Despite the stupid title “X-Men: The Last Stand“, Fox Head Tom Rothman has all but confirmed that there will indeed be an X-Men 4, and probably more after that as well. Now it’s all well and good for him to say that now… but if X-Men 3 is a bomb (which we all know it won’t be… even if it sucks) then those words will be quickly eaten.
So why the title “The Last Stand” then? Well, according to the good folks over at Movie Hole, Rothman offers the following explanation:
“It’s the conclusion of this trilogy. These three movies work as a trilogy. These characters in this relationship, it’s the culmination of that saga. It’s the culmination and the resolution of those relationships laid out in the first two movies. That doesn’t mean never, I would ever say never again, but I will say that this brings that saga to an end. It’s quite the way the last Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, brought that trilogy to a conclusion in terms of those characters, that’s what this movie does. It goes all the way back to the first one and rounds off and completes that three-part story”.
Perhaps someone should tell Rothman that the end of the Lord of the Rings was indeed actually the end of the whole series. He might have missed that part.
So all this talk of “this is the end of THIS saga”. This particular story line in X-Men is indeed finished… but there are more to come. Heck… the Wolverine spinoff is basically going to be X-Men 4 with a new title. Make no mistake… there will be MANY more X-Movies.
I personally still have major reservations about the next X-Men film… but my hope has risen over the last month. Let’s hope it works out. Thus far the X-Men have been my favorite comic film franchise (yes, even more than Spider-Man) and I’d hate to see it go down the toilet.
As an X-Men fan of all incarnations (comics, animated series, and now film) I really would be okay with them taking the first three films as ‘a trilogy’ and then moving on from there. The team that is “The X-Men” has changed time and time again in the comics and that’s part of what keeps it fresh. The constant intermixing of new X-Men with old always keeps things interesting. I’d personally be okay with characters like Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm phasing out for awhile so we can introduce and focus more on characters like Gambit, Bishop, and possibly even what looks to be the introduction of Angel. They could even work in Angel becoming Arch-Angel.
I don’t see how doing this would in any way compare the franchise with Star Wars. The problem with Star Wars wasn’t that they made two separate trilogies. The problem was that the original films had terrific stories, character, and plot that were saddled with never before seen special effects. The newer films lacked everything but the effects. I don’t see them making the same mistakes with the X-Men franchise only because there are so many great storylines for them to draw from, and they do their best to put talented writers and directors in charge of these stories, unlike Lucas who prefers to do it all himself when it’s obvious his best work is written and directed by others.
My two cents. (Maybe more than two cents.)
Sorry, I meant to say “Sinister would make (instead of may) a good villain.”
BTW, Phoenix and Magneto = bad news for X-Men.
Phoenix and Magneto + Apocalypse & Four Horseman = HOLY SH!T, both X-Men and humans!
Hey, this is America. You can tell the whole world you hate Superman. That’s not bad. Though I like both films, I do feel Superman will be the center of attention, since this is the first sequel in a LONG time (of course, that may not be a very good reason) and Singer is the director (which must’ve dissapointed the hardcore fans who wanted Singer to continue).
BTW, thanks for revealing that Nightcrawler has two more movies on his contract (if FOX doesn’t fuck up). Mr. Sinister would may a good villain too!
Better yet, why not bring Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen and do the Age of Apocalypse storyline, WITHOUT that silly time-traveling in the plot. These villains can KICK so much ass without any cheap stuff (like in X-Men Legends 2).
And I like the idea for Joss Whedon to be next in line (sorry, Ratner). Like Singer doing comics, think of what Whedon is able to do on X4! Hell, get Tim Burton to direct and Whedon to write! Burton can really make the villains creapy, as he done before.
Is it so wrong to dream of this as a possiblity?
I hated to hear there would be no nightcrawler in X3, while Alan Cumming signed for 2 films where he would play nightcrawler.
I only hope the movie isn’t going to suck, since Singer descided to work on “Mr Look-at-me-being-Mr-american-dream-in-spandex-Yammies-and-a-stupid-cape” (Yeah, I think superman sucks, so what?)… and he did a good job on the first 2 films.
I don’t mind if it’s the ending of a trilogy, give me more, singer you rat-fucked-pig-ass!
And don’t you dare exclude Nightcrawler!
He was loved by many people, and got too little screentime in 2… give him more! MORE!
WE WANT NIGHTCRAWLER!
And while at it, bring out Mr Sinister!
John,
I don’t understand the title of this post. I’ve been surfing around and you’re the only guy who has interpreted Rothman’s comments as confirmation of X-Men 4.
Seems to me he’s saying that they’re DONE after this movie but he’s saying “never say never” just to cover his butt.
Vic
I stand corrected, sort of. In the same interview, Rothman says AvP2 has been greenlit and a script ‘is being worked on’. Maybe he’s not such a good guy after all…
Pixar drops Toy Story 3, Universal delays the fourh Park…but Fox likes AVP2.
Some days you have shit with the sugar…
as i saw it, x2 was a continuation of x1… it really picked up right where the first one left off.
there were just not enough tying threads together for it to be part of a trillogy. BUT, john, realize that this could be remembered as a trillogy if the final movie DOES have some form of nail in the coffin… IE magneto dies, the brotherhood is put down for good… you know, something in that vein.
i’m waiting to see the movie before casting stones. it looks just too goddamn good for me to be in the cynic camp at this stage. i’m just plain psyched. mroe so than i was for 2.
Seriously, every day Fox’s TV and movie decisions just render it the laughing stock of the industry.
WB was teetering on the edge of it but redeemed themselves. Fox is a joke.
1)HELL NO, I’M NOT THAT STUPID ASSHOLE!!!!
2)After reading some comments, I would like to apologize to what I said earlier (even to Rothman)…
3)But I didn’t mean what I said in the first place.
I didn’t know you saw that column too, 1mperfex. I saw that stupid hate mail to Csonka, and thought about doing some negative comments just to hear what others had to say. I’m glad to know that many people see some good coming to X4, and didn’t agree with me.
I’m still looking forward to X3, even after finding out that Sentinels may (but not likely) appear in X3.
I never bought any X-Men books (just browsed several of them), though I did watch the cartoon (but stopped ’cause it felt too “mature” for me, which is stupid since I watched Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns as a kid too). So I was happy to get both films, and really enjoyed X2.
I’m sorry if I annoyed anyone on my comments.
I do want to buy the Dark Phoenix Saga (including other great comics), and I can’t wait to see Singer’s view on the Ultimate X-Men comic this year (I can’t imagine what he can come up with this year).
I like what everyone is thinking about for the next sequel. I just want to say one thing though…
I would like to see Joss Whedon be the writer and/or director for the next film. I heard a LOT of great stuff about his films and comics, including Senerity and Astonishing X-Men.
Here’s hoping though.
DarKing, you must really like the Dark Phoenix Saga to say all that stuff. Come on, a lot of people expected to see Alien vs. Predator to be great (despite Mr. Anderson directing), but with a sequel coming soon, they could improve any faults from the first film (like the director; I would perfer seeing a new face taking control). I am interested in seeing both species invade Earth this time, instead of escaping a pyramid.
I would so like to see Apocalypse enter the next movie, though you really shouldn’t trash down the film unless you’ve seen it.
BTW, please don’t compare Boll and Anderson to ANY good directors.
What a minute, “fuck you very much?” You’re not that idiot who send that hate mail to Larry Csonka on 411mania/wrestling, are you?
I’m glad they’re making a fourth one. I still think the third one can be good. I mean it’s the x-men; how can you go wrong with the x-men? As long as they’re doing something it ought to be good.
My bet is that they’ll come back after X3 to do the Apocalypse Saga, or the Legacy Virus (or whatever the mutant-eating virus was called), or the crazy time travel storyline. There’s a ridiculous amount of story to draw from, and they could very possibly make this series go on for as long as people pay to see it.
I like this news though. I think that it’s going to be how more and more comic book movies decide to do sequels as a.) actors grow out of their roles, and b.) the events of the films stop being interesting. I really don’t care if they start a new “trilogy” after this one is over, because that’s more or less how the comics do it.
As far as the LOTR comment, I understand where he’s coming from. The actual series ended with ROTK, but there were a number of books written after those three (though I think most were done by one of Tolkien’s relatives). A better comparison might have been Star Wars, which does have a ton of books set after the original trilogy, with new characters and old ones.
Whatever the case, I’ll keep watching X-Men movies as long as they keep putting them out, and I’m sure most of you will too.
As to ‘knowing who will die’ – I think you are reffering to the false early film review, which was, in essence, a recap of an early script when Matthew Vaughn was helming. No one has seen the final, let alone rough cut of the movie yet, although the studio releases a chunkload of stills now almost on a daily basis.
I think when he means ‘Trilogy’ (it is a wrong word) he means Magneto as a villian; the breakup of the ‘X-Men’ team (Cyke, Jean Grey, Storm, Wolverine and/or Prof X) which paves the way for the ‘new team’: (Iceman, Rouge, Beast, Colossus and Kitty Pride-Shadowcat and/or return of Nightcrawler) ; Wolvie gets a spinoff film.
Villians could be Sentienels or…Apocolypse/Sinister
Yeah, that Rothman. He’s a real bad guy, right DarKing?
In a pig’s rectum.
GODDAMN YOU ROTHMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I HATE YOU WITH EXTREME PASSION!!!!!!
I was looking forward to X3, despite the fact that it may be a piece of crap compared to Superman, the stupid subtitle “Last Stand” (actually I like it, but ONLY if it was the last film), and I know who’ll die in the movie (and fuck you VERY much for seeing this as the reason to “end” the “1st” trilogy, I only pray to God that you don’t pull a George Lucas to the franchise).
I dare ANYONE to ask who will die, cause I will spoil the damn film here (unless they know too)!
And he tries to be a smartass by comparing X3 to LOTR: Return of the King. I understand what he was trying to say, but still. I know that some people may not like Return of the King, but they should respect the fact that Peter Jackson ENDED the series there instead of making his own 4th movie. Comparing X3 to Lord of the Rings was not even close!
I’m sorry if I am ranting a lot, but I REFUSE to see X-Men turn into the next Star Wars’ prequels, and that ASSHOLE actually HOPED THAT THE FIRST FILM WOULD BOMB!!! You want a piece of me Rothman?
BRING IT ON YOU STUPID, GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKER!!!!
You make Uwe Boll and Paul W.S. Anderson look like James Cameron and George A. Romero (like I give a wrestler’s shit if you don’t like them).
I beg for anyone to protest this! I was SO looking forward to Bryan Singer’s Dark Phoenix Saga, at least MORE people would pay to see that (as I said on Jean Grey)!
Tim Rothman, congratulations! You just won the award for “Best Villain of 2006!”
Godspeed X-Men (R.I.P, 2000-2006) *sobs*
Hey Adam
I don’t think either of those really count… since they’re both BEFORE the events of LOTR. Return of the King ends the story.
But I can see where you’re coming from.
Cheers!
~John
I think he was referring to Return of the King being the end of the Lord of Rings trilogy but The Hobbit has yet to be made, and who knows maybe the Silmarillion or however it’s spelled.
= big salary dumping