James McAvoy Reveals His Big Criticism of His ‘X-Men’ Movies
The Fox X-Men movie universe will live again, in some form or fashion in Deadpool 3, which will co-star Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in the roles they played to great success in that defunct film franchise. Patrick Stewart has already reprised his role as Professor Xavier from X-Men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earlier this year. So who’s next?
It doesn’t look like it will be the other actor to play Fox’s Professor X, James McAvoy. He told GQ that he has “definitely not got the call” to return for another go-around as Charles Xavier, although he also added “if I did I would definitely not be telling you.” At the same time, he also said that when asked if he may make a return to the MCU, “I'm very quick to say, ‘No, I'm done.’ Or ‘I'm not that bothered about coming back.’ Because you move forward.”
Still, McAvoy dismissed any rumors that he disliked his time playing Xavier or dabbling in the world of Marvel. In fact, he called his time as an X-Man, “one of the most positive experiences I've had with a studio.” On the other hand, he did have one big criticism about his tenure as a mutant:
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 Michael Fassbender’s Magneto], which really formed the backbone of the first film. So it was like, why did we just eject that massive weapon?
The original X-Men movies, with Stewart and Ian McKellan as Xavier and Magneto, were focused very intently on the relationship between those two characters. McAvoy and Fassbender’s films, which were prequels, eschewed a lot of that tension. The first film, X-Men: First Class did end with an ostensible “breakup” in the friendship between the two, but the subsequent sequels largely explored other matters, and often had Magneto rejoining the heroes to work with them against other threats. So McAvoy is not wrong in his critique.
Deadpool 3 is scheduled to open in theaters on November 8, 2024.