Bryan Singer Pitched 'Female Wolverine' X-23 To Fox

‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ director Bryan Singer has revealed that he pitched the idea of introducing X-23 - “the female Wolverine" - into the ongoing X-Men series.

As 'Apocalypse’ hits cinemas, featuring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in his penultimate appearance as the character, Fox will naturally be looking for ways to replace him - and X-23 certainly represents one such way.

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Fandango discussed the upcoming 'X-Force’ spin-off with Singer, also asking him whether Fox had asked for his guidance in regard to replacing Jackman after his final foray as the character in 2017’s third Wolverine spin-off.

“I have discussed that with the studio,” Singer says. “I actually initially pitched the X-Force and the female.” That female being X-23, a clone of Wolverine, who is currently the primary Wolverine in the Marvel Comics universe (as in the picture above, this is when she acquired the classic blue and yellow look).

Following the release of 'X-Men: Apocalypse’, Fox’s slate looks like this: a 'Deadpool’ sequel, a solo movie for fan-favourite character Gambit and the aforementioned ‘X-Force’ film with 'The Fault In Our Stars’ director Josh Boone at the helm.

No direct follow-up to 'Apocalypse’ has been announced as of yet, but Singer has revealed in a separate interview that it’s likely to be set in the 90s and see the X-Men travel to space.

For now however, spin-offs seem to be the main order of business. Regarding Boone’s 'X-Force’, Singer said that series producer and regular scribe Simon Kinberg is currently in the early stages of writing the movie.

Recently, Boone also revealed that the X-Force line-up will include the characters Magik, Wolfsbane, Mirage, Cannonball, Sunspot and Warlock. James McAvoy may also appear as Professor X, and it’s likely that “bigger name” character may appear too.

This could where X-23 comes in. As mentioned, introducing the character first created in 2004 is an option for Fox following Jackman’s tenure, but so too is recasting him outright.

Fox runs the risk of alienating and annoying fans by doing that too quickly, so introducing X-23 would offer an interesting alternative and buy them some time before they eventually do decide to recast the original Wolvie (which they obviously will).

What’s certain is that these are interesting times for the X-franchise.

Picture Credits: Marvel