Remember the X-Men spin-off that Josh Schwartz was working on for producer Lauren Shuler Donner? Well, apparently the project called X-Men: First Class is now going to be a prequel to the other X-Men movies.

Not only that, but Donner hopes to make it a franchise in its own right. The story would focus on the early years of Xavier’s school, with a young Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, etc. Early word seems to be that Schwartz’s version would segue the characters into their own stories, and eventually weave them back into the X-Men world.

Donner made the comments on Fox Movie Channel’s Life After Film School, and Comics Continuum caught the full story. I was always rather dissatisfied with the way the third X-Men movie treated the characters, casting them off rather callously. Hopefully, this reboot-of-sorts will make sure that Marvel gets it right this time around.

Tags: Josh Schwartz, Lauren Shuler Donner, X-Men: First Class