While fans may have a grasp on the general shape of the story of "X-Men: First Class" -director Matthew Vaughn's incoming Fox franchise prequel -there appears to be much more to the movie than the simple story of strife between former friends Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. And much of what potential viewers are learning about the film is coming from casting announcements.

For example, Deadline Hollywood had the news today that Vaughn had locked in character actor Oliver Platt to play a character in the film called "The Man In Black" (for more, see Spinoff Online). Of course, that name holds little recognition for comic fans, meaning that the non-mutant may be an original creation for the film, perhaps tying in to actor Kevin Bacon's mystery villain role.

The plot thickened over the weekend as well with the announcement that both actress Rose Byrne and Vaughn movie staple Jason Flemyng would co-star in the picture as well. Byrne will play Moira MacTaggart -the sometimes love interest of Xavier whose role should be well expected by fans of the X-Men comics and movies. On the other hand, Flemyng will play Azazel -the demonic father of Nightcrawler from Chuck Austen's controversial to say the least run on "Uncanny X-Men."

Whether these characters will take a central role in the proceedings (perhaps Azazel will mix it up with Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique) or play cameo parts as characters such as the Jubilee and Siren played in previous installments remains unknown. What is for sure is that when the cameras role on "First Class" in London next month, the story that comes together won't be exactly like anything readers have experienced on the page so far.

For more on the film, keep your eyes peeled to CBR and Spinoff Online.