Deadpool director developing Kitty Pryde movie with Brian Michael Bendis

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Deadpool director Tim Miller and comics writer Brian Michael Bendis are teaming for a Kitty Pryde spinoff movie.

It seems that even while Disney and 20th Century Fox work out who the X-Men belong to, X-Men spinoffs are still entering pre-production. The project, codenamed “143,” focuses on the character of Kitty Pryde — Uncanny X-Men #143 is one of her first solo stories in the team’s history.

Kitty is a mutant and X-Man who can phase through walls and disrupt electronic equipment, and was introduced as something of a young-audience proxy character in an era when the original roster of the X-Men had aged to adulthood. She’s had a number of code names over the years, the best known one being Shadowcat. After a few cameo appearances in the ‘00s-era X-Men Movies, she had a central role in X-Men: Last Stand, as played by Ellen Page.

After the success of Deadpool, Tim Miller seems a shoo-in to helm more X-Men projects, and Brian Michael Bendis’ legacy with Marvel Comics characters is significant. Although the writer, who’ll be taking the helm on Superman at DC Comics this summer, is best known for his comics work, he has also written for film. Bendis has penned scripts for several adaptations of his creator owned comics — including the Playstation Network series Powers — as well as television and video game adaptations of Marvel Comics characters.