Young X-Men Prequel Being Written by Josh Schwartz Already?!

Although all eyes are on the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine, apparently that's not the only X-Men move in the works. After X-Men 3 hit theaters a few summers ago, reports about the future of the franchise included three distinct films: Wolverine, Magneto, and a young X-Men.

As of this year, I believed the only active one was Wolverine, but alas I was wrong, as far as I can tell. An interview over at BlackBook with Gossip Girl writer Josh Schwartz recently revealed that he is indeed writing the screenplay for the young X-Men prequel. And if that news isn't enough, Schwartz takes it upon himself to actually diss the upcoming Incredible Hulk and misunderstand Transformers fans all in one.

While I'd like to hold out hope and say that this new X-Men movie could maybe turn out better than X-Men 3, it really doens't sound like this guy knows what he's doing. Right off the bat it sounds like we're getting a Gossip Girl version of the X-Men. The sequel will center on teenage mutants at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning and give Schwartz the opportunity to feature lesser known X-Men characters. What's not certain is whether this will be specifically a sequel or a prequel, because it could be either one in actuality (and just not feature any of the characters we've seen previously). At least Schwartz is interested in the comic, saying, "I'm very well aware that I'll be bludgeoned by purists, but I love its mythology, and it comes with a pretty hefty paycheck."

So he's doing this more for the money, okay, but he's not going to butcher it is he? "It's not like I'm adding new characters like Toaster Head, or anything like that." Phew! But wait, he forgot to tell you, he isn't done explaining how bad the upcoming Hulk movie looks and how much the fans never complained about Transformers. Please tell me he's joking?!

"The Hulk looks like it's going to be terrible. And why does he look like he's fighting against the monster from Cloverfield? I mean, with Transformers, it's not like fans were going to come back saying, 'You used the wrong car.'"

That's just about all we get before the interviewer hurriedly returns to chatting Gossip Girl. Well, he does throw in this final jab: "Brett Ratner didn't have a lot of credibility going in to the first two X-Men movies." At least he got one thing right! I'm not entirely sure what happened, but if it is true that Schwartz is working on another X-Men film, I'm very worried. This is starting to sound like that Justice League movie, and not in a good way. Young X-Men isn't inherently bad idea, but in the hands of a screenwriter like this, it will be bad. Before anyone jumps the gun, let's just take this in strides - as far as I know the film isn't really in production yet or even close to it!

First things first, would anyone actually want to see a young X-Men movie? Or an even better question, does anyone want to see this come together soon? Or would we all rather see the Avengers? Right now I'd rather have Marvel keep everything constrained within the new universe they've created - Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine. There is really no need to venture back into the X-Men universe for the next few years, especially with the Gossip Girl creator writing the screenplay. How did they let it get this bad?