I’m a big fan of the X-Men and I enjoyed what Bryan Singer did to craft their world on film in X-Men and X2: X-Men United. Sadly, after he left the series things quickly went downhill with Brett Ratner’s horrible follow up X-Men: The Last Stand, which not only killed off key players, but depowered others and the ones that were left were written so out of character that they might as well have been killed also. To make matters worse, Fox then brought us X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Not only the worst movie of the series, but one of the worse comic movies of all time. The only saving grace was that Hugh Jackman really is awesome in the role, and even in a awful movie he is still good. The movie didn’t even try to fit into continuity, and I don’t even want to get started about the ending and how they made Logan lose his memory. But finally there is a glimmer of hope…

Bryan Singer has returned to help guide the franchise as they pull back to the origin or Professor X and Magneto with X-Men: First Class, with Matthew Vaughn directing. The movie isn’t based on any storyline in particular from the comic’s long history, but is pulling in a bunch of characters we have yet to see including Sebastian Shaw, Havok, and my favorite character in recent years, Darwin. We’ll also finally be seeing the Hellfire Club, and will have a proper introduction to Emma Frost, perfectly cast with January Jones of Mad Men fame.

Now comes word that Singer and Vaughn are eager to keep making films in the X-Men universe and want to show mutants through time, working through the end of the 60s, the 70s and the 80s. That could be interesting, but I’m more keen on Singer returning to the present day X-Men and fixing what Ratner broke. Thankfully producer Lauren Shuler-Donner agrees with me and told Empire Magazine that she plans to produce X4 and X5, which follow Last Stand. Death is never final in the X-Men universe, so there are lots of ways to negate the wrongs of the third X-Men movie and get the series back on track. There is no lack of talent with the actors and now we have real talent behind the camera again, so I have faith that we might see the X films that we deserve. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Okay, so these aren’t the first posters that Fox has released for the upcoming prequel, X-Men First Class, but I gotta say, I dig them. The first image is of James McAvoy as a very hairy Professor X-

And the next is of Michael Fassbender, who looks just as pissed off as the Magento we know and love.

I love the style with the reflections in the water and the contrast between the backgrounds, showing the characters very different paths and history. I’ve said it before, and don’t get me wrong I have a ton of faith in Matthew Vaughn, I really hope this new flick is able to be true to the other movies and actually be good (unlike the god awful prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the just as bad sequel X3). How about you, getting excited yet?

As you can see, our short vacation has ended and we are fully back into the swing of things.  Big thanks to Lucian for continuing his Wrestling Recaps while I have been gone.  I have not been able to check out Scott Pilgrim vs. the World yet, but I’ve wanted to see it for a while and Lucian’s review only makes me want to see it more. Anyhow, I’m happy to be back with a new Pit and this week’s edition will have a slight superhero slant (sorry, but sooooo much has been going on while I’ve been out).

• Okay, first up is the confirmation that X-Men: First Class will feature the Hellfire Club. That’s right, it is confirmed that Kevin Bacon will be the villainous Sebastian Shaw with Mad Men‘s January Jones will be Emma Frost, aka the White Queen. How does this fit into the past films with Emma being featured by Tahyna Tozzi in X-Men Origins: Wolverine? The film will start in the 1960s with James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender’s Magneto working together for the future of mutant kind.  I hate that they’ve cast a younger Mystique… she’s a shape shifter, she can look as young as she wants forever. They should have kept Rebecca Romijn if we ever see an of age Mystique. At least it would feel a little connected to the other films. We shall see…

• Okay, lets move off one X-Men prequel and onto another one: X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2 (god, I hope that isn’t going to be the official title).  It has been rumored for a while that the film would take Wolverine to Japan where he’d train to be a samurai warrior and fight the likes of Silver Samurai.  Yeah, so the Wolverine we met in the first X-Men film was no samurai, I guess that means he’ll be getting shot with another memory wiping bullet? Ugh.  Prequels are stupid, just make a good damn sequel.

• Yesterday I checked out DC Comic’s animated Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and I gotta say, I dug it. DC has really been on a roll with its animated features, Superman Doomsday and Justice League:  The New Frontier were both very well done. I wasn’t before, but now I’m really interested in the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight’s next animated team up in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. The film once again features Tim Daly as Superman and Kevin Conroy as Batman, and they are joined by genre fan favorite Summer Glau as Supergirl.

• Okay, so this isn’t movie related, but it is both comic adaptation related and Batman related. It has been a long time, but Batman and Scooby-Doo will meet again!  An upcoming episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold will feature the cartoon dog and Batman teaming up to solve a case. While I don’t regularly watch the series, I will be checking out this episode.

• According to Mark Millar, Kick-Ass 2 has been officially greenlighted and we be based on his upcoming graphic novel follow up to the first series. Matthew Vaughn did an awesome job adapting Kick-Ass for the big screen. He knew just what to cut and what to keep to make the film as good as it can be. I hope Millar learns from what Vaughn did with the film to craft the sequel series.

• AICN has been reporting that Fox has narrowed the possible directors list for its Fantastic Four reboot to James McTeigue, Joe Carnahan, and David Yates. None of them get me excited about the film.  McTeigue could make it visually impressive, Carnahan would be just as bad as Tim Story, and Yates is a passable director, but is he suited for the first family of superheroes? There is also a rumor that the studio wants a CGI Thing voiced by Bruce Willis. Um… okay.

• Disney and Marvel Comics are moving forward with an Iron Fist movie! The karate expert with literal fists of fury could make a decent film. In the past, Ray Parks was rumored to be in the running for the role and I still think he’d make a great fit. I’m assuming that Disney will want to make the film be a kid friendly action flick. Hopefully we’ll see Luke Cage in it.

• No MJ in the Spider-Man reboot? That’s the rumor from THR. If it is true, I can understand the need to want to distance the movie from the Raimi trilogy, but this is just plain stupid. Have MJ, have Gwen, and just concentrate on making the best Spider-Man movie possible. If this is true, it’d bring my interest for this re-do to zero.

Excited about all of the upcoming comic book flicks? Sound off in our comments!

Remember when I posted this image?

I was gladly announcing that Bryan Singer had kissed and made up with Fox and would be returning to direct the newest X-Men flick (X-Men: First Class). Over the past two weeks, I have kept tight lipped with all of the news regarding the project. First Singer had to give up directing due to a commitment to a Warner Brothers film, then the rumors were flying that Singer would still produce with Matthew Vaughn directing. I didn’t want to get excited about the idea (hey, I was just burned by Singer being pulled off the project).

Now, Hollywood Reporter is saying that Matthew Vaughn will indeed be directing X-Men: First Class with Bryan Singer producing the film, which is expected to relaunch the X-Men franchise and get the bad taste of X3 and Wolverine out of our systems. I loved Stardust and very much enjoyed Vaughn’s latest effort, Kick-Ass (see the Mini Movie Review sidebar for more of my thoughts). I can’t put into words how excited I now am for this project. Lets just hope that Fox buds out and lets Singer and Vaughn go wild and make a truly memorable X-Men film.

The film will hit theaters two weeks before Green Lantern on June 3rd, 2011.

I have loved everything I have seen about Matthew Vaughn’s film adaptation of  Kick-Ass.  These four new connecting posters that feature Red Mist, Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl, and Big Daddy are awesome. Click it for a larger image.

Matthew Vaughn directed Stardust from Niel Gaiman’s book and came very close to directing X-Men 3: The Last Stand, before he left due to the studio pressure to get the film out as quick as possible regardless of quality. I love his style and I really can’t wait for Kick-Ass. You can check out videos from the new film over at the IMDB.

G4 Network talked to Mark Millar about his new graphic novel “War Heroes”, the film adaptation of his ongoing series “Kick-Ass” by Matthew Vaughn (Stardust), and his proposed “Superman” film trilogy that he has pitched to the WB with an unknown director. The interview then talks to “War Heroes” artist Tony Harris about the upcoming book.

The “Superman” info comes in at around the 5 minute mark, and I gotta say, it sounds really interesting. The idea of a 7 hour epic “Superman” story broken up among 3 films and shot back to back to be released every year sounds like a dream come true. Millar thinks he’ll be getting word if the WB wants to go with his proposed project within two to three weeks and ideally they would shoot next summer.

• A book to film review of The Kite Runner has been added to our archives. (My Hollywood Dream)