Tim Miller & Brian Bendis Developing KITTY PRYDE X-Men Spinoff Movie

It sounds like X-Men's Kitty Pryde has a demon she's going to face.

The Hollywood Reporter has word that Deadpool director Tim Miller and comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis are developing an X-Men spinoff film focusing on the popular mutant superhero Kitty Pryde.

The project, which is being called 143, which is presumably a reference to the Marvel comic Uncanny X-Men (vol.1) #143, which featured a Kitty Pryde spotlight story called "Demon", written by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Byrne.

In the story, a variation on the 1979 science fiction horror film Alien, a lone otherdimensional demon from a race known as the N'Garai escaped the destruction of an obelisk which was the nexus of the gateway between their world and ours, following a battle between the N'Garai and the mutant superhero team known as the X-Men.  Meanwhile, Kitty was learning how the X-Men's Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird aircraft was operated, until it was time for the other X-Men to go out and celebrate Christmas, leaving Kitty alone in their mansion headquarters.

Left with nothing to do, Kitty decided to work out, using a Danger Room exercise program. However, her work-out was interrupted by the intruder alarm activating in Ororo's room.  Not wanting to disturb the police over what may be something as simple as a fallen branch, Kitty decided to investigate, only to discover the deadly N'Garai demon.  Kitty led the demon on a merry chase throughout the mansion, phasing through walls with it fast on her heels. She eventually took a rail car to the mansion's aircraft hangar, but halfway to the hangar, the demon ruptured the rail, forcing Kitty to travel the rest of the distance on foot.  Weary from exhaustion, Kitty got into the Blackbird, with its turbine engines pointed down the tunnel, the only realistic path for the demon to follow her into the hangar.  At the last second, she ignited the engines, setting the demon on fire but wrecking the Blackbird in the process.  She exited the aircraft, confident that nothing could've survived, when suddenly, a burned claw reached towards her.

The X-Men returned home to a darkened and severely damaged mansion, having encountered police earlier warning them of gruesome murders that had occurred in the area.  They entered cautiously, only to find Kitty curled up watching TV with a fire, safe and sound.  It turned out that last swipe was the creature's dying attempt to kill Kitty.  It made the supreme effort and it failed.

Created in 1980 by Claremont and Byrne, Kitty Pryde first appeared in X-Men (vol.1) #129 as Katherine "Kitty" Pryde, a teenage girl born in Deerfield, Illinois, to Carmen and Theresa Pryde.  Kitty started to have headaches at age thirteen, signaling the emergence of her mutant powers.  She was approached by both the X-Men's Charles Xavier and the Hellfire Club's White Queen, Emma Frost, both of whom hoped to recruit her for their respective causes.  Kitty was unnerved by Frost, observing that the White Queen looked at her as if she were "something good to eat."  She got along better with Xavier and the three X-Men who escorted him, quickly becoming friends with Storm (Ororo Munroe).  Ororo told Kitty who she really was and about the X-Men, which made the teenager even more enthusiastic about attending Xavier's school.

They, along with Wolverine and Colossus, were attacked by armored mercenaries in the employ of Frost and the Hellfire Club.  The X-Men defeated their assailants, but were subdued by the White Queen's telepathic powers immediately after.  In the confusion, Kitty was separated from the X-Men, but not captured along with them.  She managed to contact Cyclops, Phoenix, and Nightcrawler, and with the help of Dazzler and Kitty, the X-Men rescued their teammates from the Hellfire Club.  Kitty's parents had not heard from her in more than a day, and were angry at Xavier when he finally returned with Kitty in tow.  At first, it seemed like there was no chance of Kitty being allowed to attend the school and join the X-Men, but Phoenix used her considerable telepathic power to erase the memories of Kitty's parents and plant false ones, resulting in a complete shift in their attitude towards Xavier. Kitty was then allowed to enroll at Xavier's school with her parents' blessing, becoming the youngest member of the team.

Assuming the identity of Sprite, Kitty developed a number of close relationships with others at the school and in the X-Men.  She developed a crush on Colossus and became close friends with his little sister Illyana Rasputin.  Initially uneasy around Nightcrawler and other mutants with physical deformities, Kitty finally overcame her fears and became close friends with him.  Kitty also befriended Lockheed, a highly intelligent alien resembling a dragon, who followed her home after a mission in outer space.  During the 1984 Kitty Pryde and Wolverine miniseries, Kitty was possessed by the demon ninja Ogun.  Ogun psychically gave Kitty a virtual lifetime of martial arts training, brainwashing her into becoming a ninja assassin sent to attack Wolverine.  Kitty was able to resist Ogun's influence with Wolverine's help, and the two formed a strong teacher/student bond, which helped them in vanquishing Ogun.  Kitty returned to the X-Men, no longer the innocent girl they once knew, and officially adopted the codename Shadowcat.

Recently, Kitty returned to Earth and rejoined the X-Men, after serving as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy and being involved in a romantic relationship with Peter Quill, also know as Star-Lord.  Storm announced to Kitty that she was stepping down as leader of the X-Men, due to the guilt she felt for leading the X-Men to war with the Inhumans, and offered Kitty her position.  After touring X-Haven and seeing how much things have changed and how much things need to change for the better, Kitty agreed to lead the X-Men as long as Storm remained on the team.  She relocated the mansion from Limbo to Central Park in New York, so the X-Men could refocus on being part of the world as heroes instead of constantly worrying about their own survival.  Under Kitty's new leadership, she also renamed the mansion as The Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach.