Just because Matthew Vaughn is in the midst of rapidly editing footage for X-Men: First Class doesn't mean he isn't already looking ahead to future projects. Now he's got another comic book adaptation in mind - an adventure involving retired superheroes titled The Golden Age.

The movie would be based off British TV chat show host Jonathan Ross' currently unpublished comic book of the same name, which revolves around a pack of elderly defenders of justice whose heyday was back in the 1930s - a.k.a. The Golden Age of comics - a time that gave birth to Batman and Superman, among others.

Deadline says that Vaughn is already looking at prospective stars for the Golden Age adaptation, despite it not being clear whether he will produce and direct the film or if his First Class/Kick-Ass writing partner, Jane Goldman, will be at all involved. Vaughn's wish list of actors to play the retired heroes called back into action includes Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, and Jack Nicholson. Will this give Eastwood the chance to play Superman after he passed on the role decades ago? Probably not, but still...

Those other two elderly stars of the silver screen aren't strangers to comic book movies either: Beatty directed and starred in Dick Tracy, while Nicholson was The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman. It's possible that the actors' past comic book movie roles are part of Vaughn's enthusiasm for The Golden Age, as he's pointed out that last year's two "over-50-year-olds on a mission" pics, The Expendables and RED, both demonstrated that audiences are up for action movies that feature stars no longer in their 20s, 30s, or even 40s.

Red movie with John Malkovich
Remember - don't call him "old man."

The Golden Age sounds like it'd be more in the vein of Kick-Ass than Vaughn's upcoming X-Men franchise reboot - that is, essentially an unconventional comic book hero flick that messes with the clichés of the genre. That would also make it more similar in feel to RED, and less so to the '80s action movie homage style of Sly Stallone's Expendables pic.

Assuming that The Golden Age comes to fruition and does well at the box office, it could potentially pave the way for more serious comic books flicks that involve older versions of famous and universally renowned superheroes. Frank Miller's 1985 graphic novel, "The Dark Knight Returns" is the best known (and most successful) story to revisit a famous hero well past their prime, and some of our readers might recall that Screen Rant's Chris Schrader even proposed a way that a Dark Knight Returns movie could follow Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.

Would a hit Golden Age adaptation increase the chances of "The Dark Knight Returns" making the leap to the big screen in the future? It's pure speculation at this point, but that's still an intriguing proposition all the same.

Frank Miller The Dark Knight Returns

Vaughn's X-Men: First Class is due out this summer, and he probably won't get serious about making The Golden Age or any other movie until that fast-tracked project is completely in the can.

In the meantime, feel free to express your thoughts on any of the ideas mentioned here in the comments section below.

Source: Deadline