It feels to me like Bryan Singer is desperately trying to put together a version of "X-Men: Days Of Future Past" that will erase any lingering bad feelings about what has happened to the "X-Men" franchise since he jumped ship to run off and make "Superman Returns."

If that's true, then hiring Peter Dinklage to play a key role in the film is a major step in the right direction.

Right now, there's no word on who he's playing, but that's the great thing about a guy like Dinklage.  No matter who you've hired him to play, you know you're going to get something interesting out of him.  It's been really exciting watching him blow up as a nerd icon in the last few years thanks to "Game Of Thrones," because he's one of those guys who has been highly respected by film fans for years, even if there are times where he's felt like a well-kept secret.

Now what I'm most curious about is how Singer's going to juggle what sounds like a positively massive cast of characters.  He's had fun announcing new additions to the cast on Twitter, and he seems positively giddy about returning to the franchise he kickstarted.  Our own Dan Fienberg was in London over the weekend to discuss "Jack The Giant Killer" with Singer and his cast, and he talked to the director and Nicholas Hoult about the sequel, and we'll have that up for you soon.

The first immediate reaction that it seems like everyone on Twitter is having is that Dinklage must be playing Puck, a member of the Alpha Flight team from Canada, but I'm not so sure.  He could be, certainly, but I don't think "short" is the only reason someone hires Dinklage to play a part.  I'd love it if he were playing some unifying part of the particular corner of the Marvel Universe that Fox's films occupy, like maybe The Watcher.

I'm dying to read this script, if only to figure out how they plan to adapt one of the more complicated stories from the series into a film that is satisfying both to hardcore fans and casual viewers.  The new film will pick up eleven years after "X-Men: First Class," starting in 1973, and according to his conversation with Collider, Richard Nixon will be featured in the film in some way.  Unsurprisingly, they plan to shoot the film in 3D, with the shoot starting in April in Montreal.  Singer's describing it as the biggest film in his career, and if they're serious about getting this one right, it'll have to be huge.

We'll see when "X-Men: Days Of Future Past" arrives in theaters July 18, 2014, and if you need your mutant fix before then, you can check out "The Wolverine" in theaters starting July 26th of this summer.