X-Men Origins: Wolverine hits DVD/Blu-Ray shelves this week, so it seems like perfect time to start thinking about the next line of Marvel movies.  Sure, there are plenty of Marvel movies on the horizon, Iron Man 2, Thor, Spider-Man 4, The Avengers, Captain America, Magneto, and Ant-Man, but Marvel has literally thousands of characters, and only one of those listed movies is about a mutant.

The X-Men series is in a weird spot right now.  X-Men: The Last Stand effectively killed the series, but it was resurrected in the X-Men Origins franchise, with prequels of the characters established in the trilogy.  X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2 is on its way, and it looks like it’ll be set in Japan, following the Chris Claremont and Frank Miller storyline, X-Men Origins: Magneto on the other had has had numerous rumors swirling around it, from being set entirely in a World War II Concentration Camp, to being set in the 60s.  Yet Magneto has not been a Fox or Marvel priority, and it looks like Wolverine 2 will be filming long before we see a Magneto movie.  But there are plenty of us that think that the X-Men are more than simply a vehicle for Wolverine.

What character could possibly be next in line for the X-Men Origin treatment?  What mutant character from Marvel history deserves their own movie?  Which character wasn’t given their due in a limited appearance in one of the X-Men films?  Let’s take a look at some of the characters we know well from the movies series and some that were only hinted at, and discuss what the next, possible, Marvel mutant movies could be.  

I’ve included a lot of information on the comics, but remember, this is about the movie versions of these characters.  Be aware though, if you haven’t seen the X-Men trilogy or X-Men Origins: Wolverine, there might be some spoilers ahead for you.

The big news during the making of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was the inclusion of Deadpool, played by none other than Ryan Reynolds.  I've been a fan of Deadpool since The New Mutants, and I've been a fan of Ryan Reynolds since the under-appreciated movie Dick, so this news was very encouraging to me.  Ryan Reynolds has been angling for a superhero role for a long time now, he's playing the Green Lantern soon, he's been connected with The Flash for a while now, and he was in Blade: Trinity playing Hannibal King, but Deadpool is probably the most brilliant casting in this movie.  Well, maybe not brilliant, but perfect.  In Blade: Trinity, Ryan Reynolds was a rare high point, and we got a glimpse at a gun-wielding, wise-cracking badass stuck in a less than par movie.  In Wolverine his scenes are brief, and many of those scenes don't have any dialogue, but again he nails the character and steals every scene he's in.

Anyone who stayed after the credits of Wolverine knows that Weapon XI, or Deadpool, is alive, and is probably staking Wolverine as we speak.  Talk of a spin-off movie preceded the release of the film, but with the casting of Reynolds as Green Lantern things are once again up-in-air.

A Deadpool movie could take many forms; either prequel or sequel, or sequel with a lot of flashbacks, and I think that we could probably tell what kind of movie it will be by the rating its given.  Deadpool is violent, its funny, and most of all its daring, with the wise-cracking assassin breaking the fourth wall on a regular basis, and addressing his presence in a comic-book.  Reynolds has stated publicly that he thinks Deadpool should be that daring, complete with the breaking of the fourth wall.

Now, if Fox continues there tradition of hiring artsy or cult-y directors for all their Marvel films, then it would stand to reason that we could see a more violent, and more daring Deadpool, helmed by a less traditional director.  If Fox were to take a chance, and give us a Blade-style, R-rated, action thriller, starring Reynolds as a completely unredeemable anti-hero, I think we might have something to really get excited about.  Its been ten years since Blade, and I really think its about time that a comic book movie like that hit theaters

The leader of the X-Men, and in film form, the most boring X-Men by far!  The last we saw, chronologically anyway, was Cyclops’ death, so if we were to see an X-Men 4, we probably wouldn’t be seeing him.  But, considering that last time we see Cyclops in Wolverine, he joins Xavier presumably to join the school, his adventures would be limited to the Xavier school.  Having an X-Men movie strictly about young mutants in the Xavier school has been rumored before, either going with a new set of mutants (perhaps the New Mutants) or younger versions of heroes we already know.  Cyclops escaped with a Emma Frost, a guy who moved an awful like Quicksilver, and a whole mess of other young mutants, so this seems like a perfect place to pick-up and show Cyclops’ origin in the school.

Personally, I always kind of blamed James Marsden for Cyclops being so boring, but then I saw Superman Returns, and saw a really great actor.  Perhaps if he was given his own movie, James Marsden could do something interesting with Cyclops.  I’d love to see Cyclops get to show his heroism, and really shine in a mutant movie for once!

Storm never really got her due in the movies.  In the comic-books, she succeeds Cyclops as the leader of the X-Men, but in the movies, while she is the voice of reason, the voice of conscience for the mutants, she wasn’t ever the focus of anything.  In the books, her character was explored in many ways, from being made into the Queen of the Morlocks to her punk revival in the 80s, complete with a mohawk, but in the films she basically played back up to the Wolverine-Cyclops-Jean Grey love triangle, with a dramatic scene thrown in there every once in a while.

So what could we see if they did make an X-Men Origins: Storm?  Storm’s parents were killed when she was a young girl, and she lived through much of her youth on the streets of Cairo, Eygpt, where she learned to become a master thief.  She crossed paths with her future when she happened to pick the pocket of a certain bald, wheelchair bound, American tourist.  After this incident, Storm spent several years as the leader of a tribe in Kenya, worshipped by her followers, and gaining the leadership skills she would later need when she joined the X-Men.

So, would you see a movie set in Africa following the exploits of a young girl, with stark white hair?  I admit, it seems like a bit of a stretch to me personally, as it would go too far a field from the original movies.  As I said before, in the comic-books Storm was made leader of the Morlocks, and this is fairly close to the sort of group she was associated with in her actual origin story in Cairo.  What if a Storm movie was based on this time with the Morlocks.  I know, the Morlocks appear in the X-Men: The Last Stand, but Marvel and Fox have been revisionist in the past, so why not make some small changes here?  I thought the Morlocks were too small a part in X-Men: The Last Stand, so a movie that focused on a young Storm and this strange band of underground mutants appeals to me.

Beast was only sort of a team member in X-Men: The Last Stand.  Sure, he donned the suit, and was a good friend of Xavier’s, but he was more of a politician than a full-fledged X-Men.  It would seem that an X-Men Origins movie based on this character would be stretch, but keep in mind his history.  Beast is one of the original X-Men, there in 1963 where it all started.  Beast is both the one of the strangest looking, as well as the most intelligent members of the X-Men, which creates a very interesting character.  He’s been in every iteration of the X-Men series, and he has always been one of the most complex.

Beast is one of the few characters who cannot pass for a normal human.  While most of the X-Men can take off their costumes and join the rest of normal society, Beast has no choice but to live as an open mutant.  There in lies the brilliance behind the character, because X-Men comics have always been a place to explore complex ideas, be it racism, homophobia, or AIDS.  A film based around Beast would be forced to explore these ideas (unless there is some sort of potion or holographic emitter which would allow him to hide his mutation; which has happened before), with a truly great character as an anchor.  As I’ve said, he is smart, but he is also the most soft-spoken, and thoughtful characters Marvel has to offer.  In a series where Wolverine was the breakout character, Beast was the quiet heart of the comic-book.

Who doesn’t love Nightcrawler?  I’ve always been a fan, not just because of how awesome he looks, but because he is one of the best rendered characters in the series.  He is one of the few comic book characters with faith, a devote Catholic, Nightcrawler is another mutant who cannot hide his mutation, and has had his view of the world forged by difference.  In X2, Alan Cumming created a character that was not only sympathetic, but also tragic, a definite breakthrough character for the series.

There are other differences between Nightcrawler and other X-Men as well.  Nightcrawler enjoyed adventures on many other teams and with many other Marvel heroes.  This could form the story for an X-Men Origins: Nightcrawler movie, perhaps starting in Germany when he joins the circus, maybe continuing as he joins various Marvel heroes for adventures around the world.  Perhaps they could touch on his mother, Mystique, and how she gave him up after impersonating Baroness Wagner.  His relationship with Mystique was never explored in the films, nor hinted at, but some selective amnesia could easily solve that.  If that Magneto movie ever does happen, I would imagine an appearance by Mystique, and if she plays a major part in that movie, it would be a perfect opportunity for her history with Nightcrawler to be told.  Nightcrawler is an intriguing character, and it would be a shame if his only appearance in live action form was in X2: X-Men United.

Fan favorite Gambit appeared briefly in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and at the end of the film, it is hinted that he would become a much more important character.  In X-Men Origins: Wolverine Gambit was portrayed by Taylor Kitsch.  Gambit appeared, in name only, in X-Men 2, when his name appeared among the tracked mutants by Stryker.  So it seems like a waste to have these limited appearances to be Gambit’s only foray onto the silver screen.    

Gambit first appeared in 1990, created by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee, and has been part of the X-Men since then.  He has starred in two solo series as well as countless spin-offs of the X-Men, and has always been one of the most beloved X-Men characters since his inception.  Gambit has dated Rogue for a long time.

So, should we expect an X-Men Origins: Gambit film soon?  Somehow, I don’t think so.  The X-Men franchise is sort of dead right now, but with the ending of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I think it’s very possible that we'll see Gambit as a much more major character in part 2.

Angel is another founding member of X-Men that was only given passing attention in the film series.  Sure, Angel bookended X-Men: The Last Stand, but his character was little developed, and he never actually joined the X-Men team.  I think that Angel getting a movie of his own is a long shot, at best, but I’ve always wanted to see Angel other incarnation appear in film, namely Archangel.  

For the uninitiated, Archangel was created by super-villain Apocalypse as one of his Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, namely Death.  Apocalypse being a centuries old mutant, bent on bringing Darwin’s survival of the fittest to its most bloody conclusion, genetically altered into a radically different creature.  Archangel is very different from the angelic Angel in many ways, with blue skin, metal wings, and the ability to shoot metal projectiles from those wings.  While I doubt Apocalypse would be brought to the big screen, I think a good writer could find a way to make Angel into Archangel with Apocalypse showing up.  I basically want to see a metal winged creature, with blue skin, fight with some other super powerful mutants, so I hope this long shot pays off.

We have yet to see Cable in any movie, so a film dedicated to Cable with an X-Men Origins prefix is probably not in the cards, but I could most definitely see Cable showing up down the line.  You see, Cable is from the future, so he can show up any time he wants to.  This, to me anyway, is precisely what the X-Men franchise needs, to build up its mythology.  

In the comics, Cable came from the future to stop the eventual rise of Apocalypse, which will basically destroy the world.  This sort of long-term, trilogy inducing storyline would not only make for some great stories, but would also allow a lot of characters to be fighting many different enemies, but have it all come back to one singular foe, it would give these standalone movies an ultimate goal.  Imagine, if you will, a half dozen X-Men Origin movies, following characters from Angel to Beast, all fighting lower tier villains with Cable acting as Nick Fury is with The Avengers, bringing them all together.  Then, after several years of these standalone movies, with new characters being introduced, and given their origin stories, we get one gigantic mutant epic with all these mutants taking on Apocalypse.

I've always been sort of surprised that Havok didn't show up in any of the movies.  Havok's mutant powers are extreme and they have rarely been fully realized, but this makes his power more interesting, and he spends much of his time trying to just control them.  When Havok first discovered his mutant powers they would only manifest when he was near death, and only later was he granted a suit that would even allow him to manage them.

Havok is the younger brother of Cyclops, and the older brother of Vulcan, the three children orphaned after their parents where killed by aliens.  Of course, the majority of this storyline wouldn't need to be translated to film, a Havok movie, or a Cyclops movie with Havok as a major character, could still deal with three children, all supremely gifted, but very dangerous.  There has yet to be a movie about mutants within a family, and the Summers family would basically be perfect for such a movie.  An oldest son who’s a born leader, a middle son who has great power but is unable to control it, and the youngest son who is a genetically altered super-being raised by aliens to destroy Earth.  Its like a Russian novel!