All is not lost however, as the man replacing Singer is none-other than Matthew Vaughn, fresh from his success with another comic-book smash in the shape of Kick-Ass. Not a bad pick at all, we reckon, but more importantly he also gets the thumbs up from Singer.

"I've been a fan of Matthew's since Layer Cake,” said Singer in Fox’s official press release. “He has a deft hand with multiple characters and storylines, and a great love of the X-Men universe. I feel the combination of this story and his vision will make for an exciting and original X-Men film."

Even Brett Ratner was gushing at the appointment. "I think he's brilliant," he told MTV recently. "I thought his last movie was fantastic. I'm a fan. I think this one is probably even more right for him because it's the younger X-Men, the beginning, and he's great, obviously, with kids. He has an incredible visual style and he's a great filmmaker."

It’s certainly an exciting appointment, and one that raised more than a few eyebrows given that Vaughn was originally slated to direct X-Men: The Last Stand before walking away from the project just nine weeks before filming began. Let’s hope Fox can hang on to him a bit longer this time around.