20th Century Fox has signed Mark Millar as creative consultant on its Marvel movies, the company announced Thursday.  Fox currently has three Marvel movies in the pipe: The Wolverine, which will premiere in July 2013 (see "First Official Still of Hugh Jackman in 'The Wolverine'"); X-Men: Days of Future Past, due out July 2014 (see "It's 'Days of Future Past' for 'X-Men: First Class'"); and a new Fantastic Four, currently unscheduled (see "Fox Pushes 'Fantastic Four' Reboot").

One connection between Millar and Fox is director Matthew Vaughn, who Millar describes as "one of my closest pals."  Vaughn directed the X-Men: First Class and will direct its sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and also directed Kick-Ass, based on the Millar comic, and is producing Kick-Ass 2. 

"In addition to his groundbreaking Marvel work, he is simply one of the most original voices in comics today and will be an invaluable resource to us and to our filmmakers as we look for fresh opportunities to innovate within our shared Marvel universe," Fox production president Emma Watts said of the Millar hire.