Marvel Studios isn't the only movie studio looking to build some superhero franchises out of Marvel Comics characters, it seems. Not only is Fox planning to start shooting a sequel to X-Men: First Class next January, but it's also planning reboots for Daredevil and Fantastic Four, as well as mulling over the possibility of a New Mutants movie, too. Will Marvel soon find itself playing cinematic catch-up to itself?Talking to Fox Studios chief Tom Rothman, MTV News reported that Matthew Vaughn will return as director for a sequel to X-Men: First Class, co-writing the movie with Jane Goldman and Simon Kinberg. "We're going to start the beginning of the year of '13 for... either Christmas '13 or summer '14 [release]," Rothman explained. Rothman also confirmed that The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Eclipse director David Slade was still on board for a reboot of Daredevil, and said that he's "hopeful" that Chronicle director Josh Trank will develop a relaunch of the Fantastic Four franchise for the studio.

Meanwhile, in a separate interview with Collider, Rothman teased an announcement "in the summer" for other properties connected with the X-Men franchise, telling the site that he "agree with you in your assessment of the potential in a lot of these characters" after original X-comic spin-off New Mutants was brought up as a prospective movie idea. The X-Men franchise has already successfully spun out Wolverine as a solo-star, and although plans for Magneto and Deadpool movies has seemingly run aground, the sheer number of X-Men and related characters available suggest that there are many possible movies just waiting to be made should Fox want to.

Overall, Rothman's comments suggest that Fox is looking to hold onto the rights to the various Marvel characters it has for as long as possible. Maybe we shouldn't hold our breaths for an Avengers vs. X-Men movie anytime soon...

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