Long gestating in the bowels of Hollywood, a Flash Gordon reboot is finally moving forward at 20th Century Fox. X-Men: First Class and Kingsman: The Secret Service director Matthew Vaughn is in talks to take the helm on this sci-fi adventure. John Davis and George Nolfi will produce the movie, which is based on Alex Raymond's iconic comic stipe hero.

20th Century Fox picked up the rights to Flash Gordon nearly a year ago, with King Features producing. John Davis spent more than a year trying to wrangle the rights from the Hearst Corporation after other attempts to rejuvenate the character on the big screen failed. Flash Gordon was created in 1934. The main story follows a football player who, along with the lovely Dale Arden and mad scientist Hans Zasrkov, accidentally winds up on the planet Mongo, where they must fight off its merciless leader Ming.

Flash Gordon was quite popular upon its initial release. It spawned 3 Buster Crabbe serials in the late 30s. The character then made his jump to the big screen with the notorious bomb Flash Gordon in 1980, starring Sam J. Jones as the hero. The movie was best known for its Queen soundtrack, and has gained a huge cult following over the years. So much so, the movie and its star played a key part in the 2012 comedy Ted. The original comic strip and movie serial inspired George Lucas to create Star Wars, of which his movie pays homage.

Fired Star Trek 3 writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay wrote the initial screenplay for this new Flash Gordon, working from a treatment by George Nolfi. After the unexpected success of this winter's Kingsman: The Secret Service, many studios came calling for Matthew Vaughn. The movie made $392 million worldwide off an $81 million budget. Though, it looks like the director will stay with 20th Century Fox, home to his two largest hits.