With the 'X-Men' franchise soon to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Professor X star James McAvoy hints at big plans Disney and Marvel have for the X-Men.
For years the role of Professor Charles Xavier seemed synonymous with the name, Patrick Stewart. However, as the X-Men cinematic universe timeline progressed, the role of a younger Professor X was handed over to the handsome Scottish star James McAvoy.
The 39-year-old has proved himself to be a worthy successor for the role through his stellar portrayal of the character in movies like 'X-Men: First Class' and 'X-Men: Apocalypse'. And now as the franchise gears up for the release of its highly anticipated 'Dark Pheonix', the star has dropped some major hints for what lies ahead for the X-Men.
During a recent interview with MTV News, McAvoy spoke about his newly released film 'Glass', the future of X-Men, and the second installment of 'IT'. While speaking to the host about the X-Men franchise, in particular, the actor said that he believes Disney owners Marvel would soon get back the rights to the franchise from Fox.
James also claimed that he suspects Marvel would move away from the current continuity of the movies in order to integrate the mutant characters into the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe which features many superheroes.
"I love playing Charles. But you’ve got to write something interesting for you to do as an actor, you can’t just keep doing the same thing again and again and again. So it may be time for somebody else to come in." said McAvoy, adding: "Marvel and Disney are very smart and they’ve done this excellently."
"They seem to be on the verge of doing something new with just regards to the X-Men anyway, which is exciting, I’m excited to see that. Can the X-Men fold into the Avengers world? Essentially it’s the Avengers world we’re talking about. I don’t know," he added.
The actor has been playing the mutant rights activist and telepathic X-Men leader Charles Xavier since 2011. Having played the role beautifully across 4 films in the series so far, its safe to say he has a great understanding of the X-Men universe.
Hence, one of his observations about the biggest challenge that comes with the merger of two franchises makes a lot of sense. McAvoy points out that seamlessly incorporating those born with the X-Gene into a universe populated by celebrated super-powered individuals of the likes of Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is no easy task.
"One of the beautiful things about the X-Men — and one of the things that always strikes me when the fans talk to you about it, is the reason that they love it — is because it has a parallel with [the] disenfranchised, with people that have been ghettoized, with ethnic minorities, with sexual minorities, with any kind of person that mainstream society is scared of," he continued.
"There are large amounts of them, they get pushed down, pushed off to the sides of society, and that’s what the mutants represent. They’re not the same necessarily as the handful of heroes that are regarded as demigods in the [MCU] — at times, of course, they’re fallen from that demigod composition as well," said McAvoy.
"So if you fold them in, does that then get rid of that social commentary? And that thing where people who are immigrants into your country and are vilified for it can identify with mutants, people who have a different sexual preference and are vilified and scared and hide away because of it, they can identify with it."
"People who have a different ethnic minority and they’re vilified because mainstream society is scared of anything that’s different, they can identify with mutants. Do you get rid of that parallel? Or are Marvel and Disney just so smart they’ve figured out a way to do it and keep it all? Because they seem to be really clever at it," he concluded.
'Dark Phoenix' director Simon Kinberg has previously spoken about how the film marks a new era for the series. As per a report by Comic Book, he said: "I see it as a new chapter. I see it as taking the franchise in a different direction tonally. And that doesn’t mean that the next one will have the same tone, it just means that the next one can have a different tone."
"I think for many years, the X-Men, Bryan [Singer] really transformed the superhero genre in 2000 or 2001 when the first one came out. But that was 20 years ago and I think, I really felt like it time to really change the look, the feel, the tone, the vibe of these movies. And that doesn’t mean this is the one going forward, it just means that if it's me or whoever directs the next one, you can make it different, and you have to make it different," Kinberg said.
On the topic, McAvoy said that he wasn't sure as to whether any of the current cast would return for future installments in the series. "Do we come back? I don’t know. We’re all out of contract, so we don’t have to. And I don’t know — they might not ask us to."
"But if they did and there was something interesting to do, I’m sure we would, and if they don’t, it’s been a good ten years," said the actor. 'Dark Phoenix' is due to hit theatres on June 7 this year and with much chatter surrounding the project, it is sure to make some serious waves at the box office.
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