Bryan Singer is returning to the X-Men franchise, confirming at the Hollywood premiere of Avatar that he has signed on to develop and direct X-Men: First Class.
The new film will look at the teenage years of the mutant characters introduced in the previous three X-Men films and in this past summer spinoff, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
20th Century Fox has hired writer Jamie Moss to work with Singer on the project. A previous script was written by Josh Schwartz.
Singer, who directed X-Men and X2 before heading to Warner Bros. to make Superman Returns, likely will direct Jack the Giant Killer before he gets to X-Men: First Class.
The X-Men films are based on the long-running and popular Marvel comic book series, begun in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
