New photos of the cast of X-men: First Class! Our 1st look at Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw

Yesterday saw the release of the first image of the principle cast of X-men: First Class, the superhero prequel directed by Matthew Vaughn. As cool as it was to finally get a glimpse of James Mcavoy, January Jones, and the rest, the shot was pretty crappy. Thankfully today we've got the same image, only much better. You can see that retouched image above.  There are also some new shots as well, including our first look at Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw, leader of the infamous Hellfire Club.

 As you can see, this shot shows Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw, looking like he just got home from a key party. That's January Jones as Emma Frost, aka the White Queen. Shaw is the leader of the Hellfire Club, a cabal of influential mutants. Frost is basically his right-hand woman.

The first chess match between Xavier(Mcavoy) and Magneto(Michael Fassbender). Their classic chess matches would serve as a metaphor for the paths their lives would take in the future, when they would stand on opposite ends of the mutant rights issue.

Planning a heist? For whatever reason, I'm much more intrigued by the shots of everyone in regular civilian garb than I am the costumed up image we got yesterday.

The LA Times article notes a few key points from Vaughn himself, primarily about the hectic shooting schedule and the pressure he's been under to complete the film. That jibes with some rumors we heard just last month about everything feeling very "last minute".  X-men: First Class is currently set for a June 3rd release, but filming is still very much going on. That's not a good sign. Let's hope Vaughn and company can get the production under control because this is probably the superhero film I want to see most this year.