X-Men: First Class was far from the most commercially successful in the X-Men franchise, but it creatively reinvigorated a franchise that was running on empty after X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The film won a lot of new converts to the series, and pretty much everybody has been salivating for a sequel to the prequel.
In November, we learned that 20th Century Fox had hired Kinberg to write the script, and just a few weeks ago, word came out that Matthew Vaughn would be returning to direct the as-yet untitled sequel.
Kinberg previously contributed to X-Men: The Last Stand, and his screenwriting credits include Jumper, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Sherlock Holmes. While promoting his latest, the action-comedy This Means War, Kinberg gave an update on the next X-Men to MTV, saying,"I’m a huge X-Men fan. I grew up loving the comic books and it
was really exciting to be able to do the origin story of Xavier and
Magneto, and getting those two actors, [James] McAvoy and [Michael]
Fassbender, were really amazing. So being able to explore those
characters with actors of that quality will be exciting a second time
around, and doing some things unexpected with those characters, which is
the plan."
Magneto's quest for absolution was the engine driving the previous installment, and Kinberg explained that, once again, Magneto will be at the front of the narrative. "That’s what was so cool about the first one and what we want to continue," he said. "Magneto becomes the villain ultimately of the franchise but he’s a much more complicated character as a young man. He’s someone you sympathize with, you care about you root for even though might not necessarily agree with his methods, you understand his philosophy."
Both James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are contractually obligated to return, so its guaranteed that we'll be seeing them again in the next film. Much of the supporting cast is also likely to be back for another round, including Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, January Jones, Zoe Kravitz, Caleb Landry Jones, and Lucas Till.
