Matthew Vaughn is still editing X-Men: First Class, which is due out this spring, but he’s already thinking about another next project, The Golden Age, a saga about the denizens of a retirement home for superheroes, who have to come to the aid of their grandchildren after their middle-aged offspring screw up the world. The Golden Age is based on an unpublished comic book series written by Jonathan Ross, the British talk show host, who is a huge comics fan and the author of Turf, which is drawn by Tommy Lee Edwards and published by Image.

 

Deadline is reporting that Vaughn wants to get some top geriatric talent attached to the project before the script is written. His wish list for the three main protagonists includes Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, and Warren Beatty. Certainly the box office performances of Red and The Expendables indicate that audiences enjoy seeing older screen icons kicking butt and taking names in what wags are calling “geri-action” films.

 

The aging superheroes concept of The Golden Age is not exactly new. Frank Miller sort of initiated the genre with The Dark Knight Returns, and Working Title films has an adaptation of Kurt Busiek’s Astro City in development. Which silver-haired superhero saga will reach the big screen first?

This project appears to be in its early stages.  Vaughn told Deadline that he is not sure if his writing partner Jane Goldman will write The Golden Age screenplay, or if he will direct as well as produce the movie.  Vaughn's project is not related to the excellent James Robinson Elseworld's mini-series from 1993, which was also called The Golden Age, and which dealt with Golden Age DC heroes entering their twilight years in the 1950s and dealing with McCarthyism.