All signs are pointing to Thor, Captain America and Green Lantern getting sequels, but if there's any superhero movie from 2011 that actually truly deserves a sequel it's X-Men: First Class. Going a different direction than the other films in the franchise, the movie was a ridiculously cool period piece featuring awesome performances, particularly from Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. Sadly, however, the movie didn't perform up to expectations and while it did manage to make more than $350 million worldwide, it's been unclear if 20th Century Fox would be moving forward with another movie. Fortunately, today came a sign that they might be.

According to sources at Superhero Hype, Simon Kinberg has been hired by the studio to pen a sequel to X-Men: First Class. The film would be Kinberg's first time writing within the universe, as he was a credited writer - along with Zak Penn - on X-Men: The Last Stand. The first film actually had a lot of cooks in the kitchen, as Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman , Matthew Vaughn, Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer all had either screenplay or story credits. The site also assumes that Matthew Vaughn will return and, as was mentioned in my interview with producer Lauren Schuler-Donner, the actors are signed on for multiple films. Kinberg's other credits include Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Sherlock Holmes, Jumper and the upcoming This Means War and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

As excited as I am about the prospect of an X-Men: First Class 2, I do have to wonder why they should choose Kinberg to write the script. Obviously he's a favorite over at Fox (both This Means War and Abraham Lincoln are being distributed by the studio) but why not just have Jane Goldman take care of it, as she, in addition to First Class, won credits with critics for her work on The Debt, Kick-Ass and Stardust. It doesn't make much sense.