Mark Millar reveals the real reason for Matthew Vaughn’s exit from X-Men sequel; hint, it wasn’t for Star Wars

Well, it seems you can put those Matthew Vaughn helming Star Wars VII rumors to bed…for now.  As we reported earlier when Vaughn left X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, it was to shoot Mark Millar’s THE SECRET SERVICE, which was what was implied.  Now, Millar is confirming the reason for Vaughn’s departure from the franchise, which seems to be more about timeliness than anything else. 

From Millar, speaking ot CBR:

“What we’re doing is that ‘Kick-Ass 2’ is filming now, and next year we’ll start production on ‘Secret Service’ which I did with Dave Gibbons, and Matthew and I have been talking about that for years,” he said. “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. 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, ‘Fuck this. We’re not letting anyone steal our ideas.'”

Now, does this mean Vaughn could never film a Star Wars film?  Of course not!  With Disney’s plan to basically flood the world with Star Wars films on a regular basis, it would seem that there’s plenty of possibilities for young filmmakers like Vaughn to tackle the galaxy far, far away.  Just not for episode VII. 

For those unfamiliar with THE SECRET SERVICE, it’s basically a James Bond inspired tale, only with James Bond turning a street hoodlum into a superspy.  Think POINT OF NO RETURN meets JAMES BOND and you’ve got a decent formula there.  The comic is fun, but I wouldn’t call it extraordinary.  Thus far, it’s been a slow burn, but I do keep reading, so there’s that.  Vaughn is a good fit for the material and I have no doubt he’ll deliver a good romp as he did with the first KICK ASS, but I feel like he should be tackling better material.  He’s got the talent for bigger and better things, I think.

Millar’s KICK ASS 2: BALLS TO THE WALL is slated to hit theaters on June 28, 2013, while X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, now directed by Bryan Singer, will open July 18, 2014.  No new details on the production of THE SECRET SERVICE, but I expect we’ll hear more very soon.  Stay tuned.

And here’s a snippet from THE SECRET SERVICE comic, featuring Mark Hamill…