Following Patrick Stewart’s run as Professor X in Fox’s X-Men movies, James McAvoy took over the role of Charles Xavier starting with 2011’s X-Men: First Class. He’d go on to play Xavier in three sequels, culminating with Dark Phoenix in 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 with Dark 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 (via GQ) that he considers his time spent in that role as one of the “most positive experiences” he’s had working on studio movies. He names Days of Future Past as 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:
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Will James McAvoy Return as Xavier in the MCU?
With Patrick Stewart appearing as Professor X in Doctor 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 he winds up in trouble like Alfred Molina.
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 in Doctor Strange 2 tested the waters, perhaps we’re not too far off from seeing comic book history’s most popular mutants finally appearing.
