Fans call for X-Men 4 with Joss Whedon directing - do you agree?

From: coventrytelegraph.net
Written by: David Bentley

JUST OVER 1,000 people have now signed an online petition calling for a film follow-up to the 2006 release X-Men: The Last Stand.

The currently on-release X-Men Origins: Wolverine is, of course, a prequel - and other prequels are planned (X-Men: First Class and X-Men Origins: Magneto).

But some fans also want sequels to the existing trilogy that take forward the storylines of the cure, Xavier's survival and the return of Magneto's powers.

While petitions are very common across the internet, and 1,000 people is not that big a number relative to the global audience of the movies, the campaign does show some strength of feeling out there for further X-movies, as I had also reported earlier.

In addition, a further online petition calls for Joss Whedon - who wrote the Astonishing X-Men comic book series - to be hired to direct the fourth movie.

SFX magazine recently asked readers what they wanted to see in an X-Men 4 and the five most popular answers were:

1. Long-awaited comic book favourites, the most popular being Sentinels (mutant-hunting robots) and the evil, ancient mutant called Apocalypse
2. Less Wolverine, as he has dominated all the films so far
3. Reboot the franchise to improve the casting (Halle Berry came in for heavy criticism)
4. Give Rogue a total overhaul to make her tougher, more powerful and more in line with the comic books
5. Use the Days of Future Past storyline in which Kitty Pryde travels back from a dystopian future (where mutants are being slaughtered by Sentinels) in order to prevent it all happening...this would create an alternative reality and could wipe the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, which upset many fans!

Other readers suggested bringing back director Bryan Singer - the director of the first two X-Men films who has proved without doubt to be the best suited to the franchise - while there were also calls for the return of Nightcrawler and for boosting the role of plasma-generating mutant Jubilee who had cameo appearances in the movies.

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Josh Schwartz to Write X-Men: First Class

From: Superherohype.com

20th Century Fox has hired "Gossip Girl" creator Josh Schwartz to write X-Men: First Class. He'd also been offered a chance to direct the film, but declined.

Schwartz, the creator and executive producer of The CW's hit as well as Fox's "The O.C." and NBC's "Chuck," is expected to inject a next-gen sensibility into the superhero series.

The studio has been leaning toward using the younger characters introduced in the previous films in future installments --teenagers with powers taught at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.

Resulting film would likely draw from elements of the Marvel Comic of the same name, launched in 2006, and enlist such characters as Iceman, Rogue, Angel, Colossus, Jubilee and Shadowcat, who have appeared prominently or made cameos in prior pics.

Lauren Shuler Donner, who produced all three "X-Men" pics, as well as next summer's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is producing "First Class" alongside Mr. & Mrs. Smith scribe Simon Kinberg.

Meet the Uncannily Nude X-Men

From: ToplessRobot.com

So when I was searching for pics of Avengers last night for today's Daily List, I came across a wonder. It's not fan fiction, per se; and it's not exactly fan art, either. It is absolutely bat-shit crazy: some enterprising young nerd has taken it upon him or herself to find pictures of nude models to represent the X-Men and every other mutant he/she can think of. You can see a playful Gambit above.

Now, that would be weird by itself, but the project has its own little fiction—that a mutant named Marie Sinclair wanted to make a coffee table book of nude mutant photography. As Cyclops puts it in his introduction (I swear I am not making any of this up):


Three years ago, a gamma-level mutant refining her powers at the Xavier Institute embarked on a project to photograph members of the various alpha-level mutant militias. She was uniquely suited to do so, having both light-manipulation as her mutation and intimate access to the alpha-levels at home. The project began with the permission of team administrators, on the condition that no one would be pressured into being photographed against his or her will.

To date, everyone who has participated has been satisfied with the results. Most of the pages devoted to individuals have been produced in collaboration with those individuals, and nothing currently appears without the participant's consent.

I'm sure Marvel will be glad to know Jubilee didn't pose nude against her will. Anyways, it's really just an insane excuse to post a lot of pictures of nekkid guys and gals with X-Men names and a list of mutant powers next to them. Frankly, I'm stunned. If you want to see 40 pictures of nude models in various states of undress—it's totally NSFW, obviously—and there are a few penises, just so you know—who are supposedly mutants ranging from the original five X-Men to nth-tier mutants like Marrow and Husk—by all means, check it out. I'm going to beat myself unconscious with a scotch bottle.