James McAvoy Explains Absence of His Cameo as Professor X in X-Men

Warning: This article contains Deadpool & Wolverine spoilers. “McAvoy or Stewart?” a cheeky Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) asks in 2016’s Deadpool, playfully referring to James McAvoy’s and Patrick Stewart’s portrayals of Professor X from different X-Men movies.

However, in the newly released Deadpool & Wolverine, Hugh Jackman returns as a variant of Wolverine from the multiverse, Emma Corrin plays the villainous Cassandra Nova, and we get a plethora of Fox-verse cameos. But alas, it features neither McAvoy nor Stewart.

McAvoy did have a brief cameo in 2018’s Deadpool 2, and Stewart’s Xavier made an appearance in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as part of the Illuminati, complete with the yellow hover chair and the musical theme from X-Men: The Animated Series. Despite previous speculations and comments from Stewart about possibly returning, the new film includes both actors only in archival footage during the credits as a nod to the Fox-era Marvel movies.

“I knew I was going to be in the credits. But no, not this one, I don’t think so,” McAvoy told Variety when asked if the studio approached him to reprise his role in Deadpool & Wolverine. “If there was a world [where Xavier cameos], they clearly threw that idea out the window before calling me.”

“If there’s a good role, if there’s a good opportunity to tell a good story, I’m always going to be interested in it,” McAvoy continued, expressing his openness to returning to the role he had portrayed in multiple X-Men films. “No matter whether it’s something I’ve done before or something completely brand new. So if there’s good material, I’m always ready to respond. But it’s got to be good. And they’ve got to want to do that, so it’s all hypotheticals.”

McAvoy played the younger version of Professor X in 2011’s X-Men: First Class, 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, 2018’s Deadpool 2, and 2019’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Earlier in the year, McAvoy shared he had “no contact” from Marvel Studios but mentioned he would be willing to return if they reached out.

Alongside Jackman, several Marvel actors have returned to their roles after years—sometimes even decades. This includes Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/Human Torch from Fantastic Four, Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios from Daredevil and Elektra, Dafne Keen as Laura Kinney/X-23 from Logan, Wesley Snipes as the vampire hunter in Blade, and Channing Tatum as Gambit from the unmade X-Men spinoff.

Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine is now showing exclusively in theaters.

Source: comicbook.com