It was only five years ago that the ‘X-Men’ film franchise felt reinvigorated, thanks to the success of the film “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” That film, combining the casts of the original trilogy with the characters introduced in ‘First Class,’ was a big hit with critics and fans, leading many to think that there was plenty left in the ‘X-Men’ tank. As was proven by the recent “Dark Phoenix,” that tank is very much dry. That being said, there was a time when Fox was ready to listen to pitches for all sorts of spin-off films, even one for the character of Beast.
If you remember the Fox franchise after ‘DoFP,’ everything was great. “Deadpool” was soon to be released in 2016, Bryan Singer was going to direct ‘Apocalypse,’ and there were rumors of a Wolverine solo film called “Logan.” And with that in mind, long-time ‘X-Men’ editor John Ottman (who has worked with Singer on a number of films) pitched a solo film, titled “Fear the Beast,” that would expand the franchise and would star Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy, aka Beast.
According to THR, Ottman had the idea to spearhead the spin-off, which he was interested in directing himself, after his assistant, Byron Burton, came to him with the outline of a future Beast-centric film. Burton then produced a script two weeks later, which is now available to read online.
“We wanted to have the tenor of John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ where you are in this inhospitable environment,” said Ottman.
The script would have followed Beast as he figures out how to control his Wolfman-like ability to go from human to blue, furry animal. He works on a serum to help him control it, along with another scientist with a similar affliction. But when the other scientist tests the serum and begins a rampage in an Inuit community, Hank must go and investigate and in doing so, comes across a younger Wolverine, who hasn’t yet been made a member of the X-Men. Lo and behold, the end result would be that it was all being controlled thanks to classic ‘X-Men’ villain Mister Sinister.
“The idea was we would have Sinister as this multi-film villain orchestrating things,” said Burton. “We wrote a late-’80s outline of an Omega Red film where the idea is Sinister is testing the X-Men.”
Unfortunately, the script never got fully developed or considered for a real film, due to ‘X-Men’ mastermind Simon Kinberg not wanting to read it himself. The report says that Kinberg was worried that he’d be influenced by the script, as he was working on his own way to re-introduce Wolverine to the franchise.
And now, with “Dark Phoenix” effectively tanking the franchise and Disney ready to reboot the mutants, Ottman and Burton see no problem with releasing their script for the world to digest. Keep in mind, however, this script was an early draft.
“The fact we got the script we got in a few weeks is a testament to Byron, but at the same time every script is ever-changing,” said Ottman. “As perfect as you think a script is, it will always dawn on you something is illogical or has to be redone.”
While hindsight makes the idea of a “Beast” film kinda crazy, back in 2014-era, it might have been a pretty enticing thought. But for now, Hank McCoy joins the rest of the X-folks in Marvel Studios limbo as Kevin Feige and Co. figure out how to repair the damage done.