Film Feature: Which X-Men We Want to See in Next X-Sequel

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Pete Wisdom
Photo credit: Marvel

X-Man: Pete Wisdom

Real Name: Pete Wisdom (not big on codenames)

Powers: He can absorb heat and radiation and shoot it out of his fingers in the form of white-hot throwing knives. So he’s like Wolverine, but with burning hot, projectile hand knives, which, be honest, is an upgrade.

Why He Should Be in an X-Men Movie: Because he’s a proper English bastard and we don’t have enough of those in comic book movies. (Want proof? Probably the most iconic English comic book bastard of all time, John Constantine, was turned into Keanu Reeves in the movie version. ‘Nuff said.) Pete Wisdom was the creation of comics legend Warren Ellis, and he’s been a fantastic addition to the usual crop of angsty X-Men we normally get. Wisdom is a wickedly funny, caustic, and often anti-social former British secret agent, who’s highly trained, isn’t afraid to use his powers, and who’s had his flexible moral center tested by years of espionage work. Plus he was the guy who deflowered Kitty Pryde. He’s a big-time British bad-ass. The X-Men movies need less mutants fretting over identity issues and more mutants who are out there, thigh-deep in the ugly world, using their powers to carve out victories amongst the murky shades of grey. We actually can’t believe that Wisdom didn’t make the cast for Matthew Vaughn’s “First Class”. He’s tougher than Fleming’s Bond, perfect for the sixties, and sounds like he just dropped out of the cast of “Layer Cake”. Maybe he’ll make the sequel.

Who Should Play Him: Clive Owen would make an amazing Pete Wisdom – he’s got the perfect mix of verbal and physical intimidation – but let’s assume that he’s not going to want to play a C-List X-Man in a sequel. Jack Davenport from the “Pirates” trilogy and ABC’s “FlashForward” would do a nice job—he’s played the straight man so often lately that he’s probably relish the chance to be a proper bastard for a while. But we’d love to see Benedict Cumberbatch from BBC’s “Sherlock” tear into the role, slicing down his foes with equal parts heat blades and wit.