‘X-Men: First Class’ Director Matthew Vaughn On Why He’d Rather Work With DC Over Marvel

Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn confirms talks with DC Films — but says his first post-Kingsman: The Golden Circle movie might move away from superheroes.

"I do love the world of DC, and I've been talking to them at the moment about a few things," Vaughn shared in a new interview with the IGN UK Podcast.

Vaughn explained there would be less pressure stepping into the DC Comics world, because the franchise is currently lagging behind genre leader Marvel Studios.

"It's more fun getting involved with franchises when they're on the down, because then it's easier to make a good film," Vaughn said. "So if I got involved with a few of the superhero films out there that have been disappointing, it's going to be... if I do OK, it'll probably be better."

The English director — once tapped to helm 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand before abandoning the X-Men threequel — eventually boarded the franchise with 2011's First Class, a quasi-reboot that focused on younger iterations of Patrick Stewart's Charles Xavier and Ian McKellen's Magneto.

The prequel came after The Last Stand and 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine were mauled by critics.

"So when I did X-Men there was, you know, a pretty low bar — X-Men 3, no offence, was not a fantastic piece of work," Vaughn said. "It's much more fun saving and reinventing something — I'd be more intimidated trying to do a new Guardians [of the Galaxy], for example."

"If I was going to do Batman, there's no point doing the Dark Knight, because it's been done to perfection — if I was doing Batman, I'd go 'Christ, let's bring out the Adam West version,'" Vaughn added. "I'm not interested in copying somebody else's take on the genre."

But, Vaughn says, his next project could put a pin in capes and costumes.

"I've got to figure out what I'm doing next and I feel like flexing a muscle which I haven't used before," Vaughn said, "And I've filmed quite a few superhero movies."

Vaughn, who has plans for a Kingsman 3, previously opened up about his "chats" with Warner Bros. about Superman (Henry Cavill), whose Man of Steel is the lowest-earning movie thus far out of the DCEU. The character was effectively retooled during the events of Justice League.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is now available to own on 4K UHD and Blu-ray.