X-Men Spin Off TV Series: Legion & Hellfire

[TurtleTitan97]

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.

Legion introduces the story of David Haller: Since he was a teenager, David has struggled with mental illness. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees might be real. Noah Hawley (Fargo, Bones) is writing an serves as Executive Producer, along with Lauren Shuler Donner (X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Wolverine), Bryan Singer (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Superman Returns), Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Martain), Jeph Loeb (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel’s Daredevil), Jim Chory (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel’s Daredevil) and John Cameron (Fargo, The Big Lebowski). “Legion is just the sort of ambitious story that Noah excels at,” said Nick Grad, Co-President Original Programming, FX Networks and FX Productions. “His adaption of Fargo for television was one of the most acclaimed television events in recent memory. It’s also an honor to partner with Marvel on Legion and to enlist such an accomplished team of Executive Producers to create this pilot.”

Hellfire will be set in the late 1960s. The series -- which will be produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, with 20th Century Fox handling the physical production -- follows a young Special Agent who learns that a power-hungry woman with extraordinary abilities is working with a clandestine society of millionaires – known as “The Hellfire Club” – to take over the world. “We are thrilled to partner with Marvel to bring this world to television and build upon the vibrant mythology that has captivated fans for years,” said David Madden, President, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. . “These powerful and dynamic characters are complicated and larger-than-life, the pace and visual imagination are unrelenting, and the story takes place during one of the most explosive eras in recent history. We are so looking forward to working with this incredibly talented team.” Hellfire is a co-production of 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, co-created by Evan Katz, Manny Coto, Patrick McKay, and JD Payne.

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

[NinjaPug]

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

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

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.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

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...

[CyberCubed]

What a waste of time.

[chrisdude]

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.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

What a waste of time.

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

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

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...

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).

[MsMarvelDuckie]

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.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

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.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

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.

[TLP]

Are they....finally getting along?

Is FOX going to actually SHARE with Marvel?

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

[sdp]

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

[Xav]

Originally Posted by TLP

Is FOX going to actually SHARE with Marvel?

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

And what might they be?

Originally Posted by sdp

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

Not it's not. There have been at least four other X-Men shows before this.

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by Xav

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.

[The Turtle Terminator]

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?"

[TurtleTitan97]

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

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

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.

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.

[TurtleTitan97]

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

Keller will play the female lead, a scrappy, optimistic woman in her 20s. Details about her potential powers are unclear. There has been chatter about them possibly being tied to human touch, drawing parallels to such X-Men universe characters as Rogue and Spyke.

[NinjaPug]

She was great in Fargo.