Deadline recently had the chance to sit down with Logan producer Simon Kinberg to discuss what's next in the X-Men Universe, and he dropped some very interesting details about the planned X-Force movie. Now, it's fair to say that most of us expected it to revolve around Cable and Deadpool and have an R-Rating, but that's now been 100% confirmed along with another pretty intriguing titbit.
As you can see below, Kinberg has confirmed that X-Force will stand apart from the X-Men movies. While that doesn't necessarily mean the Merc with the Mouth is being left out in the cold (it could just be that it's set in the not too distant future for example), it seems like Fox's R-Rated efforts are being kept away from the main franchise, for now, something which means we can forget about crossovers.
"We are working hard on New Mutants, Gambit with Channing Tatum, Deadpool 2 and the new X-Force movie where Deadpool is alongside Cable and other main characters. Deadpool 2 is going into production this year. Then X-Force which is a combination of Deadpool, and Cable –they’re like the Black ops of the X-Men. They’re much darker and have an R-rated decibel. There are other X-Men characters coming into X-Force at different times in the comic, but it’s separate from X-Men.
There is a larger architecture to tell these stories in. I talk to the studio all the time about this and there is a plan for how these movies can connect and be a part of a larger narrative. It’s something that’s fun, exciting and it will be interesting to see how we marry the different tones that we’ve been generating in these standalone movies of the X-Men universe. But we go into making the best movie we can. It’s not just about a Colossus or Deadpool cameo. Connecting all of these movies will happen when it organically makes sense. These movies aren’t simply being built as stepping stones to a larger story. Each one is wholly enclosed and a movie worth seeing."
This sounds like a decent enough direction for these movies to head in, though it does seem odd to build walls between movies which are set in the same world. However, Kinberg's comments make it clear that Fox isn't building to an Avengers: Infinity War type event like Marvel Studios, so it's just a case of accepting the fact that this shared universe is a little different to what we're used to!