Eleven years ago, filmmaker Matthew Vaughn managed to breathe new life into the X-Men franchise. He brought the world’s favorite group of mutants back to the silver screen on a prequel that quickly became massively popular: X-Men: First Class raked in over $300 million at the box office, and kicked off a new film series that went on to accumulate almost $2 billion across four films. However, the fan-favorite franchise ended up derailing rather quickly – especially in the last two installments. How did that happen? James McAvoy has an opinion about it.
In an interview with GQ, McAvoy talked at length about his career, and his Marvel tenure couldn’t stay out of it. The Scottish actor played the younger version of Charles Xavier, one of the most powerful mutants in the world. The focus of First Class was to show not only the early years of Charles, but also reveal how his friendship with Magneto (Michael Fassbender) transformed into an ethical rivalry over the years. And, for McAvoy, even though his overall experience in the Marvel world was positive, that friendship element is, in his opinion, what the subsequent installments lacked:
“It was one of the most positive experiences I’ve had with a studio. I don’t really [see them as just] money gigs. ‘Days of Future Past’ [the sequel to ‘First Class’] 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 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?”
McAvoy Isn’t Hopeful About Coming Back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
McAvoy also talked about his future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the latest batch of installments, the multiverse concept made all previous Marvel movies canon, which means old characters can pop in every now and then. This includes Professor X (Patrick Stewart), who was featured in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, can we expect to see his younger version again? McAvoy doesn’t seem to think so:
“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.”
One of X-Men fans’ biggest expectations is a movie about the group of mutants done 100% under Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige’s creative control. Previously, the X-Men movies were done by 20th Century Fox, which was bought by Disney in 2019 – which makes it easier for the mutants to return to their studio “home.” So far, aside from Professor X, Wolverine is set to come back (with Hugh Jackman reprising his role) in Deadpool 3. An X-Men-centered movie still hasn’t been officially announced by Marvel.