THR is reporting that Rose Byrne is in negotiations to play Charles Xavier’s love interest, Moira MacTaggart, in the upcoming X-Men: First Class.

The film is expected to begin shooting at the end of this month.

Various media outlets are reporting some more casting news for X-Men: First Class.

First off, Entertainment Weekly is claiming that Aaron Johnson is not playing Cyclops, contrary to rumors, but we’ll see what the truth is around Comic-Con time. Apologies for passing along a bad rumor if it’s untrue.

About A Boy’s Nicholas Hoult is now The Beast, which was originally said to be going to Benjamin Walker.

Caleb Landry Jones (The Last Exorcism) is tapped to play Banshee, and Lucas Till of Hannah Montana movie fame is said to be “in talks” to play Havok, the brother of Cyclops, although EW warns that some of the casting announcements could be “part of a misdirection campaign” to lead fans off the trail of who these actors will really be playing. Which would explain some of the rumors we’ve been hearing — including of one actress auditioning to play “Willow,” a Mystique-like character that’s only appeared in the 2099 comics.

A new posting from Quint at Ain’t It Cool says that the actor playing Cyclops in X-Men: First Class is no stranger to director Matthew Vaughn or to comic book movies in general – it’s Aaron Johnson, who played Kick-Ass in the movie of the same name.

This has not been officially confirmed by the studio though announcements are sure to come at Comic-Con.

THR is now confirming that Alice Eve will indeed be playing Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class.

Deadline.com is reporting that Alice Eve (She’s Out Of My League) is “in negotiations” to play Emma Frost in the soon-to-film X-Men: First Class.

Additionally, Marvel has confirmed that Tommy Lee Jones will be playing “Colonel Phillips” in Captain America: The First Avenger. Here’s the press release on that:

Marvel Studios announced today that Oscar® winning actor Tommy Lee Jones has been cast to star as US Army Colonel Chester Phillips in the studio’s highly anticipated movie “Captain America: The First Avenger” opposite Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan and Stanley Tucci. In the early comics, Phillips recruited Steve Rogers to join Project Rebirth, the secret experiment that created the Super Soldier known as Captain America. The character will be updated for the film. Joe Johnston will direct the film penned by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely.

Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige will produce “Captain America: The First Avenger”. Alan Fine, Stan Lee, David Maisel, Nigel Gostelow and Louis D’Esposito will executive produce. The film will be released in the US on July 22, 2011 and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

“Captain America: The First Avenger” will focus on the early days of the Marvel Universe when Steve Rogers volunteers to participate in an experimental program that turns him into the Super Soldier known as Captain America.

Tommy Lee Jones’ will next be seen in “The Company Men” and is well known for starring in “No Country for Old Men,” “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” the “Men in Black” franchise and “The Fugitive” for which he won an Academy Award®.

In addition to “Captain America: The First Avenger,” Marvel Studios most recently released the highly anticipated sequel, “Iron Man 2,” starring Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow on May 7, 2010, and will release a slate of films based on the Marvel characters including “Thor” on May 6, 2011 and “Marvel Studios’ The Avengers” on May 4, 2012.

Benjamin Walker, best known for his performance in the stage play “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” has been tapped to play the role of Hank McCoy/The Beast in the upcoming X-Men: First Class, Showbiz411 is reporting.

You can visit that site for more details and the full article.

Maybe once and if Marvel gets the X-movie rights back from Fox, we could see The Beast becoming an Avenger, as he did in the comics?

Deadline.com is reporting that actor Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds) has been offered the role of Magneto in the upcoming (and sadly non-Avengers related) X-Men: First Class. The only snag? He’s also in the running to play a villain in Spider-Man 4.

Hopefully some formal news will come swiftly…

Deadline is also reporting names like Ben Walker, Rosamund Pike and Amber Heard as being up for roles in the next X-Men movie.

Again, not Avengers, but Marvel Universe-related so it’s relevant…

THR’s Heat Vision Blog is reporting that James McAvoy (Wanted) has landed the role of Professor Charles Xavier in the upcoming Matthew Vaughn-directed X-Men: First Class.

This is a much younger Xavier than we’ve seen in the other X-Men films, where he was played by Patrick Stewart.

The movie is scheduled to be released on June 3, 2011.

Not Avengers-related but fans of Marvel movies will be happy to know that Production Weekly is saying that X-Men: First Class will have a release date of June 3, 2011.

The movie will be directed by Matthew Vaughn, who recently helmed Kick-Ass.