X-Men: First Class:

This movie is "basically about the formation of the X-Men. How they began and the relationship between a young Xavier and a young Magneto," says Bryan Singer. And it means you may never get to see the planned Magneto origin movie. "This story would probably utilize some of the Magneto story because it deals with a young Magneto, so it might supersede that because this would explore that relationship between a young energetic professor and a disenfranchised victim of the Holocaust." And he says he's still working on a big-screen Battlestar Galactica movie, but he hasn't found a writer yet. [Heat Vision Blog]

Inception:

Here's a new poster for this Christopher Nolan epic. [MTV]

And apparently a new trailer is appearing in front of Sherlock Holmes, and there are some early descriptions. You hear a voiceover: "What's the most resilient form of parasite? An idea. An idea has the power to build a city… to change the world, and re-write all the rules." And then lots of weird imagery zips past, like a city block folding upwards into an L shape, and a train racing down a street and smashing into cars, and people fighting in mid-air, and a motorcycle racing a car. Then the voiceover turns into Leonardo DiCaprio holding a gun and saying "That's why I have to steal it." ("It" meaning the aforementioned world-changing idea.) And there's lots of people fighting and water imagery. [Slashfilm]

Despicable Me:

Here's a new poster for this animated supervillain epic. [Cinemablend]

Toy Story 3:

Here's some "color script" art, designed to show off how the colors in the film are supposed to look, most of it from the film's flashback sequences. [Slashfilm]

Doctor Who:

Virgin Media has posted a "Viewmaster" type slide show of the first 20 minutes or so of "The End Of Time Part 1." The pictures are mostly old, but the spoilers are pretty intense. As the story begins, everyone on Earth is having nightmares, but only Wilf can remember what they're about — and he realizes he needs the Doctor's help. Meanwhile, the Doctor visits the Ood and they say that they, too, are having nightmares — about the Master.

The Master's widow, Lucy Saxon, gets brought to visit the new governor of her prison, only to find out he's an imposter, one of her ex-husband's acolytes. Using that fateful ring, they resurrect the Master, but he comes back damaged and more insane than ever. He roams a junkyard, scaring the residents. The Doctor, meanwhile, rushes to Earth and uses his super-power of smell to "sniff" out the Master. (No, really. He smells him.) They talk, and the Doctor insists he just wants to help, but the Master is too deranged. And finally he runs away.

Wilf enlists the aid of a bunch of senior citizens, called the Silver Curtain, to track the Doctor down. They talk, and the Doctor realizes that Wilf must be special, since he keeps connecting with the Doctor. The Doctor tells Wilf to tell him anything he knows, and Wilf mentions Donna brought home a strange book by Joseph Naismith. They decide to track this Naismith down, in the TARDIS.

But Naismith, with his paramilitary army, have already captured the Master, who's in bondage. It turns out that Naismith has something called the Immortality Gate, which can heal whole worlds, and he wants the Master to fix it. The Doctor appears in Naismith's basement, and meets two members of the Vinvocci species, Rossiter and Addams, who brought the Immortality Gate there. The Doctor runs upstairs, just in time to see the Master step into the Gate. And then everyone cries out, shouting that the Master is in their heads... [Virgin Media]

The Master actually "takes over the world again," says John Simm. [Planet Gallifrey]

Lost:

So yesterday we showed you some pics of a fight scene between Jin and Mikhail, and now here's a bit of video, courtesy of the same eyewitness, Darin the Pharmacist. [TV Overmind]

Also, apparently the fact that Maggie Grace won't be in the early episodes of season six (despite the alternate timeline where Flight 815 lands safely) will be explained. Not only does the plane land safely, but the repercussions from the nuke going off mean that both Shannon and Boone are very different people than the ones we know. Their backstory will be significantly altered. And also, Sawyer kisses either Kate or Juliet within the first four hours of the season. [E! Online]

And here are a couple new teasers. [Slashfilm]

Supernatural:

Sam and Dean will die and go to heaven. [E! Online]

FlashForward:

Confused? Don't be. Or do, if you prefer. But if you don't like being confused, then ABC is there for you.

Chuck:

There may be a secret passage leading out of the media room at the Buy More. And Chuck will make out with Kristen Kreuk's character, like a couple of teenagers. [E! Online]

Carina returns in episode 3x02 and it's awesome. Also in that episode, Casey gets to go undercover as someone other than a waiter, with amusing results. Episode 3x03 is a combined Devon/Casey episode, which gives insights into both their pasts. And we meet Shaw in episode 3x04. Also, Kreuk's introduction is "more organic" than fans may have feared. [ChuckTV]

Heroes:

Sally Champlin, who plays Lynette, Tweeted that she has a scene opposite George Takei in episode 4x15, "Pass/Fail." [SpoilerTV]

And here's a new promo for the next two episodes:

Additional reporting by Josh C. Snyder.

It's tempting to just leave it with a cheap shot and say "Have you seen Valkyrie?" but our concern for First Class is slightly more genuine than that. We'll grant you that Singer's first two entries in the X franchise are easily the best two movies in the series to date, and also that he clearly has a lot of love for the characters. We just don't think that he should've come back, is all.

We can see why Singer would be tempted by the lure of returning to the X-Men movies; not only were they arguably his creative highpoint outside of The Usual Suspects, but they were clearly his financial highpoint (Compare X2's $85,558,731 opening weekend with Superman Returns' $52,535,096 - the latter, in fact, is even lower than X-Men's opening, despite the first X-Men movie having to deal with lower awareness than the first movie featuring one of the most well-known fictional characters in over a decade). As his other projects seemingly stall for one reason or another - Remember his Logan's Run remake? Or, from earlier this year, his Battlestar Galactica movie reboot? - there has to be a sense of security in returning to an already successful franchise and the adoration of millions of fans for whom his work is the benchmark of quality. But those expectations become a double-edged sword (Quadruple-edged? There are two separate sets of expectations, after all): Charged with not only maintaining the financial success of the franchise but also reigniting hardcore fan excitement for it, Singer has landed himself in a high-profile situation very unlike what the one he was in first time around. All sets of eyes will be on his every move, not just comic fans critical that Wolverine is too tall and not Canadian. How would Singer react if Richard Donner visited to make sure the franchise was being maintained in the proper manner, as he did for X-Men Origins: Wolverine director Gavin Hood? What happens if Singer's ideas for First Class don't fit in with any of the other movies being simultaneously developed for the franchise?

It sounds both trite and obvious, but X-Men as a concept is about evolution, not devolution. Sure, it's also a civil rights metaphor and a superhero story, but at the heart of it is the idea of coming to terms with something new and different, even if (especially if) that something new and different had previously been something as familiar as ourselves or our loved ones. With that in mind, bringing Singer back to the franchise seems counter-intuitive at best. We've already seen what he thinks of the characters and is capable of; why can't someone else play with the toys and bring something else to them now?

It would be different if X-Men: First Class hasn't been revealed to be exactly the prequel that it sounds like - According to Singer himself, the movie will focus on

the formative years of Xavier and Magneto, and the formation of the school and where there relationship took a wrong turn... There is a romantic element, and some of the mutants from 'X-Men' will figure into the plot, though I don't want to say which ones.

- but knowing that it is just the backstory to what we've already seen (like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, as well; It's worth wondering why Fox seems scared to make movies set after X-Men: The Last Stand. Yes, it was a bad movie, but that bad?) saps the possibility of true surprise. We know where the main characters end up, even if we hadn't read the original comics. Hiding in the past and clinging onto what you know may sum up the attitude of most of those making X-Men comics for the last two decades, but that doesn't mean that it's not missing the point of the story they're supposed to be telling.

(Selfishly, we would much rather have seen Josh Schwartz' take on the idea, now sadly dumped to make way for Singer. Not only is he new to the franchise, but his other work - be it The OC, Chuck or Gossip Girl - suggests that he could've brought a new tone to the movies, a lighter one that could also be more in tune with the teen characters First Class is said to feature in addition to the younger Xavier and Magneto. Somewhere, there's probably a great script out there...)

We're not doubting that Singer's First Class will be a financial success - He's not a bad filmmaker, after all, and if the franchise is strong enough for The Last Stand to be a massive hit, it's unlikely he could sink it unless he was really trying - but, in terms of the quality of the movie? We kind of wish he'd passed, realized that he'd done his part already, and moved on to fresher pastures, allowing someone else to take the wheel. As it is, he's setting himself - and us - up for the possibility of disappointment and frustration. They say you can't go home again for a reason, after all.

Kick-Ass

The final character poster has been revealed to give us purple-haired, plaid skirt-wearing Hit Girl. She still kind of looks like Stephanie from Lazy Town. [/Film]

Daybreakers

The human blood shortage means something more monstrous than vamps forgoing their bloody snow cones. The one sheet below depicts a subsider, the horrific creatures vampires become if they go too long without feeding. [ShockTillYouDrop]

The Book of Eli

Mila Kunis looks much more appropriately post-apocalyptic in these stills than in the character posters. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

X-Men: First Class

Not only has Bryan Singer signed on to direct the new prequel, it also has a writer: Jamie Moss, who has been working with DreamWorks to develop a live-action version of Ghost in the Shell. [THR]

Toy Story 3

This new still reveals little, except that Buzz Lightyear's helmet has seen better days. [/Film]

The Phantom

Character breakdowns for the miniseries reveal a great deal about the plot. Chris Moore, the biological son of the Phantom, takes up his father's mantle after his adoptive parents are killed by the Singh Brotherhood and his girlfriend Renny's life is put in danger. Guran has an unbreakable mystical connecton with Chris, and serves as his most trusted ally. When Able Vandermaark, Chris' conservative mentor and keeper of the ways of the Phantom, forbids Chris from returning home to protect Renny and her father, it is Guran who ensures Chris gets his wish. Meanwhile, as Chris chafes under Vandermaark, Chris begins to question his mentor's true intentions.

Paramedic Renny was Chris' elementary school crush, and is later reunited with him at the scene of an accident involving Chris' friend Jordy. Their flirtatious quickly turns to a passionate relationship, but then Chris suddenly disappears at the same time Renny's father is wounded in a shooting. Renny's father is treated for his injury in Bengalia, and that is where Renny learns Chris' identity as the Phantom.

Raatib Singh is of course the leader of the Singh Brotherhood, and he attempts to keep wars and social and economic upheaval churning so that the Brotherhood can reap a profit. He is obsessed with the implementation of a technology called "Flicker" and has plans to assassinate Jalil Ben David, a politician who could bring stability to the Middle East. But he doesn't regard the Phantom as a real threat, and that leads to his assassination plans being foiled. The Brotherhood's latest asset is Dr. Bella Lithia, who developed the Flicker technology. Flicker can turn ordinary citizens into deadly assassins, but it has its limits. But when Singh refuses to heed Lithia's warnings and tries to control the technology himself, Lithia tries to outsmart him. [PhantomSite]

Doctor Who

The BBC six o'clock news interviewed David Tennant about his final episodes and gives a behind-the-scenes look at "The End of Time," including a fiery moment with the Master. [Blogtor Who]

True Blood

Mad Men actress Shannon Welles has been cast as "a mysterious old woman who lives in the middle of nowhere." It sounds like Bill will be shacking up at her place following his abduction. [EW]

Dollhouse

We'll be seeing more of Alan Tudyk's Alpha in the "Epitaph Two" finale. [EW]

Being Human

The vampire, werewolf, and ghost flatmates return in January, and here's a new one-sheet. Poor Annie is still stuck in that same outfit. [Den of Geek]

Lost

We will soon find out how Mikhail lost his right eye, but someone whose name is three letters long already knows (Ben?). [EW]

And here are a few more of those casual wear photos. [Lyly Ford]

Fringe

Fringe's second season is going on hiatus early in the new year, but on January 11th, we'll be getting an unaired episode from the first season, titled "Unearthed." [Spoiler TV]

Chuck

Chuck tests out his new powers — and encounters a bar full of spies — in images from the season premiere "Chuck vs. The Pink Slip." [Spoiler TV]

And glittery streamers and beach torches aside, everyone looks very serious in the second episode, "Chuck vs. The Three Worlds." [ChuckTV]

And everyone (including Ellie and Awesome) get fancied up in the season's third episode, "Chuck vs. The Angel de la Muerte." [Spoiler TV]

Unsurprisingly, the second Wolverine movie was considered the furthest along in terms of pre-production, with Donner saying,

What's cool about this part of the saga is that Wolverine will be fighting in a different style to what we've seen before. Mariko's father has this stick-like weapon, so Wolverine will have to fight against that. There'll be samurai, ninja, katana blades, different forms of martial arts - mano-a-mano, extreme fighting. We're going to come up with a new style of fighting. It's going to be awesome.

When it came to Wolverine's spin-off, Deadpool, however, Donner offered up a surprising bit of news:

I want to ignore the version of Deadpool that we saw in Wolverine and just start over again. Reboot it. Because this guy talks, obviously, and to muzzle him would be insane... We're right in the thick of talking to writers right now, and hopefully by November we'll have decided who's going to do it. We need someone really imaginative because we want to do some really innovative, ambitious stuff. Ryan's mentioned this in an interview already but there are parts where he's going to break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience in the cinema. We have to work out how to do that. I don't know that Fox will agree with all our decisions, but we'll see!

Equally surprising was her take on the delay in making the long-discussed X-Men Origins: Magneto:

I'm not sure that film is going to be made. The studio has a wealth of potential stories, and they have to stand back and decide which ones to make. And Magneto, I think, is at the back of the queue. Maybe it'll get made in five years - who knows? I can tell you that Ian McKellen won't be playing the character the whole way through. We used Lola technology in X-Men 3 to de-age Ian and Patrick for one scene, but it's very expensive. To do that for a two-hour movie would be prohibitive financially.

Meanwhile, Gossip Girl and The OC creator Josh Schwartz's X-Men First Class may be heading in a different direction to what we'd been expecting:

Harry Potter is a bit of a role model for us, absolutely. But we want it to be like the recent, darker Potters. It should not be a kiddie movie - we're in the X-Men world so you can't suddenly change the tone... We want to make this a franchise, following these kids at the school, so the casting of the child actors will be all-important.

No more Magneto movie, and seven years of First Class? Here's hoping Donner manages to convince Fox of her plans...

The Future Of The X-Men Franchise [Empire Online]

While talking to Slashfilm at the Wolverine Blu-Ray release, Donner doused rumors that X-Men First Class was ready to shoot and it definitely won't be ramping up in February. And no actors — not even Pocock — have signed contracts for the new series. Pocock submitted a Twitter retraction as well.

But that doesn't mean no more X-Men — Donner coyly mentioned that she's thinking of reuniting the old gang in X4, and possibly putting spin-off team The New Mutants in a movie of their own as well. But none of this has even been pitched to the studio yet. Which means, it could be many years until we get another mutant fix. And First Class may be a long, long ways away if Donner is already toying with the idea of a whole new crop of teen mutants to play with.

Meanwhile, Gavin Hood, who directed the recent Wolverine film, told MTV he's interested in directing the Magneto counterpart, X-Men Origins: Magneto, which is reported to be in the pipeline. Said Hood:

He's certainly a very interesting character-one rooted in childhood trauma and psychologically complex-and one that was superbly played by Ian McKellen," he said. "There are certain characters in the X-Men universe whose psychological life is strong and fascinating and complex. I think that's why they're appealing to audiences.

MTV's Splash Page blog noticed that Tim Pocock, who played the young Cyclops in this summer's retro X-Men movie had left the following update on Twitter:

currently shooting Australian TV series till February 2010...then X-men first class ;)
If true, this is the first hint that Fox's much-discussed semi-reboot to the franchise — Following X-Men Origins: Wolverine continuity, but flashing back to before the first X-Men movie — will be shooting as early as next year, but with no announcement concerning director or stars of the movie, it's possible that Pocock may just be being hopeful with his tweet. We'll wait and see whether Fox sneaks any news out before the end of the year.

Wolverine may be packed with fanservice introductions of many familiar faces, whether or not they make sense for the plot (Emma Frost? Really?), but you shouldn't expect them to show up in the already-announced X-Men: First Class, according to franchise producer Lauren Shuler Donner:

First Class is the original first class at Xavier's School for the Gifted, but... if it works, and there's a First Class number 2 or 3, yes, of course, we could weave [Gambit] in, sure, absolutely. He has a relationship with Storm.

But who is the movie version of Xavier's first class? In the comics, it's always been Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman and Marvel Girl, but the movie versions of both Angel and Iceman are too young to have been part of that class (despite Iceman actor Shawn Ashmore being contracted for another X-Film somewhere down the line). Judging from the first three X-Men movies, we can assume that Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm were probably three of the first students, and X-Men: The Last Stand put Beast in that mix, as well. For some reason - probably the presence on the project of Gossip Girl and The OC creator Josh Schwartz - I wouldn't be surprised if Wolverine's Emma Frost made an appearance, as well; out of the various Wolverine characters who would make sense in the movie, she's the most obvious, and not least because of her comic history with Cyclops.

(Personally, I'd like to see Juggernaut in there as well, just to amp up the soap operatics a little more. If we're going to have to sit through two hours of badly-CGI-youthened Patrick Stewart, after all, at least give him an evil step-brother to deal with so that he's got more to do than smile benignly and tell Scott that self-control will lead to a better life a lot.)

(I may just have proven why I would never be able to make a living planning big-budget blockbusters.)

Shuler's also dropped hints about potential other X-Men movies, spinning off from Wolverine:

There's internal discussions about all [what spin-offs may happen] . We're gonna resolve that soon... Nothing would please me more than to bring Bryan [Singer] on for another movie. And, if it's like the first Deadpool or the first Gambit, I think... I mean, I would hope he would be interested.

Whether or not Fox would be interested is the main question, of course; chairman Tom Rothman's comment earlier this week that "if [X-Men Origins:Wolverine] works out well, and we think it will, then we're going to be hard at work on [the rumored spin-offs]" was much more definite than his more guarded reply to the same question last October, although whether that's the difference between trying to appear positive on the red carpet compared with a more considered, honest response remains to be seen.

One thing is for sure, though; if X-Men: First Class can be made for a comparable budget to Wolverine and be as successful without the Hugh Jackman factor, Fox will definitely do their best to keep the franchise going. But, given their history with Daredevil and Fantastic Four, is their best really going to be good enough?

X-Men movie franchise producer Lauren Shuler Donner told Fox Movie Channel that the much-discussed X-Men: First Class movie will, in fact, be a flashback to the early days of Cyclops, Jean Grey and the other students of Xavier's School for Gifted Children just like the First Class comic:

It is the first class of Xavier's school, way back when, so it's young Scott, young Jean, young Beast and that'll be really fun... I think (the plan) is to follow some of the characters into their own stories, and weave them back into the X-Men world. And hopefully First Class will become its own franchise and we can follow them as they grow up.

While I'm kind of excited about the idea of Josh Schwartz writing teenage Cyclops and teenage Beast, what's with all of the X-Men spin-offs being flashbacks? Is this a subtle admission than X-Men: The Last Stand ruined the franchise?

Lauren Shuler Donner Talks X-Men First Class [Comics Continuum]

As yet, neither Fox nor Schwartz are saying whether the new movie, X-Men: First Class will be a retro look at younger versions of familiar characters (like the Marvel comic of the same name), or a new team of mutants that follows on from the events of X-Men: The Last Stand (a la the comic Young X-Men). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Young writer Marc Guggenheim would prefer the latter, as he told MTV's Splash Page blog:

What movie would you rather see? There’s more in the next generation than the junior versions of the very first group, now that you already have movies where they’re established as adults. Do a sequel, not a prequel.

First Class comic writer Jeff Parker doesn't think that it's really about any characters in particular as much as it is a central concept, as he also told MTV:

To me, the heart of it is that young people who were different found others like themselves and for once, they didn't feel like freaks.

We agree... and with such a wide variety of unexplored mutants already in Marvel's library, we've come up with five that we'd like to see hit the big screen big time.

Cannonball
Call me old-fashioned, but there's just something oddly charming about a superhero whose only power is flying and crashing into things. It helps that Sam Guthrie is the sort of character whose intentions are good, even if he's not always the smartest guy in the room - Give High School Musical's Zac Efron the role and get that all important Disney Demographic interested.

Dazzler
It's Britney, but with superpowers. Who can resist the lure of a pop star who's also secretly a superhero - and whose powers rely on turning pulsing pop beats into laser light shows? So what if she's still stuck in the '80s despite numerous attempts to update her? She's the closest thing Marvel have to a mutant Miley Cyrus, and in terms of potential crossover marketing dollars, that can only be a good thing.

Pixie
Every X-Men movie needs a point of view character, and now that Rogue has spent three movies in the spotlight - or, really, one movie in the spotlight and then been drawn more and more towards the background in each successive installment - why not give Pixie a chance to shine? The brand-new X-Man (She officially joined the book in this year's Uncanny X-Men #500) is pretty much a clone of former teen POV character Kitty Pryde, right down to demonic weapon made out of her soul or something, to please the old school fanbase, plus she looks like a fairy, which'll bring in the Harry Potter crowd. It's win-win. Unless you happen to have something against things with wings.

Northstar
Despite Marvel continually killing off different versions of the character, there's too much potential in Canada's second-most-popular mutant (The movie Wolverine is still Canadian, right?) to keep him from the silver screen for too long. I mean, he's Marvel's first openly gay superhero, who also happens to be an Olympic gold medalist champion skier - no, really - and an asshole with superspeed powers. If Josh Schwartz really can't do something with that, then I want to know who really wrote all of those OC episodes I adored.

Xorn
This one's more unexpected, I admit. In fact, I'm not even sure if Xorn even officially exists in X-Lore anymore - He was (spoiler) a fake identity used by Magneto in Grant Morrison's run on the series early this decade, and later retconned into a real person whose identity had been stolen by Magneto, but I have no idea if that's just been quietly ignored these days or not. But nonetheless, there was something magnetic - no pun intended - about the silent, naive buddhist with a black hole for a head, and making him a character in his own right could provide an interesting counterpoint to the lights and violence that'll otherwise seep through the movie.

The rumors about this project first broke in May, when Schwartz's off-the-record comments about the then-unnamed project accidentally made it into an online interview:

I'm very well aware that I'll be bludgeoned by purists, but I love its mythology, and it comes with a pretty hefty paycheck... It's not like I'm adding new characters like Toaster Head, or anything like that.

But while Toaster Head may not be appearing, which X-Men will feature in First Class? Wolverine and Magneto are both headed for their own movies, and X-Men: The Last Stand pretty much killed off most of the other main characters from the movie series. Fox isn't saying anything about this project, but the Marvel comic of the same name focuses on the first students that Charles Xavier taught: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast and Angel... all of whom have already appeared in various X-Men movies to date. Will Schwartz be reuniting those characters, or - more likely - choosing from the many, many, other characters that have called themselves "X-Men" throughout the history of the comic?

If it's the latter, then all I have to ask is this: Can we please see the movie debut of Doug Ramsey, the nerdy mutant with the power of simultaneous translation (No, really)? And if so, can he be played by Adam Brody?

Fox, Josh Schwartz mutate 'X-Men' [Variety]

Fox, which is making some Marvel Comics movies including next year's Wolverine, has a few other projects on the slate. One possibility is Young X-Men, a movie following the main X-Men characters as teenagers studying at Professor Xavier's school — similar to the X-Men: First Class comic or the animated X-Men: Evolution. (Which would be cool, but couldn't include Wolverine, thus possibly halving its commercial potential.)

Another possibility is a solo film for Deadpool, the wisecracking deformed mutant mercenary played by Ryan Reynolds in the Wolverine

And a third possiblity would be a "reboot" of Daredevil, who only just had a movie starring Ben Affleck five years ago. Given how well that worked out with the Hulk, I'm not sure if people are really clamoring for a reinvention of the blind lawyer who's sort of like Batman but not quite.

Meanwhile, what's up with Wonder Woman? Talking to io9 contributor Nisha Gopalan over at MTV, producer Leonard Goldberg hinted that the Wachowskis might still be interested in working on a Wonder Woman film. At one point, the Matrix auteurs had been working on a WW picture at one point, but then they got diverted to another project. But they could still come back to the Amazon Princess with their own take on her story.

Meanwhile, writers Matthew Jennison and Matt Strickland are retooling their WW spec script, which Goldberg and Joel Silver bought a few years ago. It takes place during World War II, and Goldberg wouldn't go into specifics about what needed tweaking. He did say that he doesn't want to spend too much time on the same old story of Col. Steve Trevor crashing onto Paradise Island and almost getting executed, since it's been done to death. If it appears at all, it'll be in "an abbreviated fashion." Also, Goldberg says he doesn't want to see Wonder Woman too "sexed up," since she's an icon, and she's not meant to be Catwoman.

(And yes, we know Wonder Woman isn't really scifi, except when she's traveling into outer space, wielding the purple death ray, flying in her invisible jet, or joining a crew of aliens and scifi characters in the Justice League.)

[MTV

According to trade paper Production Weekly, 20th Century Fox is working on a movie called X-Men: First Class, and has registered the domain x-menfirstclass.com (which currently redirects back to Fox's own site). X-Men: First Class is currently the name of a flashback series of comics based on the original X-Men team, all of whom made it into the movie series in various guises (Cyclops and Jean Grey as part of the team from the start, with the Beast, Iceman and the Angel showing up in later episodes). Does this mean that Fox plans on rolling back the years to give us the movie version of the awkward school years of our favorite mutants? And, more importantly, does that mean that we finally know the "prequel of sorts" X-Men project that Gossip Girl's Josh Schwartz was talking about back in May?

Fox opening registration for First Class? [Superhero Hype]