Fox Studios has announced that “Gossip Girl”, “The OC”, and “Chuck” creator Josh Schwartz will be writing and potentially directing the big-screen adaptation of Marvel’s “X-Men: First Class”, the next X-Men movie, telling the tale of the early teen adventures of Marvel’s legendary mutant superheroes, before they were known as the astonishing X-Men.

The title details the early adventures of Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, Jean Gray, AKA Marvel Girl, Bobby Drake, AKA Iceman, Hank McCoy, AKA the Beast, and their instructor Professor X, including various other guest stars from the Marvel Universe such as Machine Man, the Scarlet Witch, and the Mole Man.

There are no details of the production but rumors, which also point to a 2010 release date, indicate the decision to use Schwartz and adapt the “First Class” books stem from a decision to steer the franchise in a younger “reboot” direction.

The original comic series of “X-Men: First Class” was an eight-issue limited series running from September of 2006 to April of 2007. It was written by Jeff Parker and drawn by Roger Cruz, and was followed by a special one-shot in May of 2007, which led to another monthly series started in June 2007 with the same creative team.

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By Costa Koutsoutis, (Source: Variety)