Five years ago popular Scottish comic book author Mark Millar went on a media terror, talking to anyone who’d listen about his pitch for a Superman Returns sequel/follow-up/reboot:

“I want to start on Krypton, a thousand years ago, and end with Superman alone on Planet Earth, the last being left on the planet, as the yellow sun turns red and starts to supernova, and he loses his powers.”

Nothing ever came of that. Something did, however, come of Kick-Ass, the very excellent Matthew Vaughn-directed adaptation of Millar’s work currently has a sequel in post. But Kick-Ass 2 is a movie that actually exists. So Millar doesn’t want to talk about it, instead:

“Kick-Ass 3 is going to be the last one though. I told Universal this and they asked me, ‘What does that mean?’ I said, ‘It means that this is where it all ends.’ They said, ‘Do they all die at the end?’ I said, ‘Maybe’ – because this is a realistic superhero story. And if someone doesn’t have a bullet proof vest like Superman and doesn’t have Batman’s millions then eventually he is going turn around the wrong corner and get his head kicked in or get shot in the face.”

Bulletproof vest. Like Superman. Anyways, this is all before Fox commissioned Millar to shepherd their upcoming Marvel slate of films. Millar confirmed this and Fox put out a statement solidifying that, indeed, Millar would be overseeing all developments Marvel-related with the studio. Except no one told that to Bryan Singer, director of X-Men: Days of Future Past. Here he is talking to Bleeding Cool about Millar’s involvement with Fox’s first post-announcement Marvel film:

“I’ve not spoken to Mark Millar at all. He’s not involved. I don’t know what his role is about. All I know is that I have my own specific beliefs about how to take this universe forward. I started with the first X-Men, then First Class and now I am combining them and I think it could go further than that and I have some ideas about that, so perhaps he should chat to me at some point.”

Millar’s trajectory in the media these past few years has been odd indeed, specifically as it pertains to film. He’ll make a bold statement about a potential project, label its existence a sure thing and proclaim big developments on the horizon, then he just sort of disappears as nothing substantial comes of it. It’s hard to gauge whether Millar’s a passionate idea man without social self-editing skills or simply a bullshit artist*, expounding on projects and embellishing involvement to get his name out and into the world. Strange that he’d feel need to do that, as he’s more successful than most men or women in his profession dare to dream. Millar’s talent as a comic writer is debatably solid, but here we have Fox’s first big-budget Marvel film with him supposedly grand poobah and you have the director of that film saying he’s nowhere to be found.

What I’m saying is, what the hell is Mark Millar’s deal as it pertains to the movie business? If he’s really as keen as he claims in putting his own unique stamp on the film industry, wouldn’t X-Men: Days of Future Past be a good place to go to work? Like literally go to work. Since it’s his job and all…

*Even that’s probably harsh. After all Kick-Ass and Wanted have graced theatres.