Mark Millar confirms sentinels for X-Men, talks spinoffs, another Kick-Ass, and his thoughts on Dredd and The Dark Knight Rises

SFX caught up with comic-book writer and Fox Marvel head, Mark Millar, to discuss the upcoming X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST and gleaned a few juicy bits from the creator on possible spinoffs, a third KICK-ASS film, and his thoughts on DREDD 3D and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.  Millar is a busy, busy man, both in his comics work and his new gig spearheading Fox’s Marvel properties and it doesn’t seem like he’ll be letting up anytime soon. On top of the aforementioned work, he’s also working with Matthew Vaughn on an adaptation of his Secret Service comic, as well as adaptations of his other books, including Nemesis, Super Crooks, and Superior. 

On how big a role the Sentinals will play in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST:

“I don’t really want to give too much away but the Sentinels are a big feature of this story. They will be cool and this will deliver on all of the teasers. We’ve all been waiting for this ever since X-Men: The Last Stand showed us one of their heads. Now it is finally coming, and we only have to pay ten quid to see it in the cinema whereas they’re having to pay $100 million to deliver it. So I’m delighted [laughs].”

On the “overcrowding” of the X-MEN films:

“I think the best comparison I can give is to Star Trek – that is an ensemble but it never feels as if there is not enough time with any one character. Or maybe Lost – that is an ensemble but every character gets their own moment to shine. So as long as everyone is there for a reason there doesn’t need to be a problem with so many characters. This is a beautifully structured film, and it is a time travel story so the structure has to be especially strong.”

On if there’s potential for more X-Men spinoffs:

“I hope so. I think that the X-Men universe is as interesting as, if not more interesting than, the Marvel universe. There are a lot of things you can exploit in there. Comics are actually really good at sussing out what works and what doesn’t. It all comes down to what sustains a title and what doesn’t – and that is why you have so many of the X-Men characters with their own line of comics. I think a lot of these characters deserve their own movies – there are a good half dozen that I would like to see do their own thing.”

On the likelihood of a KICK-ASS 3:

“Yeah absolutely. Kick-Ass 3 is going to be the last one though. I told Universal this and they asked me, ‘What does that mean?’ I said, ‘It means that this is where it all ends.’ They said, ‘Do they all die at the end?’ I said, ‘Maybe’ – because this is a realistic superhero story. And if someone doesn’t have a bullet proof vest like Superman and doesn’t have Batman’s millions then eventually he is going turn around the wrong corner and get his head kicked in or get shot in the face [laughs]. So Kick-Ass needs to reflect that. There has to be something dramatic at the end, he cannot do this for the rest of his life.”

On DREDD 3D:

“Alex Garland is a gigantic Dredd fan and I know there was originally a plan to make three Dredd films. The plan was to do a second one and then a really ambitious third movie. And the film itself… Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I saw it when it came out in the UK and by that time I knew it had not been a success in the US and I remember thinking it would probably find its audience on DVD, which it has. It was not hugely expensive either; I think it only cost $30 million so if it makes $60 million on DVD that’s pretty good. I hope we see a sequel. I know that the guys who made that film were really passionate about it. I loved Olivia Thirlby and Karl Urban, who did a great job of channelling Eastwood. The only thing that let it down was the direction – it was a wee bit TV movie – and Lena Headey wasn’t a great baddie either. But it was still great and I felt it deserved to be a bigger hit than it was.”

On THE DARK KNIGHT RISES:

“It was very, very timely: it was a tale of two cities and I thought it was on the side of the poor guys. When they were raiding the mansions and throwing people out on the street – and even at the end Bruce Wayne gave away his fortune. I thought Bane was the most compelling out of all the villains – right from the start I thought, ‘this guy is great.’ I thought the only thing that let it down a bit was the action: Nolan should go to movie jail for the Bane vs Catwoman thing at the end. But the rest of the movie was so brilliant that you could easily forgive him. I liked it better than The Avengers.”

There’s a good bit more over at SFX, so give it a look.  In the meantime, cameras are warming up for Bryan Singer‘s X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, which is scheduled for release on July 18, 2014, while KICK-ASS 2 gets down and dirty on June 28, 2013.