Back in the 1990's, the X-Men were in their heyday and it seemed like there could never be enough mutant books on the shelf. The result was a glut of such monthly titles, one of the more popular being X-Force. X-Force was edgier and flashier than the other X-books and featured the distinctive 'art' of Rob Leifeld. Led by Cable, a kind of gun-toting time-traveling anti-hero resembling a roided out Clint Eastwood with a robot arm, X-Force continues to have a strong following.

Years later, X-Men are once more back on top and as comic book movies are the flavor of the day and Fox owns the X-Men family of characters, why not expand into this popular realm of intense hyper action and hard-edged over the top heroes? With Wanted and Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar involved, you can be sure that this will gain plenty of exposure.

CableAndXForce_01Via Spinoff:

We know Kick-Ass 2's Jeff Wadlow has been hired to write, and possibly direct, an X-Force movie for Fox. Beyond that, however, details are slim. Indeed, it's not even clear which lineup of heroes the X-Force movie will feature.

But we now might know how many heroes to expect.

Wadlow and Mark Millar spoke with Slash Film at Comic-Con International to promote the upcoming Kick-Ass sequel, and naturally the discussion turned to the developing X-Force. On the topic of which characters Wadlow intends to use for X-Force, the writer kept his lips sealed. Millar, however, let out an interesting detail.

"People are going to be dissecting every name as it gets released," said Millar, Fox's consultant on all things Marvel. "So it will be so cool when you have your five."

Five, he says. That doesn't exactly narrow down which characters are going to make it into the film — the modern-day Uncanny X-Force lineup is much closer to that number than the robust Rob Liefeld era — but Wadlow has made it clear he's a fan of both versions.

"I love the current incarnation, Uncanny X-Force. I love what Rob did in the '90s," he said. "What's interesting with X-Men, I mean they have an iconic lineup, so you know who's going to be in that movie. But X-Force it's like, 'Who is it going to be?' I love that people are guessing."

More as it comes...