X-Men: 143 (Fox Teams Tim Miller, Brian Michael Bendis For ‘X-Men’ Mystery Project)

EXCLUSIVE: Twentieth Century Fox has hired Brian Michael Bendis to develop a script for Deadpool helmer Tim Miller to direct. The movie is shrouded in secrecy, but I have confirmed it is a new feature that is set in the X-Men universe and it has a title: 143.

Bendis is one of comic’s most prolific writers. He created the Miles Morales character in the Ultimate Spider-Man comic and Jessica Jones, which became the basis for the streaming series. Bendis recently moved from Marvel to DC Comics, and this feature will be a return for Bendis to characters in the Marvel X-Men universe. JR Young is the exec for Fox.

Miller is currently in pre-production on the latest installment of the Terminator franchise for Paramount and Fox, with James Cameron godfathering the effort. This comes after the VFX wiz Miller’s feature directing debut Deadpool grossed over $783M globally for Fox.
WME and Anonymous Content rep Miller, and Bendis is Circle of Confusion.

What could 143 refer to? No one at the studio is saying. The number in X-Men lore refers to the 1963 Uncanny X-Men comic where Kitty Pride is left alone at the mansion on Christmas Eve, and battles an N’Garai demon.

Secret X-Men Movie Is a Kitty Pryde Christmas-Themed Horror Thriller?

Late breaking news last night announced that Deadpool director Tim Miller is returning to the world of X-Men movies with the mysterious 143. At the time, the movie was rumored to be a Kitty Pryde spin-off. That has now all but been confirmed by numerous other trade publications. The reveal comes weeks after it was hinted Fox was attempting a Kitty Pryde standalone movie.

Marvel comics legend Brian Michael Bendis is writing this particular X-Men movie. The writer has worked on X-Men related comic titles, some revolving around Kitty Pryde, a character that was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne in the late 70s.

It is now all but confirmed that the mysterious title 143 refers to X-Men comic book issue #143. The original X-Men comics from the 1960s ended its run of original issues at #66. Marvel would later reprinted the older comic book stories as issues #67-93. The Uncanny X-Men comics by iconic writer Chris Claremont helped breathe new life into the comic book franchise in the early 1980s, which included the Dark Phoenix story that is being adapted into the X-Men: Dark Phoenix movie, and Days of Future Past, which was turned into the 2014 movie X-Men: Days of Future Past. There was an Uncanny X-Men Issue #143, and it actually has a pretty interesting and popular storyline that truly stands on its own.

Perhaps most interesting about issue #143 is that it's a Christmas-themed monster story. New Mutants is going to be a straight up horror film, and it looks like Fox could be sticking to that esthetic with 143. The story follows Kitty Pryde, who is left alone in the X-Mansion over Christmas, as she is forced to deal with the transdimensional N'Garai Demon, a creature which made its X-Men comics debut in that issue.

Brian Michael Bendis recently jumped ship at Marvel to work for rival DC Comics. He is best known for co-creating Jessica Jones, which is about to enjoy it's second season as a Netflix series, and he helped create new Spider-Man Miles Morales, who is the lead character in Sony Pictures' upcoming animated Spider-Man movie Into the Spider-Verse. Marvel and Disney don't have their hands fully on Fox yet, so writing the script for 143 doesn't put him back in that camp, as he is currently working independently of both Marvel and DC.

It will be interesting to see how this movie comes together over the next couple of months. Ellen Page has played Kitty Pryde in the previous X-Men movies. There is no indication that she will return to the role. Fox has been mixing new cast members with old as it continues moving forward with it's X-Men movie franchise. So there's no telling what they are thinking when it comes to casting this movie yet.

UltimateMarvel wrote:They are just throwing anything X-Men out now. Kitty Pryde? Isn't she also getting her own movie or is this it?

WyldeMan wrote:

UltimateMarvel wrote:They are just throwing anything X-Men out now. Kitty Pryde? Isn't she also getting her own movie or is this it?

Do you ever read the things I post?

UltimateMarvel wrote:Ah! So this is said movie.

And, no, I don't read what you post just like the trailers you post but don't watch. No, I just quickly skimmed the red lines so I missed that first bit.......and the paragraphs after that.

WyldeMan wrote:

UltimateMarvel wrote:Ah! So this is said movie.

And, no, I don't read what you post just like the trailers you post but don't watch. No, I just quickly skimmed the red lines so I missed that first bit.......and the paragraphs after that.

That's why I put half the shit I do in red, so you can read the cliff notes version of my posts and still fail.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Well............that's because I'm color blind. Red specifically!

WyldeMan wrote:

UltimateMarvel wrote:Well............that's because I'm color blind. Red specifically!

Yeah right, colorblindness isn't a real thing. Sure I've heard about it my whole life like a good cop or an honest christian but I've never really met one of you, if you really can't see red, then how come you haven't died accidentally running red lights?

UltimateMarvel wrote:If it's not yellow or green, it must be red. Every light is a gamble but there is a 66.6% chance that I'm right.

UltimateMarvel wrote:lol Calm down, I'm fucking with you. I'm not actually color blind.