X-Men Spin Off TV Series: Legion & Hellfire
 

It's been announced that there will be two X-Men based spin off series from Fox and Marvel Studios. One focusing on Professor X's son, the other on the Hellfire Club.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansit...news/?a=125932

Neither series really interests me but I love seeing Fox and Marvel working together. Hopefully this carries over to movies too.

Prof. X's son and the 1960's Hellfire Club?

Seriously, this is not anything anyone wanted. Still no live action love for the X-Men franchise at large.

I don't know about Legion, but the Hellfire club is a HUGE part of the X-Men history, so I could go for that one. Emma Frost is a major character in that world, and I'd love to see some of the other Hellfire members done justice, too. Shaw was great in First Class, but we never saw any of the others. Black Queen, Leland, etc...

What a waste of time.

I have no particular interest in these specific subjects, but it's nice to see Fox putting more and more in the franchise. I'm just glad to see the X-Men universe continue to grow.

What do you mean? Explain. (Oh boy, what id I just open up?....)

I agree with you that the Hellfire Club is a HUGE part of the X-Men history.

But it would make much more sense to develop them in movies, where you have access to Xavier, Magneto, and other heavy-hitters. At least, if we're lucky, we'll get recast Shaw and Emma. Emma in particular deserves justice (First Class's Shaw was great).

Emma was good in that movie, too- at least as she is in the Hellfire Club. I'd eventually like to see the change of heart that causes her to end up with the X-Men, and a series could really show that well. I wouldn't mind if Bacon played Shaw again, honestly. I'm thinking maybe this show might be more about the inner workings of the Hellfire Club itself, and perhaps along the lines of Empire? Sort of a "bad-guys POV" kind of thing. (X-verse's version of Orange Is the New Black, or Sons of Anarchy, maybe?) That could be cool, and might give them a chance to feature an X-Man here and there, maybe cameo or guest-star Mags or Xavier, I can see lots of potential here.

Yeah, but they killed her off-screen for Days of Future Past. A character with all that potential only to be criminally underused...

Just like Scott, and Jean, and Rogue, and pretty much everyone who isn't Magneto, Xavier, Wolverine, Beast, or Mystique. :trolleye:

Scott, Jean and Rogue weren't underused, actually more like misused. Jean especially, at least in X3. Of all the X-Men, I wish they'd used Storm and Ice Man better. Then again, I was sorely ticked by the way Phoenix was done, and how Scott died. Both were just.... ugh. I'm not to crazy about FC overall, but at least the characterizations of most of the characters in it were accurate. That was the one GOOD thing about it, besides the adaptation of the "first" Mags storyline. Just wish they'd used the REAL "first class". But whatever.

I was a little disappointed that she died in DoFP, but seeing how she wasn't really part of the story anyway, I can understand why they made it brief. Didn't really need focusing on, and maybe she didn't want to be in it? I can accept that, at least.

Are they....finally getting along?

Is FOX going to actually SHARE with Marvel? :o

I think I have an idea of what those 3 movies just recently scheduled for 2020 are.

This will be the second x men TV show that's been made.

And what might they be?
Not it's not. There have been at least four other X-Men shows before this.

Actually there was a show called Mutant X, and before that there was a TV movie called Generation X, which were based on the comics.

So we could have had a live action X-Men show that in theory could have taken place in the world of the animated series or the movies, but instead we get this. I think Raphael from the 1990 movie said it best:

"Where do they come up with this stuff?"

Noah Hawley discusses Legion and how the project came about: http://www.tvinsider.com/article/476...-pilot-legion/

Actually, Mutant X had nothing to do with the X-Men or any other Marvel property in existence at the time. It was merely piggybacking on the X-Men craze of the time. (IIRC, it was around the time of the first film.) Although it borrowed the premise of human "mutants" with powers- much like Heroes did later- and used the same terminology and even some very blatant rip-offs of powers, they could not use any X-Men characters directly, or even anything too similar to them, for copyright reasons. For obvious reasons, it was rather short-lived. Also, it should be pointed out that the mutants of that show were genetically engineered. In other words, they were an experiment, not natural-born "evolved" mutants.

In fact, there was a lawsuit involved, to whit:

In 2001, 20th Century Fox sued Marvel, Tribune Entertainment, and Fireworks Entertainment for breach of their licensing agreement and false advertisement. Fox stated it had exclusive rights from Marvel to develop the X-Men property, and anything similar was an infringement. Fox claimed that Mutant X was too similar to X-Men, and Mutant X was being advertised as an "X-Men replacement."

Marvel counter-sued Fox, saying that the two were dissimilar and asking the courts to allow Mutant X production to go forward. Production was allowed, as long as X-Men material was not used in the promotion of Mutant X. Apparently, the title Mutant X itself was deemed too close to X-Men to be effectively leveraged.

In 2003, Fox and Marvel resolved their differences in a confidential settlement of their suits. Meanwhile, Fox continued to pursue their case against Tribune and Fireworks. Tribune sued Marvel for fraud and breach of contract, claiming Marvel encouraged Tribune to connect Mutant X to the X-Men, misrepresented what they were getting in their license, and caused millions in losses due to the need to alter story lines and characters to ensure the mandated distance between Mutant X and X-Men, as well as fighting Fox's litigation.

Apparently, it was supposed to be unrelated, but Marvel was involved, so it was just ASSUMED that it was part of the X-Men franchise by many, because of the similarities.

Rachel Keller (Fargo) has been casted as the female lead for Legion: http://deadline.com/2016/01/legion-m...fx-1201676226/

She was great in Fargo.

So they make an X-men TV series about obscure characters that nobody really cares about. Watch this end after one season.

They made Agents of Shield about obscure characters nobody really cared about, and it's still going strong. Somehow. :tlol:

That show just rides off the success of the movies and Joss Whedon. Nobody would watch otherwise if it wasn't in continuity with the movie universe.

That is absolutely my own opinion, or at least, it was. Now Skye/Daisy/Quake is the main incentive to tune in. I'm still dying to know what sort of wrench or wrinkle this introduces for an eventual Inhumans movie... if that ever does really happen. Not holding my breath, honestly.

I only watched the first episode of that show so I have no idea. I don't watch shows much anymore.

You know Cubed, Marvel DOES have other characters besides the Avengers, Spidey, abd X-Men. There are literally dozens of characters with potential to mine for a series, as shown by other shows like Agent Carter, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist. Legion is also more than just Xavier's son, he's a powerful mutant in his own right, and a serious threat.

But do we believe Fox can pull off a decent "son of Xavier" show? When they're barely making decent X-Men movies as it is?

I, for one, do not. Fox will have to do a helluva lot of good marketing and previewing to get me to even glance their way for "Legion" and "Hellfire Club." I'd like for them to be good, but I expect the worst. We shall see.

Agent Carter, honestly, is right up there with "Agents of SHIELD" in my opinion; if it weren't for the MCU carrying it, nobody would give it a second chance.

There are at least a dozen Marvel female characters I want to see done well. So far, only Jessica Jones seems to have any weight or staying power to her. She succeeded WITHOUT the MCU. Hardly any visible connections to it. Same for Daredevil. But Agent Carter and Agents of SHIELD? MCU movie tie-in episodes galore and every episode a visual reminder of "oh yeah, this is Captain America's ex..."

I'm glad some people like those shows, but they have zero interest for me. Bring on Iron Fist and Luke Cage, Misty Knight, and give the X-Women the treatment they deserve.

You forget, Cubed doesn't read Marvel or DC comics so of course he has no idea about other heroes aside from the most popular.

Weren't some of those characters in the Avengers: EMH cartoon? I would only know them if they appeared there.

The only thing I know about superheros is what the cartoons and movies tell me.

And therein lies your problem, Cubed. Cartoons and movies are fine for what they are, but they almost never get to the real "meat" of the characters and their stories. They are the watered- down versions made for the non-comic reader masses. Thus, those characters rarely get any screentime, even if they are an important staple of the universe in the comics. How many people actually know who She-Hulk is, even though she's been a long-time Avenger and has had her own book for years! Same goes for Luke Cage, who has been around for decades, was an Avenger AND one of the original Heroes for Hire, and married Jessica Jones and had a kid. He's a huge part if the comics universe. But movies and cartoons don't want to dig into characters who aren't immediately recognizable to casual fans who probably never read more than a half dozen comics as kids.

The fact that these less-known characters are FINALLY getting the spotlight they deserve is both heartening and exciting. It means they are confident enough in the franchise as a whole that they are willing to bring out their other characters to give them new stories to tell that don't neccessarily involve the "Big Twelve". (Meaning the original five Avengers, Spidey, Wolverine, Xavier, and the FF.)

At the risk of double-posting, I want to adress this as it's own subject. I feel like the tie-in shows are just the FIRST step in expanding the MCU to include a greater number and different kinds of heroes and villains for use in a larger tapestry of stories. I'm very interested to see how it all pans out, as it may mean movies or shows for other characters down the road. If Ant-Man 2.0 can get his own movie, and Fox is now willing to take chances on other characters in the X--Men world, and Sony is FINALLY allowing Spidey to return to his true home, things can only improve for the MCU.

It actually functions in the exact opposite manner for me. My normal experience is I watch a show or movie, really like the character, then go find the comics... only to find that the comics are utter tripe IMO. Bloated plots, no permanent character development, pointless crossovers, et al.

For me, except with indie comics or the occasional Batman storyline (just because that's the only series where I already KNOW most of those characters and can tune out the crossovers/pointless crap), comics are anathema. I look at them as source material to be turned into gold, nothing more.

YMMV of course, but that largely depends on the character in question, the writer/era, and whether it is a solo title, or team book. Some characters obviously work better on team books. Granted, there are some titles that have had entire runs that were just plain hokey or bad, but since the cinematic universe has a tetndency to alter backgrounds and even the characters themselves, some that don't get treated adequately in the comics may work better in the movies or shows. The point is that they are better able to introduce a wider range of characters to the public now- and that's a goid thing!

I definitely understand your POV.

For instance... MCU ain't doing jack crap for Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, or the Maximoff twins. They've been totally watered down.

Man, I really hope they manage to do some cool stuff with Wanda regardless, 'cause at the moment, it seems like all her badassery lies directly with X-Men story lines.

To be fair, her last GOOD story was House of M. Or the side plot in X-Men Endangered Species. Even her involvement in Avengers Disassembled was minimal after the initial meltdown. I really liked her in AoU, though I wasn't happy that the comics altered her and Pietro's backstory just to accomodate the movies. That's just poor decision-making.

MCU Hank Pym is the best Hank Pym.

Janet died in the comics several years ago, so that part was actually fairly true to the comics. Hank passed the Ant-Man torch several years ago as well. Now he's Giant Man or Yellowjacket or whatever other name he's using ATM.

Janet got better.

It looks like the Legion TV series from FX, will not be set in the X-Men's cinematic universe, instead it'll take place in a parallel universe.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/01/...2016-tv-season

Legion centers on the story of David Haller, the alleged son of Professor X who was previously diagnosed with Schizophrenia before realizing his supposed illness was actually something more. Landgraf said this potential series won't take place within the X-Men film universe.

"It's not in the continuity of those films in the sense the current X-Men films take place in a universe in which everybody on planet Earth is aware of the existence of mutants," he said. "The series Legion takes place in a parallel universe, if you will, in which the US government is in the early days of being aware that something called mutants exist but the public is not. I wouldn't foresee characters moving back and forth because they really are parallel universes."

http://screenrant.com/x-men-hellfire-showrunners/

That bodes well... :trolleye: