If the news had come from Mark Millar’s mouth, I wouldn’t have believed it. After all, this is that same man that stated back in 2008 that he was in line to reboot the Superman film franchise, a bold statement that never came to pass. So him saying that some studio hired him to act as a consultant on their comic book franchises, it would be easy to write off.

Only, this time it’s not Millar saying it, it’s the studio itself. 20th Century Fox announced today that it has hired Millar to act as a “creative consultant” on movies from their studio based on Marvel Comics books. The studio is currently developing the writer’s Nemesis miniseries into a feature film.

This news comes after Joss Whedon has signed on with Marvel in a similar capacity and Warner Brothers rumored to be considering Frank Miller for some involvement with their Justice League film.

Fox currently still owns the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four properties, two franchises Millar has written stories featuring for Marvel’s Ultimate Comics imprint. Millar’s friend, director Matthew Vaughn, is currently working on X-Men: Days of Future Past for the studio.

It is not known exactly what Millar will be consulting on. The obvious project would be the Fantastic Four reboot, but rumors are that FOX was so high on Josh Trank’s take on it that they were willing let Daredevil slip back to Marvel rather than let Marvel get their hands on any FF characters. The X-Men franchises seem to be fairly self-sufficient by this point, with the satellite Wolverine and First Class  franchises chugging along and Bryan Singer supposedly willing to return to the main franchise. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of consulting work to be done, unless Millar is going to be charged with getting more mutant franchises such as Deadpool up and running. Or maybe he’s just going to be a highly paid information desk, a resource the directors to use. It remains to be seen.

With X-Men: First Class coming to theaters this summer and a second Wolverine film in active development, fans of the franchise may think that their cups are running over. But there is plenty of more cinematic mutant action in store if producer Lauren Shuler-Donner has her say.

In the new issue of the British genre magazine Empire, Shuler-Donner revealed that a sequel to 2006′s X-Men: The Last Stand is currently being developed. The movie will pick up some of the story threads left dangling at the end of the third X-Men film. And the franchise wouldn’t end there, with Shuler-Donner stating “We took the treatment to Fox and they love it… And X-Men 4 leads into X-Men 5.”

Meanwhile, First Class could serve as the start of a prequel series that would be produced in parallel with the original X-Men series.

And as for that long in gestation Deadpool film, Shuler-Donner says that is still in the cards. Ryan Reynolds is still tapped to play the Merc with a Mouth, and that the film will be a reboot of the character, especially considering the state he was left in at the end of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

We’re either going to pretend that X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t happen, or mock it, which he could do. It’s insane, it’s definitely comedy. But it’s an R script, it’s really irreverent and violent. Right away, we’re out of the X-Men world. He’s very involved, Ryan Reynolds. He’s working with the writers on the screenplay and it is as much his as it is ours. I’m tellin’ ya, it’s true to the comic. You’ll see all of them. You’ll see Wade Wilson, the good-looking Ryan Reynolds! You’ll see Deadpool in his costume and you’ll see the cancer-scarred face. We’re looking for a director.

So do you folks think? Do we have too many, just enough or not nearly enough X-Men films in our future?

Via Movieweb.

Not that he has enough in development projects of his own to choose from, Robert Rodriguez has been offered the director’s chair for Twentieth Century Fox’s X-Men spinoff Deadpool. According to Playlist, who broke the story, Rodriguez is considering the offer and hasn’t entered in to negotiations with the studio for the job. The offer is being taken as a sign that the studio is happy with the producing job that Rodriguez did for their reboot of the Predator franchise coming next month.

Ryan Reynolds has been attached to the project for a while to star as the title character, a wisecracking super-powered mercenary. Although it is spinning out of last summer’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the screenplay by Zombieland scripters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick reportedly ignores the events of that film. Would that we all could.

Personally, I think that Rodriguez will pass. He already turned down the studio when they recently offered him directorial duties on their Planet Of The Apes reboot Caeser. Currently, the director will be shooting Spy Kids 4: Armageddon this summer and is looking at starting up his long postponed science-fiction thriller Nervewrackers after that.

Do you think there is a contest in the Reynolds-Johansson household to see who can do the most comic book movies? Scarlett held the lead with three (Ghost World, The Spirit, and Iron Man 2) to Ryan’s two (Blade: Trinity and X-Men Origins: Wolverine) He tied it up when the spin-off Deadpool film was announced, and now has pulled ahead by signing on to play one of DC Comics’ most iconic heroes.

The Hollywood Reporter  and Variety are reporting that Ryan Reynolds has signed on to play Hal Jordan in the long awaited Green Lantern film. He beat out such heady competition such as Bradley Cooper, Jared Leto and Justin Timberlake.

Reynolds on-screen persona is, in my opinion, a perfect match for the cocky, authority-bucking Hal Jordan of the script, which was reviewed by us in February. However, other denizens of the Internet have not been as kind. 

For those of you worried that this will force Reynolds out of the Deadpool film, relax. Deadpool is still in the early stages of development, while Green Lantern is scheduled to arrive in theaters in December of 2010. Odds are very good that he will be able to do both.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine hasn’t even been in theaters a week, but already they are talking about spin-offs and sequels.

Variety is reporting that Fox has begun development in a Deadpool movie as a star vehicle for Ryan Reynolds.

The article makes it seem like the project just sprung up just this week, but the project has been in the pipeline with Reynolds in the lead for years.

Reynolds starred as Wade Wilson, Deadpool’s alter ego, in first half of  Wolverine, putting on a pitch perfect reading as the character from the comic. However, when they character returned during the final act, another actor portrayed the retooled Deadpool (IMDB lists the actor as Scott Adkins).

While Reynolds’ performance  as Wilson was arguably the best part of the film, the actual appearance of Deadpool in the finale was anti-climatic. The character was a hideously scarred mute with little personality. You get the impression that the producers thought fans would be blown away by the character’s power set and not mind that he was dull as a piece of wood. If they do make the spin-off, hopefully they will plug Reynolds into the super-hero role and  build the character up to fit Reynold’s personality.

The above article also mentions that planning has begun on another Wolverine sequel. The plot is rumored to take place in Japan, which sounds like it will follow, at least in part, the Chris Claremont/Frank Miller series we spoke about here.