`X-Men’ spinoffs `Hellfire’ and `Legion’ headed for Fox, FX

TV superpowers Marvel and Fox are joining forces for two new series. Hellfire will be co-created by Evan Katz, Manny Coto, Patrick McKay and JD Payne.

The press release says all sorts of lovely things about Marvel working with Fox, but there is little actual sign of any if that. It isn’t until later in life, after being diagnosed with schizophrenia, that a fellow patient at a psychiatric hospital convinces him that these voices and visions might not be figments of his imagination.

“Fargo” showrunner Noah Hawley is set to write the pilot and serve as an executive producer. Both shows are based on Marvel’s “X-Men” comics and have Bryan Singer (“X-Men: “Days of Future Past”, X-Men: “First Class”, “X2”) as executive producer. “Fargo” creator Noah Hawley is writing and exec producing “Legion”.

But we do know that further collaboration with Marvel is underway at Fox, as the network is now developing a series tentatively titled Hellfire. Despite the negative reception along with the backlash from the fans to get Marvel’s first family back into the hands of Marvel, Fox still announced that they would move forward with a sequel amidst the many groans of the fans on this decision.

Comic book fans are familiar with the Hellfire Club, as they were major players in the Dark Phoenix saga, and they continue to interact with Wolverine and his allies. He described the characters as dynamic and larger-than-life, while the story will showcase one of the most explosive times in recent history, based on a Screen Rant report.

There was, briefly, a few belief that this was just half of a few Marvel-Fox deal that would bring the Fantastic Four to Marvel Studios, where presumably a decent Fantastic Four movie could finally have materialized. It’s going to come down to execution to make these shows work, as neither series will feature the X-Men branding.

It will be co-produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television while Legion will be produced by FX Productions and Marvel Television. Newcomers will find a lot to like too, according to Davis, so Hellfire won’t just be for X-Men addicts.

Neither series has the X-Men branding though both are set in the same universe and both stem from 20th Century Fox’s Marvel deal for the rights to the X-Men franchise, which has spawned 11 movies, including several that are in the pipeline. The television rights for the X-Men have been an issue between the companies for years, which Vulture notes is likely the reason why no spin-off series has been attempted up to this point.