Bryan Singer is to direct a new origins story, X-Men: First Class.

The Usual Suspects director helmed the first X-Men in 2000, and followed it up with an even better film in its sequel, X2. After Brett Ratner took over for X-Men 3: The Last Stand, Singer is set to return for a prequel.

He told MySpace: “I’m ramping up to do a movie called Jack The Giant Killer at Warner Bros, and I just yesterday signed a deal to do an X-Men: First Class Origins picture, which is kind of cool. I’m very excited.”

He’ll be working from a script by newcomer Jamie Moss.