The undeniable man of the moment, Inglourious Basterds actor Michael Fassbender, is reportedly part of a tug-of-war battle between two rival studio’s, who both want the actor as the main villains in the next stage of their respective Marvel film franchises.

Showbiz 411 say that Matt Vaughn wants Fasssbender as the young Magneto in X-Men: First Class, whilst Marc Webb is chasing him to play the main villain (still unspecified) in Sony’s 3-d reboot of the Spider-Man franchise.

As it will begin filming in a matter of weeks, Fox are likely to be acting as the aggressor right now. They recently set James McAvoy to play a young Xavier and are closing in right now on Vaughn’s Kick-Ass star Aaron Johnson to play Cyclops. Fassbender certainly fits the kind of actor Vaughn has gone for so far, and I say it will be pretty awesome casting if they can indeed secure his signature.

Jane Goldman is said to be polishing the script right now to make it slightly more a Goldman/Vaughn project (rather than a Bryan Singer one, who has stayed on to exec produce) and a deal you imagine would have to be secured in the next 10 days or so.

One stumbling block could be Fassbender’s schedule. We reported yesterday he was in talks for a role in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy that films in September, and right now he is playing Karl Jung in David Cronenberg’s Jung/Freud movie A Dangerous Method. There’s also Woman in Black and A Single Shot to film this year, both probably would need to be dropped for the Magento role but hey – it’s the Magneto role in a Matthew Vaughn film. Those movies seem less important in comparison.

Onto the Spider-Man villain story, and this one feels like Roger Freidman’s source is reaching. The Magneto part is easy to believe as he has seriously become the fan’s favourite ever since the film’s start date was announced recently but for Spidey, I mean as far as we are aware (although there is a heavy rumor going around that Jamie Bell is to be given the role), they haven’t cast a Peter Parker yet, let alone an actor to play whatever villain they go with.

So we aren’t putting any more weight into the rumour right now and to be honest, we are scratching our heads as to what part he could play anyway. Any thoughts?

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