Given his track record with X-Men movies, it wasn't all that surprising when Matthew Vaughn dropped out of Days of Future Past, the sequel to his X-Men: First Class. (Way back when Vaughn pulled the same move on X-Men: The Last Stand, only to be replaced by Brett Ratner). But still, why the helmer left X-Men: Days of Future Past has remained unclear until now.

Who Will Direct X-Men: Days of Future Past?

Mark Millar, comics scribe and recent appointee as 20th Century Fox's Marvel movie guru, recently spoke to CBR and Vaughn's departure came up. Millar worked with the director on the first Kick-Ass film, of course, and they also have a project called Secret Service in the works now. It is that film, an adaptation of Millar and Dave Gibbons' comic, that the writer says led to Vaughn's leaving Days of Future Past.

"We thought Matthew was going to do X-Men first, but we found out there were actually a few imitators of Secret Service in the works," he says. "People think you're lying when you say you're not trying to get your comics made into movies so quickly, but the two reasons it happens like that is first because it's the best ad for the comic you'll ever have. And for me, selling the book is the most important thing. The second reason is because people are always trying to rip you off. Somebody will start to work on a spec screenplay about your idea. There are three other projects I know of now about a James Bond kind of guy taking a street kid and turning him into a spy. Three screenplays were already going through Hollywood about this! So Matthew and I said, 'F#@k this. We're not letting anyone steal our ideas.'"

If this is accurate, then it would also seem to do away with that rumor that Vaughn left X-Men because he's up for the much-coveted Episode VII directing job. I, for one, am bummed that he's not making Days of Future Past, but who knows -- maybe he's better off leaving his X-Men legacy as is with the great First Class.

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