Bryan Singer made two X-Men movies, then Brett Ratner made a third, but it sucked, so Matthew Vaughn made a prequel to the first two with a new cast, and it was pretty good again. Now Bryan Singer is back making the sequel to that prequel, which will star prequel stars James McAvoy, Michael F. Assbender, and Jennifer Lawrence, along with original stars Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen (confirmed a few days ago). Now, the Hollywood Reporter says Hugh Jackman is in talks to come back to play Wolverine in X-Men: Let’s Just Forget That Whole Brett Ratner Thing.

Sources confirm that Hugh Jackman is in negotiations to reprise his Wolverine role in the movie, which is ostensibly a sequel to X-Men: First Class but will prominently feature actors from the first X-Men trilogy (the first two of which Singer directed).

Days of Future Past is a classic storyline that unfolded in two issues of Marvel Comics’ Uncanny X-Men in 1981, from writer Chris Claremont and artists John Byrne and Terry Austin. The story was partially set in an alternate future where surviving mutants have been penned in concentration camps, giant robots called Sentinels patrol America, and most of the X-Men have been hunted and killed. In the present day, the X-Men were forced to stop a key event from unfolding in order to keep that future from occurring. [THR]

I don’t know how the time travel storyline from Days of Future Past plays out in the comics (though I’m sure you nerds will tell me, won’t you – HELP, MY NECKBEARD IS BECOMING THICK AND DANDRUFFY!), but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I could watch an entire movie of Magneto flying around the Earth killing geriatric Nazis.

“X-MEN! You must prevent a key event and save the future from becoming a dystopian hellhole! (*whispering*) Psst. And here’s an extra thou if you can go back in time and keep Adam Levine’s parents from meeting.”

The trailer for Les Miserables is here, from The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper, and as you can see, it is going to win ALL OF THE OSCARS! Don’t believe me? This is only a partial list of the things you can expect to see in Les Miserables:

• POVERTY!

• SINGING!

• FRENCH!

• WHITE PEOPLE HAVING AFFAIRS!

• HATS!

• CRYING ANNE HATHAWAY!

• FAMOUS ACTORS LOOKING FILTHY!

• FINGERLESS GLOVES!

• A PRECOCIOUS CHILD!

• HELENA BONHAM CARTER LOOKING HOMELESS!

Sorry, other movies, Les Miserables is winning all of your awards. Somewhere, Ben Affleck is sadly putting his beard on a shelf saying to himself, “Next time, old friend. Next time.”

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Not necessarily relevant, but still awesome.

If you all will indulge me, I have some page view whoring to do here on Vince’s pretty CSS style sheet…

There have been a variety of rumors regarding the direction that Fox would be taking the X-Men after the overwhelming success of X-Men: First Class rescued the franchise from the Cheetos-dusted fingers of Brett Ratner’s demise. For starters, we know that Patrick Stewart will be returning as Professor X in X-Men: Days of Future Past, and he also hinted that other actors will also reprise their roles from the original trilogy.

Obviously, we knew that Hugh Jackman is still Wolverine, because he was in First Class and he’s filming The Wolverine, and nobody else was born to play Wolverine like Jackman, but now we also know that P-Stew wasn’t lying because Famke Janssen has a cameo in The Wolverine. Additionally, by hiring Mark Millar to oversee all of its Marvel properties, Fox is working diligently to create an alliance not only between X-Men and Fantastic Four, but also possibly Marvel’s The Avengers, which would obviously be amazing.

So now the bad news – Matthew Vaughn is no longer directing Days of Future Past because he’s working on another film. I know, I’m bummed, too.

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Speaking of movies doomed by association from the start, here’s Hugh Jackman (more like HUGE JACKEDMAN, AMIRIGHT) in the first publicity still from The Wolverine Saga: Retracting Knives Part 2 or whatever it’s called. 2009′s X-Men Origins: Wolverine was directed by Gavin Hood and was almost universally reviled as a box of farts dipped in puke, but this one’s directed by James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma) who sounded like a lot more attractive choice before he directed Knight & Day, but who knows. It opens July 2013.

If anything, this peek at 20th Century Fox’s The Wolverine distances itself from the goofier, gaudier tone of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which everyone would prefer to forget happened. This movie will instead start from a new page, with an international-heavy cast that includes Svetlana Khodchenkova as Viper, Hiroyuki Sanada as gang boss Shingen, Tao Okamoto as his daughter Mariko, Rila Fukushima as assassin Yukio, Hal Yamanouchi as gangster Yashida, Will Yun Lee as villain Silver Samurai and Brian Tee as a corrupt politician. And in case it wasn’t obvious, yes, this story is set in Japan. [ThePlaylist]

Pff, whatever, if I shaved my arms and didn’t drink water for a couple weeks I’d look exactly like that. Hugh probably just wanted his arms all veiny like that so he could feel what it’s like to be hugged by two giant penises. I kid, I kid!

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What with The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises and all the good superhero movies we’ve had lately, Wolverine has sort of gotten lost in the anticipation shuffle (there’s also the matter of the last X-Men movie being a prequel that took place without him). But as you can see from these set pictures from New South Wales (Australia), there’s still a Wolverine movie being directed by James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma) set for July 2013 (the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine), whether anyone wants one or not.

In the film, Logan begins a forbidden romance with a Japanese woman whose hand in marriage is, unfortunately, promised to another man. Since Logan won’t take “no” for an answer, it puts him into battle with her father and her samurai-sword-wielding brothers and Silver Samurai. [SuperheroHype]

And at some point, apparently, Wolverine grows a big beard and moves to a logging town to get a blue collar job and avoid his superhero responsibilities. …Really, screenwriters? We’re doing this one again? The thing where the protagonist’s selfish refusal to accept responsibility is represented by his facial hair? Even The Dark Knight Rises had that. Man of Steel has it, and that’s not even out yet (I think he’s a fisherman in that). At this point, it’d be easier to count the superhero movies that don’t have that scene. Screenwriters desperately need to find another visual shorthand for “protagonist accepts his responsibility” that doesn’t involve cutting his hair and shaving his mountain-man beard. You guys have any ideas? I was thinking something involving a foam cowboy hat, but I haven’t really fleshed out the details.

[pictures from WENN via SuperheroHype]