20th Century Fox announced today that it has signed Matthew Vaughn to direct X-Men: First Class. The Bryan Singer produced film has also been given a release date of June 3, 2011. The studio says that the film will “chart the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.”
Obviously the roles of Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr will be recast as I doubt it would be believable to digitally de-age Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen for an entire film. There is also no word yet on what other characters we can expect to see, nor how this might tie-in to Xavier’s very brief cameo at the end of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Stay tuned to Pop Culture Zoo as we will bring you more as it becomes available. Given the release date, expect further announcements to arrive pretty rapidly.
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