Goyer goes Magneto

No sooner has the ink dried on his screenplay for The Dark Knight than David Goyer’s pen is being used to help bring another troubled comic book character back to life.

‘The Invisible’ lenser has just been plonked into the directing chair of Magneto, a Joey-style spin off to Fox’s successful X-men flicks, which chronicles the life and loathes of the human-adoring mutant squad’s enigmagnetic menace.

Opening with Magneto’s childhood, where he first discovered his love for heavy-metal and his hate for oppressive torturing Nazis, the film will chart Mag’s first tempestuous encounter with mutant shrink Xavier, who will play a solider fighting to liberate the concentration camp where Magneto is captive.

Even though the miraculous, extreme makeover in the opening scene of X3 shed years off of the actors, it's doubtful that McKellen and Stewart will reprise their roles in the picture, given that the characters will be 20-somethings.

The parts will probably fall to into the hands of a pair of well groomed, sun-kissed OC thespoids, or maybe that dude who plays Lex Luthor in Smallville, he’s got the Xavier polished bowling ball look goin’ on.

With the eminent cinema releases of Spidey 3, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, followed by Wolverine, Iron Man and a re-dux of the incredible green, grey, yellow polka-dotted (whatever colour they’re landing on) gamma giant, it looks like superheroes are still cinema’s hottest property.

Magneto is scheduled to hit cinemas screens in 2009.