Ryan Reynolds Indeed Returning To X-MEN Universe For Tim Miller's DEADPOOL And Shoots In March

Deadline reports that Ryan Reynolds is closing a deal to reprise the role of Wade Wilson better known as Deadpool in his own movie. The development on the project has been in the works since the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine back in 2009, but only just got the greenlight in September after extensive rewrites to the script. Blur Studio's Tim Miller (Thor: The Dark World) is still directing the film with a script written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernik (Zombieland). Production is said to begin in March, while the rest of the cast hasn't been announced or rumored.

I assume we'll hear official news coming very soon. Fox is also casting lead roles for Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse, so it's getting busy at those casting offices. I'll be interesting to see if people linked to Apocalypse roles will also read for Deadpool as well.




SOURCE: DEADLINE

Jamie Chung Joining TJ Miller For Marvel/Disney's BIG HERO 6 Voice Cast

An NBC bio page (recently changed) is confirming actress Jamie Chung (Hangover 2, Sin City 2) will lend her voice alongside TJ Miller (Cloverfield, Silicon Valley) in Marvel/Disney's Big Hero 6. The film is based on the Marvel Comics team. Disney Animation has been overshadowing Pixar lately with their features such as Wreck It Ralph and Frozen, so I believe this is an excellent creative pairing. The film is set for release on November 7th, 2014.

Big Hero 6 features brilliant robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada, who finds himself in the grips of a criminal plot that threatens to destroy the fast-paced, high-tech city of San Fransokyo. With the help of his closest companion—a robot named Baymax—Hiro joins forces with a reluctant team of first-time crime fighters on a mission to save their city.

SOURCE: NBC

FAN MADE: Posters For WOLVERINE 3, CAPTAIN MARVEL And INHUMANS

Marvel Unwilling To Create Any New X-Men Characters Because Of Fox?

Ever since Marvel Studios started making their own films and subsequently bought by Disney there seems to be tension between between Marvel and other rights holders. Rob Liefeld in an extensive  interview with WordBallon points out that Marvel hasn't created any new X-Men characters and it's not based on laziness. The comic book writer/creator is responsible for giving birth to Cable, Deadpool, Domino, Feral and X-Force. So when he talks X-Men he does have insider information. He's also been in active talks with 20th Century Fox over the Deadpool movie and possibly adding Cable to the X-Men films. 

Liefeld states Marvel/Disney isn't in the business of creating characters only to hand them over to 20th Century Fox for new additions to their films. Currently the studio holds the film rights to all the characters in the X-Men universe (hero and villains) which is an extensive group. I'm not sure if that also means that Fox gains rights to new characters as they are introduced in the comics. It's further pointed out that Marvel holds the toy rights to X-Men First Class but didn't release any over the summer when it was released. Since they would have competed with Captain America and Thor toys which Marvel gets a bigger profit from. He's pointing out Marvel is undercutting Fox's growth of their X-Men franchise where they can.

My take is that Marvel is smart by not helping Fox by handing over new characters bound by an old rights deal. They could feel the deal was unfair since it was drawn up during Marvel's financial troubles during the 90's and might not have predicted the future of the company. Hopefully there will be a way to wiggle the film rights back to Marvel other than cutting a billion dollar cheque which Rob suggests. I feel when the studio uses up all the villains they'll end up selling the rights back. The X-Men universe doesn't have a lot of film-friendly villains which must be annoying for Fox.