Joe Carnahan to direct ‘X-Force’ movie, co-write it with Ryan Reynolds

Carnahan has several high-profile film successes under his belt, including Narc, Smokin’ Aces, The A-Team, and The Grey. Reynolds is currently working on Deadpool 2, and will star alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in the science-fiction horror film Life, which debuts March 24.

Reynolds helping to write X-Force does make some sense: Deadpool 2 will also feature Cable, the first leader of X-Force in Marvel’s comic book series. At one point in the serie,s Deadpool appeared in the X-Force comics, so it’s not entirely out of the question that Deadpool makes some kind of appearance in the new movie.

Which Marvel characters may appear is anyone’s guess — nearly three dozen characters have appeared over the comic’s several runs, including Cyclops, Psylocke, Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus.

X-Force is the brainchild of Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld, and made its first appearance in 1991 in New Mutants No. 100. For those not familiar, the X-Force can be thought of as a more militant version of the X-Men — so it’s also likely that the movie itself will follow the lead of Logan and Deadpool and sport an R rating.

Reynolds is on record expressing his interest in being involved with an X-Force movie, as well as a more grittier film than traditional Marvel franchise blockbusters. However, this was before Deadpool’s stunning success, and with Deadpool 2 a priority for 20th Century Fox, X-Force is probably several years off.