There are movies only certain people are able to wholly enjoy, and then there are other movies only certain people can enjoy. Though superhero movies seem to have the upper hand when it comes to crowd-pleasing. It’s only the crummy ones that are kicked in the dirt – Ang Lee’s Hulk; Mark Steven Johnson’s Daredevil; Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, among others – and become the rare exception. A superhero movie done right is a movie done right, period. They’ve grown into a separate genre capable of distracting us from our everyday lives and keeping the Hollywood economy booming.

I don’t think I’m alone in saying X-Men: The Last Stand is among the worst superhero film exploitation ever made. Potential was completely wasted on pointless special effects, and a dazzling source story was ignored on top of that. Last summer’s blockbuster of X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t even seem to be on the map of where the two radically different directors of the original trilogy took their individual movies. It felt lost. We’ve been left to wonder whether an X-Men Origins: Magneto is happening, a spin-off on the frontrunner for the mutant school Charles Xavier, played by Ian McKellen, after Xavier was so hilariously butchered in the conclusion of Wolverine. Honestly I’d much rather see Hugh Jackman humiliate himself onscreen over the marvelous Sir McKellen.

Bryan Singer, director of the enjoyable X-Men and its sequel X2, was in talks to direct X-Men: First Class, a series of comics that primarily ran from September 2006 and ended in April of 2007. Basically a paper reboot of the original X-Men publications, though introducing new characters such as Lizard, Scarlet Witch, Man-Thing, Gorilla-Man, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Four’s Invisible Woman, and, most interestingly, Thor. Singer would have been a great choice, hopefully able to scrape the X-Men franchise from of the piles of cash and golden glitter bigwigs in L.A. have covered it in. However that’s no longer the case.

After Kick-Ass yielded amazing backlash among the people who actually saw it, its Matthew Vaughn (who also did Stardust and Layer Cake) was rumored as the replaced director. That was later confirmed. Now just a few days ago it was announced co-writer Jane Goldman (Vaughn’s wife) was currently rewriting the film’s script by Jaime Moss (Street Kings) and Josh Schwartz (Chuck). I’ll admit to being skeptical about this at first. Yet more writers and a director that aren’t Singer. X-Men is an extremely experimental property that nobody seems quite capable of hitting in the head. But if you’ve seen Kick-Ass you know how awesomely unconventional it turned out to be, and how the same can be said of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s off-the-wall graphic novel.

Not having read the comics, X-Men: First Class looks to be strangely opaque. It can be taken in multiple directions, as the past three movies were as well, and without consistently jerking it left and right a great movie can be squeezed out. Vaughn and Goldman were able to expertly transfer Kick-Ass onto the screen; even adding personal touches that gave it a sense of humor and a soul. If they’re able to do the same with X-Men: First Class it could mean the beginning of a fantastic franchise stepping out of the shadows. Should you hold out much hope? Vaughn and Goldman could have gone anywhere after Kick-Ass. I’m hard-pressed to believe they’ve succumbed to the evils of Hollywood this early in the game, as Kick-Ass had a torch of fierce ambition you couldn’t hold to much else. Though coming off Wolverine, a kick in the head could be a vital wake-up.