FIRST CLASS XAVIER IS McAVOY

British actor James McAvoy ("Wanted,"" "Atonement") has been picked to play a young Charles Xavier in the coming soon, "X-Men: First Class" a prequel to X MEN and in between of WOLVERINE.

The story is said to "chart the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time.

Before they were archenemies, they were the closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men."

Patrick Stewart played the wheelchair-bound older version of the character in the four previous "X-Men" films. Matthew Vaughn directs 'First Class' which aims to kick off shooting this Summer in the UK for a release next June.