X Men 4?

Fox would be schtoopid NOT to make a full James Bond-esque franchise out of this source material, but hey.

I think most of the open doors were left open to faciliate spin-off movies.

Hell, maybe we'll see Fox revisit the techniques they used to make this film in order to beat the Bryan Singer Superman Sequel in 2009

It's definitely going to happen, and I hope there is another because I'd hate to see the series end on such an average note.

To me the big question is how large a role will Wolverine play in a 4th film. Jackman has the solo movie coming up and I wonder how much of his career he wants to devote to playing one character.

You could easily bring back Kitty, Iceman, Angel, and Colossus at a relatively low cost. Have a film based on them taking over the reigns from the Cyclops/Jean/Storm group, so you'd get a sort of coming-of-age as a team story. Give them a low-level yet interesting opponent (say the Hellfire Club or the Hellions), then end it with the returns of both Magneto and Xavier, setting up the fifth film as the final showdown with Magneto. That way you'd establish the identities of the new team before plopping them into a story that will undoubtedly put Magneto and Xavier at the forefront.

Or they could do Days of Future Past and simply kill Wolverine and Storm off in the first ten minutes of the film.

I'd actually love an Iceman/Angel/Colossus/Kitty-as-a-team movie. Against, uh, Sentinels. Because having Bill Duke as the big bad is A-OK in my book.

The problem with all the "WB" X-Men taking over the reigns is that so few of them have really been developed all that well. But I do see Storm coming back because Berry isn't as hot (career wise, she's still a looker) as she was pre-CATWOMAN. Plus I would like Beast back and don't see why that wouldn't happen.

It would be nice if Cumming could return as Nightcrawler. I also don't have the dry heave reaction that so many do to Gambit being thrown in the mix.

Sure, have Beast in the teacher role. And not having Wolverine around, Gambit may not look like as much of a Logan-clone as he would otherwise.

And you could use the next film to develop the "WB X-Men," since the introductions to them and their powers are already out of the way.

The whole powerless Rogue repowering up could also make an interesting story.

It's because Gambit is really, really lame, Moltisanti.

Perhaps you didn't see his trenchcoat.

That's a view held by many. But we're dealing with movies here and not comics or cartoons. Writers/actors have been known to take characters that didn't work in one medium and make them shine in another.

No, seriously, he's that lame.

How can I possibly argue against such sound reasoning?

You can't. It's water-tight.

*cough*orfailjuggernaut*cough*

But seriously, the reason Gambit gets so much hate is because he's a carbon copy of Wolverine, with sort of a lame power and completely ridiculous accent to boot. There's plenty more X-Men characters with more meat to them that would be better served being translated to another medium, and the ones they've already done could do with some serious fleshing out before they start bringing in flashes in the pan like that "Cajun" moron. Gambit is, like Carnage, a complete product of his era. He's a cool looking guy that looks cool and does absolutely nothing else. There's just not much of a basis to work from there, so why not go with someone more interesting? What about Havok? Flesh out Colossus some more. Hell, even somebody like Banshee would be preferable. Plus, those guys all have cooler powers than the ability to make things glow and explode unspectacularly.

You don't.

I'm not exactly wild about the idea of a WB X-men as I don't think any of them are big enough to carry a Summer movie. I wouldn't miss Logan, but I don't see Fox making it without him. He wouldn't have to have a major role (think Emilio Estevez in Mighty Ducks 3), but he'd have to play some part.

I understand Millette's point about Gambit not working in the comic medium, but I'm going with Moltisant on this one. Since he's not exactly beloved by the hardcore group of comic book fans, they won't mind if they do some overhaul on his character. Casual fans will be happy that he's there and his presence is bankable. Given some good casting and good writing, he could wind up as a heavy hitter.

I'm all for fleshing out more of the "established" characters, especially Colossus who got fucked over real good in THE LAST STAND.

I won't profess to know as much about the "X-Men" mythology as a lot of others around here. Gambit just never bugged me. Those be the breaks.

I kinda get the feeling that McKellen won't be returning, but it's time for a new villain anyway. Patrick Stewart knows all about sticking with a sci-fi franchise until there's nothing but dust left in the gas tank, so I imagine he'd be on board for future films.

Berry, I think, would be a problem. She needs the franchise more than it needs her, but I reckon she'd be asking for a huge payday to keep coming back. Grammer is possible - depends how he liked the make-up process, I guess. As for Jackman, maybe for a goodwill cameo, but not as a lead. This is why it sucks that they dumped Cyclops and lost Nightcrawler. Maybe with Singer not involved, Cumming might return (though I understand he hated the make-up as well) but you can always recast.

As for the kids, I think an X-Men Academy approach is the most likely way forward, but none of the characters left have the presence or backstory to support an entire film. Even in an ensemble, you need a lead - and the closest they've got is Iceman. Fun though his arc has been, I don't see it being enough to promote him to Jackman's position in the franchise.

The big question is, why would anyone think that a fourth movie would be an improvement over X3 - a movie that scrapes by on whizz-bang action and momentum from the previous films.

I can't think of a single franchise that has gone from an average third movie to a strong fourth. Superman, Lethal Weapon, Alien - they all just about scraped through Part 3 and then came apart utterly when they tried for a fourth.

Much as I'd like to see it continue, common sense says they should quit while they're marginally ahead.

I thought he was criminally underused as well. I noticed he didn't armour up all that much either. I remember him being alloyed-up what, NINETY percent of the time in the comics, no? In the movie, it seemed like he was conserving it, just in case he ran out or somehting.

He doesn't so much bug me as his fandom bugs me. There's this weird Cult of Gambit, and he's such a nothing character. And his costume is ridiculous. He's supposed to be a great thief, right?

So let's see:

He wears medieval knight boots. (For sneaking!)

His bodysuit has bright pink highlights on the chest and legs. (So he can't be seen!)

His gloves have the fingers cut out of them. (So he doesn't leave fingerprints!)

And he carries around a big metal staff. (Because it's easy to conceal!)

From a design standpoint, he's just always bugged the crap out of me.

While I personally don't agree on what I'm about to present, as I find the third movie more interesting than the fourth, STAR TREK went from THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, which is universally seen as being average at best, to THE VOYAGE HOME, thought by many to be the second-best of the series and the biggest grosser of the whole saga.

Common cents says that money will allways triumph over logic at FOX.

You mentioned earlier that he was a product of his times. People from my generation mostly know about X-men because of the Fox Cartoon, and on there, he was the shit and a half. He was the definition of cool to us, and in this generation of Hot Topic and Family Guy, nostalgia will more than make up for shitty writting and terrible logic.

Plus, you forget to mention de accent, mon cheri. Gambit has de best accent in all de world of de X-Men!

I mentioned that in a previous post. Please pay attention, Daniel.

Star Trek is sort of the exception that proves the rule though, as it had an absolutely obsessed fanbase who were already conditioned to go and see the movies no matter what they were like - and the quality ping-ponged up and down as a result. It took a lot longer for diminishing returns to take hold.

I don't think X-Men, as a movie franchise, has that potential.

By the way? The Fox cartoon sucked. Go watch it again as an adult and tell me I'm wrong.

We put it on at the video store that I worked at last week to get in the mood for the movie. It wasn't terrible, but it definetly had more than enough cheese to kill a cow.

Just as bad as the Spider-Man one of the same era. WB has really raised the bar in the animated Superhero genre. It'd be a sucker punch for Marvel to sign away Timm to come over and retool the Marvel aniumated universe, as a nice GFY to WB for torching JLU.

KWIM?

LOL

It is terrible. Although I saw a lot of it in X-MEN 3.

Wasn't this implied when Magneto was able to move the chess piece? I thought the whole point of Beast moving his hand back and forth was a little hint that Leech's power didn't have a permanent effect.

That's how I saw it, that the cure wasn't permanent, and with Magneto as powerful as he is, his powers would come back faster than those of a Mystique or one of the Morlocks.

Nice fucking safety net, if you ask me.

Even Star Trek II left Spock on the Genesis planet.

I think it might be time to move on and find a new villain. Magneto's a fantastic foil to the X-Men, but any storyline involving him as the villain will feel like a reiteration of what's gone before. It would just dilute his character if you kept using him, particularly if you keep playing him as the Malcolm X to Xavier's MLK.

...I just punched myself for using that analogy.

Doesn't that logic just render everything that happend in X-men 3 pointless? (not that I'm saying you're wrong)

You could quite conceivably go from X2 to X-Men 4 (if it's made) and skip the third one without having missed anything. So whoever compared it to the Bond franchise is bang on the money.

You mean like the bit after the credits?

Not entirely. Regardless of the end result, Rogue still chose to suppress her mutation for the sake of her relationship. Beast and Wolverine still knowingly used the cure to defeat Magneto. The government was planning to use the cure as a weapon. Plus, once the mutations start coming back, you can bet the government is going to up the ante as far as controlling mutants is concerned. The cure storyline sets up several possible stories, even if it wasn't a real cure.

It's like if I shoot you in the head and you live, is my shooting you in the head irrelevant?

I know this is the wrong thread for it, but aren't those issues that should have been addressed in this movie? The ending doesn't give me the impression that these are deliberate loose ends to be tied up in a future installment.

The government using the cure seemed glossed over, and the fact that Hank's happily working with the government again (or at least working in some kind of goernmental capacity) seem like that's been resolved. Going back to the second one again, that ending felt like it was leaving things open to be continued at a future date. Not just the Phoenix storyline, but emotional threads that hadn't been pulled together, with the aim of carrying them on. The ending to this movie feels like everything's been returned to the status quo, even though there have been some major upheavals.

What was the point of Angel. Shouldn't they have had a "Welcome to the X-Men" scene at the end of movie that let's you know he's a part of the club? Although he's technically not a mutant per se, I would love to see Longshot brought into the fold, without all that extradimensional crap with Mojo of course!

Not that easy to come up with a good storyline.

After the events of X3, we'd need Storm or Wolverine as Xavier's replacement as the school's head. Rogue could live in fear that her cure's leaving. Mystique could've joined the X-Men. Bolivar Trask letting his Sentinels attack would be fine, but how to handle? Omega Red as a new villain? Hm.

What about the comics - are there similar storylines with Xavier, Magneto missing and less of Storm and Wolverine?

Bringing back Halle would be a waste of time.

1.) I forgot what magazine this was in, but Halle said she was "Done" playing storm.

2.) If she did come back, she'd probably ask for way too much money.
And she's definitely not worth it.

Well, we are talking about a possible fourth film, one we hope would take elements barely touched on in X3 and give them a little more depth.

They could always bring in Forge to be a kind of new mutant leader, since his character was always more interesting than his power (he's the anti-Gambit: shitty power, awesome character). Just have Beast take over the school (his personality is the closest thing we have to Xavier's), and build something from there--maybe actually give Colossus something to do, like struggling to become the kind of identifiable leader that people look to when times are tough, like they obstenibly did with Cyclops.

Gimme some Cable and Bishop.

Yeah!
Mullets and shoulder pads!

Spidey's was far worse. The animation dwindled to something that resembled 8 frames per second after the first season.

But the X-toon DID have an episode where Nightcrawler teaches Logan to let God's love into his heart. Beat THAT, wall-crawler!

Fuck it, man. Bring on a Mojo movie.