About a month ago news broke (via Collider) that DEADPOOL director Tim Miller was planning to make a movie focusing on Kitty Pryde, the member of the X-Men who can move through objects like a ghost. She may not be the most recognizable member of the X-Men, but her movie is still being developed at top speed as comic book guru Brian Michael Bendis has been tapped to write the script.
The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Bendis’ hiring for the project that has been going under the codename “143”. Sources confirmed to THR that this will indeed be a Kitty Pryde vehicle, with the codename referring to Pryde’s first solo adventure in “Uncanny X-Men No. 143”. In the story, Pryde is left alone in the X-Mansion on Christmas, wherein she has to fight a demon from another dimension. I have heard of getting a lump of coal, but come on! (*drum beat*)
Bendis will be a name familiar to comic book fans, as he has been working with Marvel for almost 20 years. He was an architect for what would become the Ultimate Marvel Universe back in the early 00s, going to write Marvel event storylines like “Secret War” and “House of M.” He is also credited with creating new Spider-Man Miles Morales and the Alias series with Jessica Jones as a private investigator. He surprised readers recently when he moved over to write stores for DC comics.
As for Kitty Pryde, we’ve seen her in past films like X-MEN: THE LAST STAND and X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST where she was played by Ellen Page. There’s no word yet if Page will come back to the role, but considering she reprised the role only a few years ago perhaps she is willing to return.
Kitty Pryde isn’t the first X-Men character I would imagine getting her own movie…or even the second or third. But the current run of X-MEN movies has a lot of the other characters in use, and it’s not like Hugh Jackman is coming back anytime soon. Perhaps if they adapt the "143" storyline as some sort of horror movie, like NEW MUTANTS, then maybe it could be cool. I would love to see Page return, and considering there was an 8-year gap between LAST STAND and FUTURE PAST, maybe she's down to return for her own leading vehicle!
The DEADPOOL sequel arrives on May 18, and the latest X-MEN movie, X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX arrives on November 2.