Well, question no more, as it seems Vaughn has signed on to the X-Men: First Class sequel. The news broke in a Deadline article about Fox production president Emma Watts staying in her post through 2015, continuing the studio's new strategy of being more director-friendly and less aggressively hands-on with properties like this one.
Original X-Men director Bryan Singer is returning as executive producer, a role he filled on First Class. As was first rumored back in November, Simon Kinberg is at work on the screenplay. Kinberg, whose credits include Jumper and Sherlock Holmes, previously contributed to the cinematic X-universe as a co-writer on X-Men: The Last Stand.
Vaughn generally collaborates on screenplays with Jane Goldman, from Stardust to Kick-Ass and The Debt through X-Men: First Class. At some point, Goldman might be brought in to revise Kinberg's work. As for where the story might go, Vaughn openly discussed the possibilities around the release of the prequel, saying he would like to open it with Magneto's involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The possibilities are huge, and now that the adversarial relationship between Professor Xavier and Erik Lensherr has been established, the continuity could also jump ahead to the 1970's.
For the last film, Vaughn was on an unbelievably tight schedule, and it's fairly remarkable that he managed to make a coherent, let alone really damn good, big comic book movie in that amount of time.
On the acting side, the major players are contractually obligated to return, so when the X-Men: First Class sequel comes together we'll again see James McAvoy putting his fingers to his temple and Michael Fassbender sporting that mean Magneto helmet. Supporting players like Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, and Rose Byrne should all be back, as well.
