Matthew Vaughn, the director of Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, and Kingsman: The Secret Service, has entered into negotiations to direct a movie based on the classic comic strip Flash Gordon.

We found out a year ago now that 20th Century Fox had acquired the rights to try to make a movie based on the comic after multiple studios including as Universal, Sony, and others tried and failed to pull it off. At the time it was also revealed that J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, who penned a draft of the script for Star Trek 3 before Simon Pegg and Doug Jung took over, were penning Flash Gordon. That remains unchanged, with the duo having penned a draft based on a treatment by George Nolfi.

Another TV show based on hit comic book characters could be on the way, with news that Fox is working on a small screen take on Marvel’s X-Men.

The network has 24 producers Evan Katz and Manny Coto on board, and they’ve set Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne to write the potential live-action series. McKay and Payne previously worked on the screenplay for Star Trek 3 before Simon Pegg and Doug Jung recently took over scriptwriting duties.

There is, however, a bit of a speedbump to overcome if X-Men the TV show is to become a reality.

It’s being reported that 20th Century Fox has acquired the movie rights to Flash Gordon, the popular pulp comic that was first created way back in 1934.

The acquisition is a package deal that includes producer John Davis, who spent over a year trying to secure the rights after previous rights holders such as Universal, Sony, and Manderlay Pictures were unable to make the movie happen, and Star Trek 3 writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay working on the script.