‘First Class’ Director Matthew Vaughn Will Return For Sequel to X-Men Prequel

X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn has reportedly been hired to direct a sequel to the hit film, which itself was a prequel to the existing four X-Men movies of 20th Century Fox's popular franchise based on the Marvel Comics characters. Bryan Singer will also return to produce the as yet untitled sequel, which is to be written by First Class producer Simon Kinberg. Despite some early misgivings, audiences embraced X-Men: First Class as the first not-completely-sh*t X-Men movie since 2003's X2. Having previously scored a hit with his adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.'s Kick-Ass, which of course starred adolescents in the main roles, director Vaughn proved to be the right choice to refocus the franchise on the gifted youngsters concept.

While there's been no formal announcement, it's expected that First Class stars Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy will reprise their celebrated roles as Magneto and Professor X, respectively. Fassbender's work was particularly spotlighted by David Brothers' review of First Class in which he wrote:

Michael Fassbender managed to create a Magneto who is chilling, believable, and sexy. He fits in the '60s, and he makes you wish that there was a series of movies of Magneto and his Brotherhood terrorizing the world while wearing stylish turtlenecks. While his accent slips off and on, he gets across all of the pain, arrogance, and sadness that Magneto requires. Fassbender gives the best performance in the film, barring one really unfortunate series of facial expressions about two-thirds of the way through, and leaves you hungry for more.

The Vaughn news comes courtesy of Deadline, whose report on various developments at Fox also includes the detail that Josh Trank is under consideration to reboot the studio's Fantastic Four franchise, based on his work on Chronicle.