CLEVELAND, Ohio -- After the success of "X-Men" spinoff "Deadpool," 20th Century Fox seems to be convinced that fans are hungry for more "X" movies.
An "X-Force" movie is reportedly in the works. Queue the inevitable speculation about which characters will appear in the upcoming film. The comic-book series began in the 1980s, and like most ongoing comic books about superteams, X-Force's lineup has been fluid, with members coming and going with distressing regularity.
But its past members includes a few names you might recognize, including two who appear in an upcoming "X-Men" spinoff. Both the Wolverine and X-23, characters in "Logan" -- which hits theaters March 3 -- have found themselves on the team.
So has Deadpool, who you may recognize from a surprisingly successful 2016 movie of the same name.
While none of those three are founding members of X-Force, at least one of them is likely to appear in an "X-Force" movie.
Why?
Some of the prominent longtime X-Force members include Warpath, a Native American out for revenge after the death of his older brother, Wolfsbane, who could transform in a wolf-like creature, and Cannonball, whose powers are more or less what you would expect from a superhero with that name.
One thing they all have in common is that most of you have never heard of them. It's unlikely that 20th Century Fox would greenlight a movie filled with mostly unknown characters.
Both Wolverine and Deadpool have starred in hit movies, and with "Logan" expected to be a hit, X-23 is likely to be added to that list soon, increasing the chances that we'll see them in more upcoming films, including an "X-Force" adaptation.
Of course, we won't know for sure until we see the first trailers.
The first incarnation of "X-Force" began its life as the New Mutants, a new class of recruits for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, who were introduced in the 1980s (Their name was changed to "X-Force" in a 1991 issue).
They lived in the X-Mansion and studied under their older counterparts in the X-Men in their earliest days, but the older and more established mutant superhero team disappeared in a late 1980s story arc that saw them fake their own deaths and move to Australia.
Mutant Cable -- a soldier from the future and a character confirmed to appear in the next "Deadpool" movie -- and his compatriot Domino -- an expert marksman and master strategist -- stepped in to fill the leadership vacuum.
The duo took the young team in a more militant direction, and X-Force continues to be known as a more aggressive version of the X-Men. While the more popular of the two teams generally tries not to kill their enemies, X-Force members have no such compunction.
Joe Carnahan is reportedly writing the script to the upcoming "X-Force" movie, which should give fans pause.
He wrote and directed "Smokin' Aces," which holds a 29 percent approval rating on review aggregation website rottentomatoes.com and the movie made just $35 million at the box office.
Critics were kinder to "The Grey," a survival movie starring Liam Neeson that Carnahan also wrote and directed. Although that movie did only slightly better at the box office, earning $51 million.
But Carnahan was also in the director's chair for "The A-Team," a 2010 reboot which was marked by lukewarm reviews and didn't exactly ignite the box office.
The "X-Force" movie has not Betxlarge yet been given a release date.
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