James McAvoy starred as young Charles Xavier (Professor X) in the 2011 Fox Studio film, X-Men: First Class. Following the release of First Class, he appeared in three more X-Men film sequels, including 2019’s film Dark Phoenix which concluded the series because Disney bought the rights to the X-Men franchise.
Since then, the President of Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige, has been planning to reboot and bring the superhero team to the MCU. Currently, Marvel Studios is working on the multiverse saga, and we got to see Sir Patrick Stewart’s version of Charles Xavier in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. At the same time, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine has already been announced to appear in Deadpool 3.
Since Feige is planning to reboot the film series, the question remains whether James McAvoy will portray the younger version of Professor X, to which he answered that he is done with the character. However, he also hinted that he might return for the multiverse saga’s most prominent film, Avengers: Secret Wars.
James McAvoy answers if he will return as Professor X in the MCU
A few days ago, McAvoy was in an interview with GQ where he discussed his character Professor X. First. He said that he was not bothered to reprise Xavier’s role, and later when he was asked if Feige had called him for Secret Wars, he said that he had not gotten any call from Feige.
He said, “I’m very quick to say, ‘No, I’m done.’ Or ‘I’m not that bothered about coming back.’ Because you are moving forward, I’ve not got the call. And if I did, I would not be telling you.”
Furthermore, McAvoy also stated that playing Xavier’s role was the “most positive experience” when working on studio productions. He then mentioned that his long movie career, X-Men: Days of Future Past, was one of his best movies. He said, “Days of Future Past, I think, is one of the better films I’ve been involved in.”
So will he be returning as Charles Xavier in the MCU? Unfortunately, this information remains unknown, for although McAvoy stated that he did not get any call from Feige, he also hinted that we would get a massive surprise in the Secret Wars.
And to be honest, we believe that McAvoy will reprise Xavier’s role, even if it is for one last time. But how can we be sure? Well, because in 2021, in an interview with Collider, McAvoy was asked if he was done with the character, and he teased that he might return.
Wanted star said, “I feel like I got to explore, not everything I wanted to explore, because there’s always more, surely, but I got to explore a ton of Professor X, and I feel quite satisfied with what I got out of him as a performer. It’s not to say that you never want to, you never want to come back, and you never want to do it again, and all that stuff.”
McAvoy added, “You never say never, as I believe James Bond once said. But I’m not chomping at the bit. I’m not going to be gutted and desperately sad if it never happens again.”
Moreover, even if James will not reprise his role, we still will get several X-Men characters in Secret Wars, and after that, in the future, we surely will get to see the whole X-Men team. And, according to reports, Feige intends to bring back all of the major Marvel characters in order to make the sixth Avengers film the biggest of all time; bringing McAvoy on board is a great way to get the audience excited.
