Bryan Singer upstages 'Avatar' premiere with 'X-Men' news

"X-Men First Class" is a popular Marvel comic book, but it's unclear how much the new movie will resemble its inspiration.

Credit: Marvel

Who says you can't go home again? Moreover, who says you can't upstage your new employer during their biggest premiere of the year?  Bryan Singer managed to do both Wednesday night as he appeared at 20th Century Fox's Los Angeles premiere of James Cameron's "Avatar."

According to reports, Singer appeared on MySpace's "Avatar" premiere webcast and announced his next film would be the in-development "X-Men First Class."  This seemingly confirms earlier reports Singer was circliing a return to the mutant franchise after helming "X-Men" and "X-2."

The new film is intended to tell the story of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast and other familiar characters as teenagers when they first meet Professor Charles Xavier and join his School for Gifted Youngsters.  The premise has been rumored for sometime, but was hinted at with a subplot of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" which featured early incarnations of Cyclops and Emma Frost (aka The White Queen) among others.

The irony of Singer returning to Fox will not be lost on the industry.  Singer famously dissed the studio by jumping from "X-3: The Last Stand" in the early stages of pre-production to helm "Superman Returns" instead.  Warner Bros. is said to have been wary to work with the notoriously difficult Singer since then and the "Usual Suspects" director moved on to United Artists where he brought Tom Cruise's "Valkyrie" to life.  Since the film's release a year ago, Singer has been attaching himself to seemingly every potential action movie in town including a potential big screen reboot of "Battlestar Galactica." It's unclear what this news means to the controversial reincarnation (at least to fans of the "BSG" TV show).  Overall, Singer must have shown some real humility to be welcomed back by the Fox film brass.

The latest screenplay for "X-Men First Class" was written by "Chuck" creator Josh Schwartz.

HitFix has reached out to Fox regarding the report, but there was no official comment by publication date.  HitFix will continue to update this story as events warrant.

Here's Singer's exact comments:

 

Bryan Singer at the Avatar Premiere

Trailer Park | MySpace Video