X-Men 3 is growing more troubled by the day according to IGN and Hollywood Hitlist.

Fans of the mutant franchise have been outraged since the day Bryan Singer announced he'd had enough of Wolverine and co. and wanted to direct a movie where he gets to keep the traditional spandex.

Rumours are growing of an all out war between Fox and WB over the two movies. After Singer fought to try and get X-Men cast, like James Marsden and Shawn Ashmore for his man-of-steel flick, Fox turned up the heat. Superman Returns begins filming in July. Fox have suddenly been giving hints that X-Men 3 will begin filming in June, despite having no cast firmly tied down, no director and no final script. Superman conversely has all of the above already, despite starting filming a month later.

It seems Fox is going even further and playing serious hardball, which could actually result in them shooting themselves in the foot. As "punishment" for defecting to Superman Returns as Richard White, it has emerged Marsden has been removed from consideration as Cyclops in X-3, effectively seeing the role killed off, or worse, re-cast. Shawn Ashmore was being considered for Jimmy Olsen, but Fox's cynical filming date announcement has seen unable to take the role and thus replaced with Sam Huntington. To make things harder for Fox, Famke Janssen (Jean Gray) has already stated she's to meet Bryan Singer within the week with a view to discussing a possible role in Superman Returns. Rumour is though, that Jean Gray is an integral character within the plot of whatever X-3 script does exist, leaving another far more important role open for the dreaded fate of recasting. In light of this Fox has supposedly just hired Zak Penn, one of the story writers of X-2 to write a whole new draft of the script in light of these changes.

For those who are still a little unclear, lets see if I can clear up some casting issues:

Actors contractually obliged to return for X-3

• Alan Cumming - Nightcrawler
• Shawn Ashmore - Iceman
• Aaron Stanford - Pyro
• Anna Paquin - Rogue
• Rebecca Romijn - Mystique

Actors unconfirmed but likely to return for X-3 for $$$

• Hugh Jackman - Wolverine
• Patrick Stewart - Dr Xavier
• Ian McKellan - Magneto

Actors NOT returning for X-3

• Halle Berry - Storm
• James Marsden - Cyclops

Unknown

• Famke Janssen - Jean Gray/Phoenix

Any way you look at it, unless you are happy with X-3: Teen Titans, the franchise is in serious trouble.