Despite hitches along the way, it appears that X-men First Class has begun shooting and with that we have learned a great deal about the upcoming superhero adaptation. Through a phone interview with executive producer Bryan Singer, Aint It Cool News has revealed details regarding the latest film in the X-men franchise.

One of the major aspects of the superhero prequel will be the time period it is set in. First Class is scheduled to take place in an alternative 1960's with John F. Kennedy as president, and with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X having a background role in the film. First Class will also emulate the retro-future technology of the era, similar to the 1960's James Bond films. Because of this change in time period, we will not see fan favorites Cyclops and Marvel Girl in this film.

As for plot details, the major villain has been revealed to be Sebastian Shaw, played by Kevin Bacon. Shaw will be backed up the Hellfire Club's White Queen Emma Frost, played by January Jones. However, the majority of the story will explore the relationship between Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and how their relationship deteriorates. It will also be revealed how Xavier became crippled.

X-men: First Class will be released on June 3, 2011.

Although he has already become a big name in Hollywood, X-men: First Class will be Matthew Vaughn's first studio funded production. Accustomed to such self funded productions such as Kick Ass, Vaughn has been feeling the pressure when it comes to adapting a well loved franchise for a big named studio. The upcoming X-men prequel has already undergone several rewrites and drafts since it began production last year.


However, with most of the film casted and shooting to begin later this year. Vaughn never expected another rewrite to come so late in the game. According to Hero Complex, this latest roadblock came to Vaughn's attention last weekend after viewing Christopher Nolan's Inception. While the Kick Ass director openly expressed his love for the supernatural dreamscape thriller, he was also forced to remove almost twelve pages of script and storyboard from First Class. This lost sequence was in fact going to be a dreamspace combat sequence between Charles Xavier's mutants and a rival faction. These scenes, which were to feature spinning rooms and physics bending combat, were labeled as being to similar to the already popular Inception, and thus scrapped.


Despite this Vuaghn remains optimistic about his upcoming edition to the X-men franchise. In fact, in an enthusiastic discussion with IGN.com, he compared his latest attempt at adapting Stan Lee's beloved franchise to the highly successful JJ Abrams 2009 Star Trek reboot. "Obviously [Abrams] couldn't make everyone happy with that one, but he did a pretty good job," Vaughn said. "He made a fantastically exciting reinvention of that world, with those great characters. And I think there will be comparisons a little bit with X-Men: First Class. It's very similar, in a way. But we're doing some cool stuff in this movie, some really cool stuff that you haven't seen before."


Vaughn also hinted that the setting for the story, written by Bryan Singer, is also something he is excited for, seeing as it deals with recent world events.

While Dracula may not actually be joining the X-men anytime soon, it appears that yet another star has been added to the already expansive X-men:First Class cast.

According to Deadline New York, Edi Gathegi, who played the vampire Laurent in the first two Twilight movies, has been cast as the mutant Darwin for the upcoming Matthew Vaughn directed prequel. Darwin stands about among mutants for having the power of reactive evolution, which allows him to adapt to any environment or situation.


X-men: First Class is due out for release June 3 2011.

Although the cast has been expansive in terms of actors and character, X-men First Class has yet to pull any true surprises. While it is great to see such favorites as Magneto and Beast among the list of mutants, director Matthew Vaughn (Kick Ass) has yet to pull the rug out from under our legs. That is until today.

According to Straight2DVD, actress Erica Hosseini recently auditioned for the role of Willow, an obscure mutant from the 2099 spinoff series (most famous through its series Spider-man 2099, which appears in the upcoming Shattered Dimensions game) : "I was auditioning for a role named Willow -- hopefully I don't get in trouble for blabbing details on the off-chance that I get it. It's a role similar to Mystique from what I understand. Potentially lots of body paint, so that would be really fun."

So what does this mean for the series? Honestly, I have no idea. Willow is too obscure for a hoax, which adds legitimacy to this statement.

The cast of the upcoming X-men prequel, First Class, is growing larger every day. With such mutants as Magneto, Charles Xavier, Cyclops, Angel, Beast, and Emma Frost already added to the cast this looks to be one of the largest mutant gatherings in the history of film.

Today the Latino Review announced that Caleb Landry Jones (No Country for Old Men, Friday Night Lights) is in talks to play the screaming mutant Banshee.

The Mattew Vaughn directed film is slated to begin filming this August and to be released next July.

There are few characters more central to the X-men mythology then Emma Frost. Whether acting as a rebellious psychic teen or one of the leading members of the weakening mutant community, Emma Frost is fan favorite of the X-men fanbase and one of the major characters of the Marvel universe. Despite her rather unfortunate portrayal in the latest X-men film, X-men Origins: Wolverine, it appears the heroine will be playing a major role in the upcoming Matthew Vaughn (Kick Ass) directed X-men prequel.

According to Deadline New York, Alice Eve (She's Out of My League, Sex and the City 2) is in talks with studio heads to play the famous psychic in next years comic book adaptation.

X-men: First Class is due out for release June 3rd of next year.

Actor Michael Fassbender may be playing the villain for two of Marvel's upcoming superhero adaptations. According to showbiz411.com, the critically acclaimed actor, most known for his roles in 300, Inglorious Basterds, and the upcoming DC comics adaptation Jonah Hex, has reportedly signed on to play a younger version of Magento in X-men: First Class. To make things even more interesting, the site also reports that Fassbender was approached to play the villain in 2012's reboot of Spider-man. This announcement brings no further news over who the famous webslinger may face off against, but speculation places Fassbender as portraying the villainous Norman Osborn, a.k.a The Green Goblin.