If an X23 Movie is on the cards, what should they keep out of the film?
SPOILERS AHEAD
Logan was a bit of a sleeper hit, wasn’t it?
Much like Deadpool, it is a movie that came completely out of nowhere for the majority of the cinema-going public. It then proceeded to steal the hearts and minds of almost everyone that saw it, gods of movie ratings Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 93% Fresh score.
The movie was a bloodbath that left us with one dead Wolverine and little hope for a sequel, yet from the ashes of Logan rises a new legend: X23.
X23, or Laura, was undoubtedly one of the best parts of the film. She was enigmatic, energetic and as ravenous as the Wolverine himself. Her presence in the film gave it everything it needed to be an emotional rollercoaster, yet X23 has more to give than just the backbone of Logan’s plot.
Both Dafne Keen (X23 actress) and James Mangold (Logan Director) have stated that they would be interested in a sequel that sees the return of Laura. Whether or not this could actually happen is still anyone’s guess — although, given the massive success of Logan, and Fox’s general lack of movie success, we imagine it’s pretty bloody likely.
But, if an X23 movie did get off the ground, what exactly would it be about? We have no clue, but we know what we wouldn’t want to see in it!
Director: Bryan Singer
Bryan Singer has become somewhat of a poison to the X-men universe. Granted Days of Futures Past was pretty good, but only because Matthew Vaughn so brilliantly set up the new generation. Given time, though, Bryan Singer will destroy the X-men series.
The problem is, they just keep throwing the damn movies at him. Even after the shambles that was Wolverine Origins. We would hate for him to get control of an X23 movie because he would take everything that is great about Logan, the depth of characters especially, and fuck it up with terrible CGI and epic battle sequences that totally ruin the tone of the film.
An Origin Chasing Plot
We need another origin story like we needed another Fantastic 4 movie — which was another origin story.
Even now, I can see where the storyboarders will go: Down the rabbit hole of, ‘hey, what if she went looking into her past?’.
Please… just don’t.
In Logan, we saw plenty of X23’s past. We know what happened to her in a vague way and we saw her captors die brutally. You could easily write in another story, more people behind the scenes, a greater foe, but why would you?
X23 can go anywhere, do anything. Why push her back to a story we already know? An origin story would be neither new nor fresh, which what we always wanted to see. Instead, it would just retread the ground of not only Logan, but a million other movies before it.
A Heavy Focus on the Other Child Mutants
X23 escaped with a host of other powerful mutants, some with some pretty interesting gifts. I know people may want us to explore the realms of these powers, but can I just ask that we don’t?
The more children you introduce into this film, the less gore and brutality you can get out of it. Children also add a layer of vulnerability that we just don’t have time for too. X23 is not vulnerable like they are, and having them alongside her is just going to hold her back. I don’t want to see the child within her; I want to see more of the animal with claws.
Sure, it would be interesting to see her grapple with her inner-turmoil of being a killing machine — something we caught a glimpse of in Logan — but she can do that without a host of kids around her.
I say, get her out of that setting as soon as possible. We can see how attached she is to this group and it will just pull out a side of her that isn’t as exciting to see or watch as the stoic, suddenly manic X23 we’ve come to know and love.
The Return of Another Member of the X-Men Team
We know that Professor X went all doomsday weapon on the school and killed 7 mutants — 7 mutants we can assume would be part of the main team. However, 7 mutants is not every mutant. From the main cast, we have:
- Storm
- Cyclops
- Jean
- Mystique
- Magneto
- Rogue
- Beast
- Nightcrawler
This means at least one of these famous mutants is alive, maybe even more. 7 mutants dead doesn’t mean that they had to be from this list. Maybe Iceman bought it, or Juggernaut for some reason…
Anyway, the point is we know that other mutants that viewers recognise may still be about during the events of Logan. What we at FinalBoss want though, is for them not to appear in an X23 movie.
We can see the temptation of course. Playoff their name, hype it in the trailers, but we think it would really detract from the potential of X23. She has her own character, her own stories to tell, and that is what we want to see. Don’t entangle her with roots from the past. A cameo role would be fine, sure — like Wolverine in First Class — but not as a major role. You’ve had your time, oldies, give it over to the new mutants.
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They should do a spin on Target X: After crossing the border, the kids are split up by their benefactors and placed with foster families (idea being that Alkali-Transigen are still out there — Rice is clearly answering to SOMEONE when he meets those military guys after the Munson farm — and it’s easier to hide the kids if they’re not all together). Laura is placed with a woman named Deborah Kinney, who has a daughter, Megan (she should be played by Millie Bobby Brown) and starts to settle in to living a normal life. However Transigen manages to track her down, (maybe Laura gets into a fight to save Megan, like the kidnapper who took her in the Innocence Lost mini, tipping them off) putting her new life and family at risk.
Also, Bryan Singer had nothing to do with X-Men Origins. That was directed by Gavin Hood and written by David Benioff and Skip Woods. Not sure how you could miss that with IMDB and Wikipedia literally at your fingertips…
Interesting plot idea! Would you like to see her family survive the film or end on a similar note to Logan?
Also, dunno how I buggered that one up, re: origins. Total brainfart, thanks for pointing it out! – James
@D.E.Wyatt This may be 4 months late, but I do like your ideal premise for Laura’s story! It’s simple but allows her to grow up and co-exist with humans, in this case, the Kinney family to keep the X-Men ideas alive from the comics she’s reading. Having the surviving kids placed with different parents would help us know that they’ll live happily ever after, while keeping all of the focus on Laura once she was placed with Deborah and Megan. Speaking of Megan, Millie Bobby Brown should definitely appear alongside Dafne Keen, it would bring more of an audience in and who doesn’t want to see them together? Not sure who should play Deborah.
For the villains, I guess they should bring in Martin Sutter, since he was part of X-23’s origin. Either Kimura or an cyber-netically enhance Donald Pierce should be the villains that put Laura and the Kinney family in danger. A fight between Laura and Kimura would be great to see. And even better, “the trigger scent” should play a role, whether or not Laura feels safe to be around a family who is not only biological with DNA, but care for their safety. At the end, the Kinney family should be alive but say their goodbyes to Laura.
If they decide to kill off the Kinneys, maybe have Daken play the villain to Laura. His motives maybe being brainwashed by Alkali/Transigen into thinking that Laura killed Logan, his dad. It’ll be like Captain America and Bucky in the Winter Soldier. After all the killings that Daken caused to innocents, he realised all the damage has been done and decides to find Laura and bond a brother/sister relationship. The idea of “family” is still with Laura and it’s better than rehashing an origin story that we all saw in Logan.
Mangold got to do whatever he wanted with Logan and he should come back to direct Laura’s story. It’s not disrespectful to Logan’s ending because it’s the end of HIS story but a beginning of the Wolverine mantle being passed on to Laura. Out of all the directors that Fox hires, he simply understood the character of Wolverine and X-23 and wants to explore more of her. And for the love, Fox do not re-cast Dafne Keen, let her grow.