim Miller was in the process of developing an X-Men movie prior to Disney/Marvel's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, and the filmmaker has now shared some intriguing details about which comic book storyline his project would have taken inspiration from.
While speaking to THR about the new season of Netflix’s Love Death + Robots, Miller revealed that he wants to return to feature directing, and hopes to get the opportunity to work on an X-Men movie based on issue #143. He has also reached out to Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige to gauge interest.
“I think that the Marvel has this secret weapon they haven’t been able to unveil yet, which is the whole X-Men universe — which is what got me into comics,” Miller said. “The X-Men are my favorite characters. I wrote [Marvel boss] Kevin Feige, and I’m like, ‘If there was ever anything that you would let me do in the Marvel Universe, please, the X-Men would be it.’ I had an X-Men movie in development at Fox when the merger happened, which would have been awesome. [It was based on] X-Men 143, which was Home Alone meets Alien.”
Miller isn't putting all of his eggs in the Marvel basket, however, and has also thrown his hat in the ring to helm an Authority movie for DC Studios (should they ever get around to making it).
“But if DC ever gets around to doing The Authority, that’s my favorite comic ever — it’s the Justice League if they killed people. I think there’s a lot of room left [in the genre], a lot of different stories to tell.”
Released back in 1981, Chris Claremont's X-Men #143 was a standalone Christmas tale featuring Kitty Pryde alone in the X-Mansion and forced to fend off an attack from the N’Garai demon. You may recall reports that Fox was planning some kind of solo Shadowcat movie (her close friend Illyana Rasputin was also said to feature) prior to the merger, and it seems the rumors were accurate.
Marvel is said to be planning numerous X-Men-related projects as we head towards the Mutant Saga, so Miller might just get his wish - although this particular story might be better suited to a Disney+ Special Presentation than a theaterical release.
What do you think? Would you like to see Miller's idea come to fruition? Frop us a comment down below.