Ratner be gone! Bryan Singer reups with Professor Xavier and the gang, will direct X-Men: First Class

Tired of shitty X-Men movies like X3: The Last Stand and the dispiritingly awful X-Men Origins: Wolverine?  You're in luck, as Variety reports that Bryan Singer is returning to develop and direct X Men: First Class, a prequel to the popular mutant superhero series. Singer, as you might remember, directed the superior first two entries in the X-Men saga. Marvel is going a little nuts with the X-Men spinoffs; origin stories for Deadpool and Magneto are in the works, as is a sequel to Wolverine. Seriously? For Singer, everything old is new again. He's slated to also direct a remake of Excalibur and a film adaptation of Battlestar Galactica.

As its title suggests, X-Men: First Class will follow the development of Xavier and Magneto's relationship and the building of a school for freaky mutanty type individuals (I think it's called Hogwarts Academy or something, I'm not much of a comic book guy). It's supposed to be in the vein of J.J Abrams' recent revamp of the Star Trek franchise. It's wise to be wary of the fifth entry in any series (except Saw, which angrily demanded a fourth sequel) yet with the generally dependable Singer back in the director's chair we remain, as always, cautiously optimistic.