X-Men: First Class is a 2016 American superhero film based on the fictional X-Men characters that appear in Marvel Comics, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It is the eighth installment in the X-Men film series and a sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past. Directed by Bryan Singer, with a screenplay by Simon Kinberg from a story conceived by Singer, Kinberg, Michael Dougherty, and Dan Harris. The film stars Jude Law, Richard Armitage, Ben Foster, Jessica Chastain, and Woody Harrelson.