Shawn Ashmore talks X-Men: First Class

X-Men: The Last Stand may have been less well received than X2, however one thing it did get right was the display of powers. While Bryan Singer nailed the story, the mutants were a bit lame when it came to their abilities (something I hope isn’t the case with X-Men: First Class).

Fans had been waiting throughout all three films to see Iceman do something other than make things a bit chilly, and in X3 they got it. Not only was there an Pyro vs. Iceman face-off, fans also got to see Iceman ‘iced up’ which he was known for in the comics. It’s a shame 20th Century Fox didn’t carry on with an X4 in that respect, as Iceman was just getting interesting.

Shawn Ashmore, who played Iceman in the trilogy, recently spoke to Movieline about the franchise and gave his thoughts on Bryan Singer returning to direct X-Men: First Class.

As a veteran of three X-Men films, how do you feel about Bryan Singer returning to the franchise to direct X-Men: First Class?

I’m so excited. There was a weird transition between X-Men 2 and X-Men 3 because Bryan left and Brett Ratner came on. Ultimately it turned out to be a great thing, but it was kind of bizarre because Bryan had cast everyone and we’d all done two movies with him. It was bittersweet — it was nice to see Bryan go on and make Superman, and it was nice to have new blood and a new perspective from Brett coming in to work on the film. Bryan is clearly very, very passionate about the X-Men films and the characters, so you know he’s going to a good job with whatever the story’s going to be.

Are you bummed that it’ll be a prequel, since that means there probably won’t be any Iceman?

Yeah, yeah. Of course. Those films are always a blast to make, and working with Bryan is amazing. It’d be awesome to do another X-Men film, and it’s too bad that there probably won’t be a role for me, but who knows? The universe is huge and they keep making those films. You never know — hopefully, I’ll get the chance to play Iceman one more time.

Fear not Shawn! I’m sure after Fox have done with the past they’ll take the X-Men franchise back into the future again (they have to keep the rights somehow). I suspect we may see Iceman again in around 2020, give or take a few years depending how this First Class trilogy works out.

X-Men: First Class will most likely begin production after Singer has made Jack the Giant Killer which is expected to be released in 2011. This could mean we see First Class in 2012, along with Wolverine 2, The Avengers and the Spider-Man reboot. It’ll be quite a year for superhero films!