FilmmakerMatthew Vaughnhas only really inhabited two different universes in the wake of his 2007 featureStardust. The first was his 2010 motion pictureKick-Ass, while the other is hisKingsmanuniverse, which has spawned a trio of motion pictures taking place over an entire century of European history. The 2024 titleArgyllesees Vaughn stepping outside of those two confines for almost the first time in nearly 20 years — emphasis on almost. BetweenKick-AssandKingsman: The Secret Service, Vaughn did step into theX-Menuniverse withX-Men: First Class.
On the surface, Vaughn’s time helmingFirst Classmay just look like a quick detour into commercial PG-13 territory before returning to the Mark Millar comic book adaptations that really excite him. In reality, though,First Classwas the middle chapter of Vaughn’s very strange relationship with the X-Men movies. For nearly a decade of his life, Vaughn was always on the fringes of this franchise by way of being tapped to direct two different installments of this saga beyondFirst Class. Those additional X-Men features never got made, but the outspoken Vaughn has never been shy about explaining to the public whathis version ofX-Men: The Last StandandX-Men: Days of Future Pastwould’ve looked likeand what led to him walking away from those blockbusters.
X-Men: First Class
In the 1960s, superpowered humans Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr work together to find others like them, but Erik’s vengeful pursuit of an ambitious mutant who ruined his life causes a schism to divide them.
Matthew Vaughn Has a Long History With the X-Men Franchise
In the final days of March 2005,Kobe Bryant, playing for the Los Angeles Lakers,managed to score 32 points for his teameven while being constantly swarmed by rival players. Taking down the Knicks that day was a challenge for Bryant and his teammates — almost as much of a challenge as taking the reins of theX-Mensaga in the mid-2000s. In that same month of March 2005, 20th Century Fox announced who would be taking over for directorBryan Singerin helming the thirdX-Menfeature. After the popularity ofX2in 2003, the pressure was on to keep the quality train rolling without any bumps for whoever took over this franchise.The choice to take over was Matthew Vaughn, who had only helmed one movie (Layer Cake) before tackling such a massive property. While women filmmakers and directors of other marginalized identities often need years of experience directing before they can helm blockbusters,Vaughn got the keys to theX-Menfranchise after just one movie.
Just three months later, though, Vaughn departed the film, withBrett Ratnertaking over the proceedings.Before Vaughn left the blockbuster, he’d already castVinnie Jonesas The Juggernaut, a role that united Jones with Vaughn after the latter producedLock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, aGuy Ritchiefilm featuring Jones in a prominent capacity. Also firmly cast before Vaughn left was Hank McCoy/The Beast, who would be inhabited byKelsey Grammer. Vaughn’s casting of this character turned out to be so on point that Marvel Studios would have Grammer reprise the character 17 years afterThe Last Standin anend-credits scene onThe Marvels.Despite getting all these actors assembled,20th Century Fox spokespeople said at the timethat Vaughn had left simply to spend more time with his family.
Years later, though,Vaughn would revealthat a key reason for him leaving the project was that Fox executives had planned to dupe Storm performerHalle Berrywith a fake script full of scenes focusing on Storm saving people. After learning that this was Fox’s attitude towards Berry, Vaughn wanted out of the proceedings.Vaughn has also previously saidthat scheduling was a key reason for why he leftThe Last Stand.Hired to helmThe Last Standjust 14 months before its domestic debut, the filmmaker felt like he was rushing to meet a release date rather than making something that could live up toX2.
Vaughn would later elucidate that the final version ofThe Last Standby Ratner felt like a cramped, rushed affair with no emotion. Per this filmmaker, his incarnation ofThe Last Standstretched on for at least 40 additional moments and actually let major character developments like Jean Grey’s (Famke Janssen) turn to the dark side have weight.Vaughn was clearly unhappy with howThe Last Standturned out, but he would get a chance to wrap up his unfinished business with the X-Men by helmingX-Men: First Class. That title turned out to be just big enough to inspire 20th Century Fox to green-light a sequel,which Vaughn was confirmed to direct at the start of 2012.
Matthew Vaughn Knows How ‘Kingsman 3’ Begins and Ends [Exclusive]
The director offered an update to Collider about the trilogy capper.
Vaughn Left X-Men to Direct the Kingsman Movies
Back when he was first promotingX-Men: First Class, Vaughn opened up about his idea forhow aFirst Classsequel should begin. “I thought it would be fun to open with the Kennedy Assassination, and we reveal that the magic bullet was controlled by Magneto,” Vaughn explained, an idea that seemingly solidified that any futureFirst Classcontinuations would be set in the 1960s. This concept wasconfirmed in earlier comments by Vaughnabout a potentialFirst Classsequel,which he felt should be set in the latter half of the 1960s and exploit key parts of the culture of that eralike The Beatles. Vaughn had very concrete ideas about where this sequel should go, but by the summer of 2012, rumors began swirling that this feature would insteadbe focused on theDays of Future Pastcomic book storyline, not necessarily more late ’60s adventures.
Just a few months after it was confirmed that theX-Men: First Classsequel was transforming into aDays of Future Pastadaptation, Vaughn stepped down from directing the sequel. Bryan Singer would take over the proceedings and Vaughn would shift focus over to the firstKingsmanmovie.In February 2014, Vaughn said that the reasonfor his departure simply came down to him wanting to tackle projects that he could put a more personal spin on, rather than working within a franchise built on Singer’s earlier films. He would later clarify that Fox’s decision to make aDays of Future Pastmovie as the direct follow-up toFirst Classcaused him to walk away from the franchise. The director instead wanted to do another solo outing with the younger X-Men (featuringTom Hardyas a new incarnation of Wolverine) before concluding with aDays of Future Pastfeature.
Vaughn’s wishes didn’t come true, though, and he decided to bolt to greener pastures.Working within the confines of a pre-existing franchise and big studio mandates just doesn’t seem to be something Vaughn feels comfortable with, especially when studio executives want to rush titles likeThe Last StandandDays of Future Pastto the big screen. It’s no wonder, then, that Vaughn has been more interested in developing his own properties and bringing them to the silver screen. Even with that interest, though, Vaughn has repeatedly tried to get furtherX-MenmoviesbeyondFirst Classoff the ground — they’ve just never been able to mutate into finished features for a variety of reasons.
X-Men: First Classis available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
