Following Patrick Stewart’s run as Professor X in Fox’sX-Menmovies,James McAvoytook over the role of Charles Xavier starting with 2011’sX-Men: First Class. He’d go on to play Xavier in three sequels, culminating withDark Phoenixin 2019. That movie series has since finished following Disney’s acquisition from Fox, as Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has confirmed that the plan is to reboot the X-Men in the MCU at some point. It remains unclear who will be the next person to play Professor X, though Giancarlo Esposito has been campaigning for the role.
From McAvoy’s vantage point, he feels that his run in the role ended withDark Phoenix, and he doesn’t spend any time dwelling on it as he’s since moved on. With that said, as the actor recently explained (viaGQ) that he considers his time spent in that role as one of the “most positive experiences” he’s had working on studio movies. He namesDays of Future Pastas one of the best movies of his career, though he also admits to feeling disappointment over the whittling away of the relationship between Xavier and Magneto (Michael Fassbender). As McAvoy explains:
“I don’t really [see them as just] money gigs. ‘Days of Future Past’ I think is one of the better films that I’ve been involved in. My biggest criticism of what we did throughout the four movies was that after the first movie, we didn’t take advantage of the relationship between [Xavier and Magneto], which really formed the backbone of the first film. So it was like, why did we just eject that massive weapon?”
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Will James McAvoy Return as Xavier in the MCU?
With Patrick Stewart appearing as Professor X inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, anything is possible in the MCU moving forward. There hasn’t been any indication at this time that McAvoy returning to his version of Xavier is in the cards, and as the actor explains, that’s just fine with him. That’s not to say that a return is impossible, though McAvoy admits that if something like this were to be happening, he wouldn’t be divulging such secrets in media interviews, lest hewinds up in trouble like Alfred Molina.
“I’m very quick to say, ‘No, I’m done.’ Or ‘I’m not that bothered about coming back.’ Because you move forward… I’ve definitely not got the call. And if I did I would definitely not be telling you.”
There’s still no word yet on when the X-Men will start popping up in the MCU, no matter who it will be playing these characters, but after Professor X’s cameo inDoctor Strange 2tested the waters, perhaps we’re not too far off from seeing comic book history’s most popular mutants finally appearing.
