James McAvoy as Young Professor X in "X-Men: First Class"

James McAvoy has secured the role of the young Charles Xavier aka Professor X, in "X-Men: First Class" which will be directed by Matthew Vaughn.

“First Class” will “chart the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were the closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-Men.”

The high-level telepath-mind controlling character was popularized by Patrick Stewart in the previous X-Men trilogy.

Production begins this summer and target release on June 3, 2011.

[Photo courtesy by Jemal Countess/Getty Images]