10 Dream Directors For Hollywood's Biggest Franchises

The godfather of the buddy movie, Shane Black has made the steady yet seamless transition from genre-defining writer to critically-acclaimed director without losing his signature style. Although he only has three feature films under his belt (with a fourth in post-production), the average Rotten Tomatoes score for his filmography is an impressive 85% and while it may be incredibly divisive among fans, Iron Man 3 is still the highest-grossing non-Avengers comic book movie in history.

So where exactly do the X-Men fit into all of this? The main series has been in danger of growing stale for years now, with Apocalypse in particular falling into the 'bigger must mean better' mantra that plagues many modern blockbusters, favoring massive-scale destruction and expansive mythology at the expense of plot and character. As Deadpool and Logan have recently shown, narrowing the focus in the X-Men universe often results in a much better movie.

With experience in the superhero genre and a career built on well-written characters trading back-and-forth dialogue, Shane Black taking on cinema's favorite mutants could be a stroke of genius. Anyone that has seen James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender interviewed together knows that the off-screen chemistry between the two is off the charts, making the idea of a stripped-back X-Men buddy movie focusing on Professor X and Magneto (set around Christmas no doubt) a hugely appealing prospect.