X-Men: First Class helmer Matthew Vaughn is upfront about the sequel-baiting ending to his reboot of those uncanny Marvel mutants, and reveals some tentative plans about the next prequel. [The Playlist, via Total Film]
Since Vaughn has previously stated that this is a prequel to Bryan Singer’s previous X-Men films (with just about everyone ignoring that third one – what was it called, again?), we can expect that any sequel with hew as much as possible to the established timeline for this series. But how far into the 20th century will the next film(s) go? Into the 70’s and (please, no) 80’s?
“That’s an idea that’s been discussed,” admits producer Bryan Singer. “How the characters go through time. But only to a point – they can’t age too fast!”
Vaughn goes on to state – reasonably – that the next installment (or two, or three) will hew closer to the Mad Men-esque era of the mid-to-late 60’s:
“1962 is far more grounded in the world of the ’50s,” he says. “I think it takes about five years for a decade to really start getting its identity, so the fun thing about this for me would be doing [a sequel] in the latter part of the decade, where you’ve got The Stones, The Beatles, Flower Power…”
Beyond the First Class ending, which will be “even more fun,” Vaughn explains his film’s set-up:
“First Class is similar to Batman Begins, where you have the fun of introducing the characters and getting to know them, but that takes time,” says Vaughn.
“But with the second one you can just get on with it and have a rollicking good time,” he continues. “That’s the main difference between Begins and The Dark Knight.”
Vaughn and Singer sound pretty confident that we haven’t heard the last of this particular band of mutated do-gooders and bad guys.
When X-Men: First Class opens on June 3, the moviegoing public should cement this notion by giving them a big hit.
Is my 80’s-hating prejudice perhaps misguided? Should The Beast have a perm and bell-bottoms? What decade would you like to see the X-Men boogie in?