While Superhero-fatigue was not at its peak, several movies from both superhero brands— Marvel and DC Studios, enjoyed the heydays at the box office. Amid that, stand-alone female-led movies have also seen astonishing success.
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman
Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot, in particular, was the perfect example of the rise of female-led superhero flicks as the 2017 movie went on to be a critical darling with a stunning box-office performance. Fox’s X-Men movie series based on the Marvel characters also enjoyed a mild buzz for a female-led movie with Dafne Keen but it did not see the light of day as of yet.
Dafne Keen’s X-23 Spin-off Was Inches Away From Reality
Dafne Keen in Logan
The X-Men franchise has added a lot to the legacy of 20th Century Fox enjoying groundbreaking success with the X-Men movies based on Marvel comics. In a farewell to one of the leading heroes of X-Men, Wolverine, James Mangold’s directorial tribute to the character with Logan starring Hugh Jackman one last time (under the banner of Fox) concluded the long-reigning chapter of the titular hero. The 2017 movie also had the answer for the future of the popular movie series introducing Dafne Keen’s X-23— Logan’s biological daughter created from his DNA.
Keen’s performance alongside Jackman and Patrick Stewart created the hype for the future of her character. X-23, also known as Laura’s potential movie reached the peak of its buzz following the success of Patty Jenkins’ Gal Gadot-starrer Wonder Woman as the female-led DC movie went on to gross over $817 million globally (per The Numbers). “Patty’s success with that film only solidifies more for studios that there’s less to fear with a female protagonist,” Mangold previously told The Hollywood Reporter.
“The more that keeps getting hit home, that ends up giving me more space turning around and going, ‘Well, here we are with a female protagonist. That’s incredible. And what are we going to do with her?’ And that’s where we are with that [the Laura script] right now, dreaming.”
While the project was in development until the acquisition of Fox by Disney. Marvel Studios under Disney was already developing several projects at the time including MCU’s first female-led movie Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson which kind of closed the door for X-23.
Laura Creator Was Also Involved In The Axed Project
Dafne Keen in Logan
Christopher Yost and Craig Kyle created Laura in 2003 marking the first appearance of the character in X-Men: Evolution: “X23” and made the live-action debut in James Mangold’s Logan in 2017. One of the creators of the characters, Kyle was also involved in the X-23 project that was axed by the Dinsey and Fox merger. “Yes, there are other facets of that character and some others potentially to explore in their own way,” Logan producer Hutch Parker said of the spin-off before the merger (via THR).
“It may not be in the same exact tonality or with the same genre orientations as Logan, but I think part of what has been opened up in this universe to all of us now is, drawing on different genre traditions, there are new pathways to be opened for new characters that populate this universe,” he added.
However, Jackman was done with his character in the X-Men franchise until now as he hopped into Ryan Reynolds’ most hyped MCU project Deadpool & Wolverine. Previously, rumors surrounding Keen’s character, claimed that she would appear in the Shawn Levy-directed upcoming movie.
Logan is available to stream on Disney+. Deadpool & Wolverine is scheduled for 26 July 2024 release.
