A few months ago, Bryan Singer, the man responsible for dragging the comic-book story of a group of superpowered mutants in a prejudiced world, known as The X-Men, kicking and screaming onto the big screen announced that he would be returning to the franchise after two disappointing sequels (X3 and last year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.) Singer and producer Lauren Shuler Donner sat down with Hero Complex to discuss the future of the series, which will begin when Singer steps up to the director’s chair for the prequel X-Men: First Class.

First Class will focus on the friendship between a younger Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) as they strive to bring equality to the mutant population, and as Xavier gathers what will become the first team of X-Men.

The premise has compelling elements to it, Singer said. “Just doing younger mutants is not enough. The story needs to be more than that. I love the relationship between Magneto and Xavier, these two men who have diametrically opposite points of view but still manage to be friends — to a point. They are the ultimate ‘frienemies’.”

So why did Singer find himself drawn back into the franchise after leaving Fox for Warner Brothers to helm Superman Returns?

“I genuinely like the people, and my personality meshes more with this universe than it does with other universes, I think; I see that now at this point,” Singer said. “I feel a connection to the X-Men characters and also the ensemble nature of the films. If you look at ‘Usual Suspects” or my last film, ‘Valkyrie,’ I feel especially comfortable with ensemble juggling. In the space between all the characters you can disguise a central thought that’s hidden in all the discourse. I missed that with the singular relationship story of Superman. And, well, it always gives you something to cut to…”

Now that he has returned to the series that effectively helped kick off the current superhero film trend, it seems that some people involved are looking way ahead at establishing a long future for the X-Men.

Shuler Donner also has pitched Singer on doing a fourth installment of the previously established “X-Men” franchise and Jackman had that lunch with Singer to coax him into a project as well, which may or may not be a “Wolverine” film, which Jackman has said will be set in Japan and released in 2011. “I wish I could be four people,” the director said with a moan. “I could make everybody happy.”

Singer turned to Shuler Donner and said of “X-Men 4″: “Hold that one off for just a little, I’m fixated on the other one right now.” She nodded and answered, “I will, I will … I’m holding it open with high hopes. It’s totally different [from 'First Class'] and it will be so interesting for you.”

How do you feel about Singer returning? Do you think the story should be carried on from X3? How do you think the writers can redeem the mistakes of X3 and Wolverine?

Christopher Nolan is starting to look like some kind of superhero. Or at least the man the superheroes come to when they want their franchise rescued. After bringing Batman roaring back to life in 2005 and then lifting him to previously unheard heights of awesome with The Dark Knight, it looks like Nolan will be playing mentor to yet another famous DC hero.

Afterall, who has had a harder franchise time lately than Superman? Aside from WB’s Smallville, every iteration of the character since 1978′s Superman has been flawed or downright wrong-headed.

It makes sense then to pursue Nolan, who keeps churning out exciting and interesting films in between his comic adaptations. This summer will see the release of Nolan’s compelling Inception, a futuristic mystery thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio. And he is also already at work with David Goyer and Jonathan Nolan on the plot particulars of the third entry in the Batman franchise. This is one busy guy.

Right now, the plan is that Nolan will only shepherd the creative team through development, but I suppose it’s possible that he could in fact step in if his schedule allowed. Nevertheless, having him on board sounds like a very good thing. Although, this won’t be a follow-up to Superman Returns, it hasn’t yet been announced that Singer or Routh are out of the next one. I imagine though, they will eventually disappear and pave the way for yet a full-blown reboot.

The best news to come out of this is that with Nolan heading up two franchises that have been linked for years in the comics, we might be one step closer to eventually seeing that fabled meeting The Dark Knight and the Man of Steel.  Now that would be a team-up worth getting in line for.

This just in from the Wall Street Journal…Warner Bros to reboot Superman for the big screen. Look for Brian Singer to not be involved with this new take on the Man of Steel as the bad taste that was 2006′s “Superman Returns” is still lingering in the water.

Realizing that Marvel Comics has been hitting home run after home run with film adaptations of their comic book characters, DC and Warner Bros are going to get aggressive with Super Hero movies based off of the DC Comics properties. They will also follow the blueprint setup in Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk from this past summer and build upon the characters that will make up the Justice League.

There has been a rumor floating around for months that comic book scribe Mark Millar has a script and business plan ready to present to the WB and DC in hopes of making Superman the be-all-end-all movie that we were expecting in 2006.  Here is to hoping that this announcement will be made prior to the end of 2008.

“Superheroes are more global than ever in today’s commercial world, existing in 30 languages and in more than 60 countries,” says Paul Levitz, president and publisher of DC Comics. The characters are “a world-wide export,” he says.

With the major box-office sucess that is “Batman Begins” and the follow-up “The Dark Knight” it was only a matter of time that WB would realize they needed to do something to jump start the failing movies based on DC Characters.

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters. Movies featuring Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman are all in active development.

As a comic book fan and a movie junkie, I hope they can keep the tidal wave that is the recent comic book adaptation hits going and compliment the work Marvel is doing. We don’t want to have to sit through another “Batman & Robin” or “Superman 4: The Quest for Peace” any time soon.

What is it about the Incredible Hulk that always seems to cause issues? The first movie came out in 2003 directed by Ang Lee and was considered a box-office bust. Why? The style of the movie was considered too slow by most and the fact that your main character of the HULK isn’t seen till over an hour into the film. When he was shown, the CGI made him look as if Shrek and the Jolly Green Giant had a child together. Add to it the very stylized comic book look and feal that Ang Lee gave the movie didn’t sit well with most audiences. For some reason they all wanted the movie to follow the themes set in the TV show from the 70′s and all forgot that there was a comic book prior to that version.

Now we move to 2008 where a newer version of The Hulk will hit movie theaters in June. This movie is being called a “restart” by Marvel Comics as the story follows the flow of the TV show with hints of the comic book thrown in. They even got a more action oriented director in Louis Leterrir (the Transporter movies) and a good set of writers in Zack Penn (Superman Returns) and the star of the movie, Edward Norton.

So where is the touble with this film? The trouble seems to be between Edward Norton, Louis Leterrir and Marvel Comics.  Entertainment Weekly had a sitdown with Louis Leterrir where he mentioned that all parties were getting along during the filming of the movie. It wasn’t till the edit proces that issues started to rise. It seems that both Leterrir and Norton wanted a “135 minute more contemplative and richer epic” as to Marvel Comics who wanted a “under 120 minutes and action packed” film.

Do you see where I’m going with this? Marvel wants an action movie featuring one of their toughest characters in comics where the director and star/writer wanted to make it more of a movie like the one in 2003.  Needless to say Marvel Comics won the battle but I won’t be surprise if we see two versions of the movie on DVD next Fall – one with the theatrical version and one with the director’s cut.

Adding to the story is that Edward Norton released a statement as he is not granting interviews at this time.

“Every good movie gets forged through collaboration, and different ideas among people who are all committed and respect the validity of each other’s opinions is the heart of filmmaking.

Regrettably, our healthy process, which is and should be a private matter, was misrepresented publicly as a ‘dispute,’ seized on by people looking for a good story, and has been distorted to such a degree that it risks distracting from the film itself, which Marvel, Universal and I refuse to let happen.

It has always been my firm conviction that films should speak for themselves… our focus has always been to deliver the Hulk that people have been waiting for and keep the worldwide love affair with the big green guy going strong.”

Again, the green guy seems to have issues. How will the audience take to the new Hulk? We’ll find out in June.