Word on the street has it that the follow-up to Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class will be written by Simon Kinberg (Sherlock Holmes). The scribe will have to try and match or outdo the first film, which has grossed over $350 million to date and was well-received critically. Some of the films in his resume suggest he’d be a good fit: Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Sherlock Holmes. Then, some make my head hurt: xXx: State of the Union, X-Men: The Last Stand and Jumper. Kinberg was a producer on X-Men: First Class. He was also the writer behind the 2012 releases This Means War and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which he is also executive producer on. Hit the jump for more on the sequel to X-Men: First Class. The news of Kinberg’s writing duties comes via SuperHeroHype, but we may have a few plot details to share. Vaughn himself shared some thoughts on potential sequels in an interview before the first film hit theaters. One little tidbit from that conversation included what the opening sequence of the X-Men: First Class sequel might be: “I thought it would be fun to open with the Kennedy Assassination, and we reveal that the magic bullet was controlled by Magneto.”Vaughn also mentioned that there may also be (at least) one more character entering the mix in the follow up:

“We will only have one more new character. I won’t say who he…I won’t say who he or she is! But we will only be bringing one more new character in. Because, I think, as Professor X is in a wheelchair, Magneto needs to have a nemesis he can fight with. Someone that will be his equal. I know who it is. It would be nice if I could say something, but I can’t, mate!”

Could we possibly see more of Wolverine than just a cameo next time? We’ll have to wait and see. James McAvoy also offered up his take on a sequel (or sequels) and how he’d like to connect it to the existing films:

“Ideally you have a story arc that lasts three movies and at the end of the third it leaves you ready for the story in X-Men 1. It would be nice to explore things in two more films.”

The director and cast seem more than eager to make a sequel and have a lot of ideas about where the franchise will go. Do you think Kinberg is up to the task? What’s the over/under on how long it takes to report Vaughn himself is doing a rewrite?