7 'Unadaptable' Comic Book Storylines (That Are Already Becoming Movies)
3. X-Men: Messiah Complex
Marvel Comics
Another X-Men tale that's seemingly set to inspire a big screen feature, Messiah Complex was set in the wake of the House of M storyline, an event that saw the erasure of the X-gene (temporarily) and ushered in a new era of the Marvel Universe. It was a pretty big deal, and, with most 'big' storylines in the X-Men saga, it involved time travel, with Nathan Summers himself, Cable, taking on a key role in the plot.
While not explicitly hinted at by any means, the newly released images of Josh Brolin's Cable sent internet discussion ablaze with talk of the storyline featuring heavily in Deadpool 2, as the character sported a tattered teddy bear around his belt. Further still, set photos of Brolin's stunt-double saw the character with a similar-looking poncho that he wore during the Messiah Complex storyline. Curious indeed.
While it's more than likely that these visual cues are nothing more than a neat throwback to the comic book storyline, it would be interesting if they led to something more significant later down the line, particularly if Fox are going all in on their library of R-rated comic book features, and especially since Messiah Complex is such a crazy comic.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
