In February Josh Schwartz said that he was just getting started on writing X-Men: First Class, so we didn’t expect to hear much at this stage of development, however, promotion for X-Men Origins: Wolverine is gearing up and people behind the X-Men franchise are starting to talk. Lauren Shuler Donner has produced all the X-Men films, including Wolverine, and revealed on Fox Movie Channel’s Life after Film School that she hoped X-Men: First Class becomes a whole new X-Men franchise. She also revealed which characters will be involved.
From Comics Continuum:
“It is the first class of Xavier’s school, way back when, so it’s young Scott, young Jean, young Beast and that’ll be really fun,” Donner said. “I think (the plan) is to follow some of the characters into their own stories, and weave them back into the X-Men world.
“And hopefully First Class will become its own franchise and we can follow them as they grow up.”
She also acknowledged that a Magneto movie remains in development.
I’m glad we finally know which characters the film will revolve around, as there was speculation that it could focus on a whole new bunch of characters. While we will be seeing young versions of Cyclops, Jean and Beast, we have already seen young versions of Iceman and Angel in the trilogy, so the famous original line-up probably won’t happen. There is also the fact that a young Cyclops appears in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, so the chances are X-Men: First Class will take place after Wolverine, and Tim Pocock (who plays young Cyclops) could have a good few years ahead of him, unless they recast for whatever reason.
They will obviously involve other characters, including some we have seen before. We could see a young Storm (we caught a glimpse of a toddler-looking Storm in the first Wolverine trailer, however Lauren Shuler Donner said that the scene won’t make the final cut. This could be so that it doesn’t screw up continuity if they plan on adding a young Storm in X-Men: First Class). As it will be the first class of Xavier’s school Patrick Stewart may end up returning, unless they recast Xavier like they did with William Stryker. I hope they don’t though. I’d like to think that Patrick Stewart will be the man that links the X-Men franchise together on-screen.
I’m happy that Fox have chosen Josh Schwartz (The O.C, Chuck) as writer. If you’re going to make a movie about young adults, you might as well get the guy who knows how to write them well. Fanboys may want people like Christopher Nolan (the current fanboy God after The Dark Knight) to write and direct their favourite superhero’s, but writing for young mutants with young mutant problems might not be one of their strengths. I am eager to find out who ends up directing this. As long as it’s not Brett Ratner i’ll be happy.
