With the acquisition of 20th Century Fox, many people have been wondering how Disney/Marvel will approach their versions of the X-Men and Fantastic Four and now one rumour is suggesting they will make Professor X and Magneto people of colour.
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige hinted that the two franchises might appear in Phase 5 of the MCU during an appearance at 2019 San Diego Comic-Con.
Feige has also been promising there will be more diversity as we move into Phase 4 of the MCU next year. He has previously told Vulture that Marvel Studios is open to changing the established genders, ethnicities and sexualities of their comic characters for the film versions. They have done this already with characters like Heimdall, played by Idris Elba, and Valkyrie, played by Tessa Thompson.
“There are a lot of other examples, so the answer is yes,“ he said. “You may be asking about sort of major, title characters. The answer to that is probably yes, too.”
Full Circle Cinema is now reporting that a source has told them that Marvel is potentially looking to cast people of colour as both Magneto and Professor X for their X-Men films.
This wouldn’t mean too much for Charles Xavier’s character as he was born in New York to a wealthy family, however, it may change some things for Erik Lehnsherr’s story as he was born in the 1920s to a Jewish family and was sent to Auschwitz during World War 2. Considering the current MCU is taking place in 2023, it probably wouldn’t work to have a 100-year-old Magneto ‘running’ around.
Professor X and Magneto have previously been portrayed by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in the first X-Men films and then by James McEvoy and Michael Fassbender in the soft reboot of the franchise.
While some fans were thrilled with the news, many took to Twitter to share their disappointment:
However, others reminded those who were disappointed by the news that the characters were actually based on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr so it would make sense that they would be portrayed by a more diverse cast.
It will be very interesting to see where this goes and what the eventual fan reaction will be once the characters are actually cast.
There are also rumours that Denzel Washington is in the running for the role of Magneto.
We’ve had four amazing actors portray these characters for several years, it’s now time for something different. And if the new story involves changing the established ethnicities of the characters then I, for one, will be very keen to see who they choose.