Josh Schwartz Joins X-Men's First Class

Fox and Josh Schwartz are in negotiations to have the Gossip Girl and The O.C. creator write a new installment in the X-Men franchise, with the option to direct as well (though Schwartz appears to have opted out of the latter role for now). The project is tentatively titled X-Men: First Class and would possibly draw from the limited-run comic series of the same name that Marvel launched back in 2006. The series focuses on the early years of the supergroup, and was geared toward younger audiences, which might explain the choice to bring Schwartz in to pen the script. No word yet on how the project would fit into the continuity of the movies, though. The film follows in the footsteps of other X-Men spinoffs that Fox is prepping, including the upcoming Wolverine movie as well as the Magneto and Deadpool projects that are in development. X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner and Mr. & Mrs. Smith and X-Men: The Last Stand scribe Simon Kinberg will produce.

I'm actually a fan of Josh Schwartz's work. Sure, his projects tend to be flawed and kind of clunky at times, but he knows how to sell to a young audience. He's also a pretty smart guy and a talented writer with a biting wit and great self-awareness. Hopefully that all translates into him writing a good movie for this franchise. Not sure how this will affect his attachment to Looking For Alaska, the coming-of-age dramedy based on John Green's award-winning YA novel of the same name (which is actually a good read, if you can look past the YA label), which he wrote and was slated to make his directing debut with.