Matthew Vaughn Reveals Why He Left Fox's X-Men Franchise

While X-Men: First Class wasn't the most successful film in the franchise, it basically revived interest in the franchise after two straight failures in X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It's also the only film that Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn directed in the series since he left shortly after First Class and now we know why; Fox wanted his third movie before the second one he planned.

Speaking with ComingSoon, Vaughn revealed that he had planned a second movie that set between First Class and Days of Future Past since the latter was supposed to be the third movie in a planned trilogy. However, Fox wanted to do Days of Future Past after reading the outline and Vaughn wanted a second installment beforehand, which eventually led to him leaving the franchise.

"That's one of the reasons I didn't continue, because they didn't listen to me. My plan was First Class, then second film was new young Wolverine in the 70s to continue those characters, my version of the X-Men. So you'd really get to know all of them, and my finale was gonna be Days of Future Past. That was gonna be my number three where you bring them all… because what's bigger than bringing in McKellen and Michael and Stewart and James and bringing them all together?"

"When I finished the Days of Future Past script with it ready to go I looked at it and said, "I really think it would be fun to cast Tom Hardy or someone as the young Wolverine and then bring it all together at the end." Fox read Days of Future Past and went "Oh, this is too good! We're doing it now!" And I said, "Well what do you do next? Trust me you've got nowhere to go." Then they did Apocalypse and it's like… If you flip that 'round even it would have been better. Hollywood doesn't understand pacing. Their executives are driving 100 miles-per-hour looking in the rear-view mirror and not understanding why they crash."

Admittedly, Days of Future Past was one of the best films in the franchise and is arguably the best X-Men movie, depending on who you ask. It was funny, had creative action sequences and a surprising amount of stakes, which is why it's so fondly remembered. Still, it's easy to see why he was frustrated since he clearly had a plan and they didn't listen.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is now available on Blu-Ray. X-Men: Dark Phoenix comes out on June 6.

Read:X-Men: First Class Director Wanted Tom Hardy For Young Wolverine