Gaah, so close and yet so far! The problem, in short, was this. Singer was already committed to directing New Line fairy tale Jack The Giant Killer, with work on First Class set to start after that had finished. However, once the suits at Fox had read Singer’s X-Men script, they weren’t so keen to wait any more.

Infuriatingly, it seems they were so chuffed with Singer’s re-write that they wanted to get things rolling straight away, with or without the main man at the helm. Whether or not they expected Singer to fall in line is anyone’s guess, but in early 2010 it was announced that he had vacated the director’s chair and the search was on for his replacement.

Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst the fans. For Fox to let the series’ star man slip through their fingers once could be excused as an accident (albeit one that resulted in the horrendous sight of Vinnie Jones as the Juggernaut) but to do it twice? An adamantium-assisted mauling would be richly deserved…