The Marvel Cinematic Universe will soon have their very own X-Men characters completely different from the ones in the Fox X-Men universe. Many believe the X-Men will cross-over into the MCU via WandaVision, but that remains to be seen. What we do know is that there would be no MCU without the original X-Men movie and its sequels and prequels. Of course, these films were received with a varying degree of warmth. Many believe Logan is the best film in that X-Men universe, while others like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: The Last Stand, Dark Pheonix, and The New Mutants don't fare nearly as well... To be polite...
However, casting these X-Men movies has almost never been an issue. This is certainly true for the two men who brought the younger versions of Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, AKA Magneto, to life. We're talking, of course, about James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender.
Here's what they thought about their experience playing these iconic comic book characters in four X-Men movies...
Earning Roles In X-Men Was A Huge 'Privilege'
According to an interview that James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender did with Rotten Tomatoes, both actors believe their casting in the X-Men prequel movies was a huge privilege. Over the course of the better part of a decade, the two actors honored the work of Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen by playing the younger versions of their characters from the original X-Men timeline. Together they brought to life one of the most complicated and fascinating frenemy relationships in film and comic book history.
"It’s been an honor and a privilege to play him and also to be able to see him in different incarnations through his life, but I guess the biggest treat was to be able to play him in an episode where both our characters met," Michael Fassbender said of playing Magneto alongside Xavier in X-Men: First Class. "That was cool. And to see how Erik becomes Magneto with the help of Charles and vice versa."
In the interview with Rotten Tomatoes, James McAvoy also agreed that stepping into the shoes of the characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
"Like Michael was even saying, to take on a big journey, over four films, from a kind of self-interested, small worldview student and who likes using his tricks to get ladies to this guy who’s like totally entitled and not got any problems in life… meets him, meets his best friend that he’ll ever have, and this guy Erik, Magneto, sort of changes him forever and gives him a hell of a lot of pain and angst and anxiety and trauma that he never had until he met him," James explained. "And so doing, he kind of helps create Professor X, and then we get to watch him go through the mill in Days of Future Past, where he doesn’t believe the thing that he’s always believed, the thing that defines him really – that he believes there is good in everyone, there is always hope. He loses that, and he has to find it again in Days of Future Past. And then, in Apocalypse, we see him as this sort of guidance counselor, teacher type figure. And then [in Dark Phoenix], where we get to see him as a politician with a huge geopolitical platform where he’s trying to sell the message of integration, which is a great message. But I think he has sort of taken his eye off the ball, and he’s not really applying that attention and that love and that hope, which has always defined him."
What Did They Think Of Each Other's Performances?
Given that Magneto and Xavier are always commenting on each other's actions and motives, it seemed only fair that Rotten Tomatoes asked James and Michael about what they thought about each other's performances as the iconic mutants.
James McAvoy started: "My favorite performance of [Michael's] in [the X-Men films] is definitely First Class because I think that was really, truly, actually a great film balancing an ensemble and giving everybody an arc and stuff, but in terms of who that film is really about, that was the origin story for Magneto in essence. And just getting to see him rock this… not just mutant leader figure, which he wasn’t yet, but actually imbue it with a sort of James Bond, espionage, spy-like quality as well."
While James liked Michael in First Class, Michael liked James' work in Days of Future Past...
"Because you really go through the wringer in that one," Michael said of Xavier in Days of Future Past. "[James] has got a really good understanding of storytelling, like where the character is in the journey of the character and where it should end up at the end. Just that sort of awareness of a character journey. So much so that what we see in this last film – the germ of it was there in First Class, which was this idea that you had we’ve always seen Professor X in such a positive light. He’s always so giving and generous, and you were like, well, there’s a flip side to that, you know. That there was an element of his ego that was there and to be explored, and of course, we see the whole effect of it here in this movie. So that’s been cool to watch over four movies. That’s impressive."