You may not know this, but X-Men Origins: Wolverine was not meant to be the only solo spin-off movie for the comic book franchise. For a while Fox was also developing X-Men Origins: Magneto, which would tell the back story of the universe's most famous villains. That project never came to be, of course, but the in-development script was re-appropriated for X-Men: First Class last summer and the growth of Magneto was paralleled with the growth of Charles Xavier. We may actually never get to see the master of magnets get his own solo movie, but the good news is that the untitled First Class sequel will feature plenty of the character.
MTV recently caught up with writer Simon Kinberg, who is developing the script for the next X-Men movie, and he confirmed that the next movie will feature more of Magneto, played by the excellent Michael Fassbender, as he heads down the road and becomes a force of evil. But just because the character seemed to embrace his darker side at the end of X-Men: First Class doesn't mean that we can just expect him to start making ultimate plans for mutant world domination. "Magneto becomes the villain ultimately of the franchise but he’s a much more complicated character as a young man," Kinberg said. "He’s someone you sympathize with, you care about you root for even though might not necessarily agree with his methods, you understand his philosophy."
Going further, the writer said that the character will maintain a human, relatable side and a big part of that is having an actor like Fassbender playing the role. Said Kinberg, I think the truth is ultimately that because Michael is such an interesting actor, he’ll never be full-on anything. He’ll have a villainous side and he’ll have a sympathetic human side you’ll be able to relate but you’ll also be afraid of him."
If Magneto's evil side is growing obviously that means that Professor X, played by James McAvoy, will have to be on the other side of the fence trying to save the world from his best friend, but I honestly hope that they really do have a heavier focus on the villain. Magneto is one of the most fascinating characters in comic book history, and - while I mean no disrespect to James McAvoy - if you have an actor like Michael Fassbender already attached to the project you better write him a damn good role.
The X-Men: First Class sequel is still in the development stages and Matthew Vaughn will be returning to direct.
