Four or five months ago, the notion of Bryan Singer returning for X-Men: Apocalypse, seemed iffy. Then, as the movie performed and treatment pages were teased, it seemed well within the realm of possibility. And for the past month or so we’ve just assumed it was going to happen. Now Singer’s deal has closed and he’s officially onboard. So there it is. Apocalypse grossed over $700 million worldwide, so they’re bound to want to repeat that success.

The story will follow the First Class gang along with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine into the 1980s. We also know from the treatment page teased a few months ago that the Four Horseman will again be making an appearance. Singer will direct the film from a script he’s been developing with Days of Future Past screenwriter Simon Kinberg and X2 scribes Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. The release date is May 27th, 2016. Hit the jump for more on X-Men: Apocalypse.

It had previously been confirmed that Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and James McAvoy would be returning along with Nicholas Hoult. For me, it doesn’t get much better than Matthew Vaughn‘s take on First Class but Days of Future Past was better than the first two Singer films so maybe he’ll continue to take steps in the right direction.

What do you guys think? Are you excited for the next chapter or is it time to pass the torch?