As X-Men begins to fade in the distance, it looks like Fox is turning their sights to setting up New Mutants and X-Force. While writer-director Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) works on what looks to be a YA-spin on the X-Men with New Mutants, the clearest entry point into X-Force appears to be Deadpool 2.

For those who are unfamiliar with X-Force, the best way to describe the team is that they’re the mutants who handle black-ops kind of missions like assassinations, or at least that’s something they handled in their latest incarnation, Uncanny X-Force, which included Deadpool. The team also included, at various points, Domino and Cable, who are both set to appear in Deadpool 2.

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Image via Marvel Comics

However, as we’ve seen with in other superhero movies, setting up crossovers can be tricky. It’s usually distracting and difficult to fit into the narrative. Yesterday, Steve Weintraub spoke with Deadpool 2 writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick about the challenges of setting up X-Force, and they replied that while Deadpool 2 will set up that film, they’re not losing sight of the Merc with the Mouth:

RHETT REESE: There is a responsibility we have to the X-Force universe, and I do think we will not disappoint the fans going into Deadpool 2 and then setting up X-Force and beyond.

 

PAUL WERNICK: We never want to let the tail wag the dog. We want to tell the best Deadpool story we can. But I do think we have a responsibility to think about a larger universe in the way that Marvel does and start to put pieces in place. Some of these movies feel overstuffed and almost choking with the need to set up eighteen different things that pay off down the road, and we want to avoid that responsibility to the extent that it hurts us. We want to hint at things, we want to plan some characters, and we want to make some nods, but we’re very, very cognizant about making sure that Deadpool is above all a Deadpool movie.

 

REESE: Its purpose is not to set up X-Force. It will likely set up X-Force, but the drive of the movie won’t be our eyes on Movie 3.

Hopefully, the mistakes made by Iron Man 2 and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will help inform Reese and Wernick on what not to do with regards to setting up X-Force. It’s an encouraging sign that they know they need to keep the focus on Deadpool and I’m eager to see how they set up X-Force without making it a distraction.

Come back next week for Steve’s full conversation with Reese and Wernick, and in case you missed it, click on the respective links for what they had to say about Colossus and Negasonic returning for Deadpool 2 and for how they’ll handle Cable’s convoluted origin story.

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Image via Marvel Comics
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Image via Marvel Comics