Could Bryan Singer be heading back to X-Men?

Is the man who made the best X-Men movie to date looking to return to the franchise he left to go and make Superman Returns?

There are, according to our last count, six X-Men movies in various stages of development. There's Wolverine 2, Deadpool, X-Men Origins: Magneto, X-Men: First Class, X-Men 4 and X-Men: The New Mutants that have been talked about, and for fear of the movie rights returning to Marvel and thus Disney at some point, we expect Fox will be keen to explore every nook and cranny that the X-Men saga has to offer.

Of those six films, the smart money remains on X-Men: First Class moving into production first, with Wolverine 2 likely to be next along the production line. At least one of them is set to go into production in 2010, pending release in the packed summer of 2011.

But who will be behind the camera? Thus far, the big screen X-Men adventures have been helmed by Bryan Singer, Brett Ratner and Gavin Hood, and it's only really the first of those three who nailed it (albeit at his second attempt). Yet with Singer's Superman days seemingly numbered, his attention appeared to have turned to developing a big screen Battlestar Galactica adventure.

And yet the director has now told The Associated Press that his X-Men days may not yet be over. "I'm still looking to possibly returning to the 'X-Men' franchise. I've been talking to Fox about it," he confirmed, before declaring just what a fan of Hugh Jackman he is, and the X-Men cast as a whole.

Given that some discussion has taken place between studio and director, could this then be more than a simple run-of-the-mill rumour? Both Singer and the X-Men franchise find themselves at points in their development where it could be mutually beneficial to come together once more.

There's no word from Fox on the matter, though, and so it's still speculation to a degree. But we'd reckon that if Singer wanted to do another X-Men movie, Fox is likely to give him the keys to one. Wolverine 2 and X-Men 4 would strike us as the most likely.

We'll watch this one with interest...