James McAvoy may be done playing X-Men leader Charles Xavier, but heâs already got his eyes set on another comic book character.McAvoy was doing an Instagram Live video when a fan asked him who heâd like to play if he jumped ship for a role in a DC film.
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âThe Riddler, maybe?â McAvoy responded after a moment. âAlways liked him growing up. Iâve always thought DC does really good bad guys.â
McAvoy is coming off a nearly 10 year run as Professor X, first appearing in 2011âs X-Men: First Class. McAvoy was a dark horse casting decision at first, but quickly won fans over as the modern casting for the character. Previously, Xavier had been popularized by Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Patrick Stewart after years of fans calling for him to play the role.
Itâs not known what the future holds for McAvoyâs Xavier. After a troubled production, including multiple reschedules and reshoots, Dark Phoenix is slated to arrive this summer. A retelling of the seminal Dark Phoenix story, that film is also the last core X-Men title under 20th Century Fox, thanks to the newly completed acquisition by The Walt Disney Company. While itâs been announced that Kevin Feige will spearhead bringing the X-Men to the MCU, no details on the film or the future of the franchise have been announced yet.
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As for The Riddler, his future is up in the air, too. The upcoming Batman film by Matt Reeves is said to include multiple villains, but no details as to who those villains are have been released. The last big-screen appearance for The Riddler was in 1995 when he was portrayed by Jim Carrey in Batman Forever. Most recently, he was a recurring villain on Gotham, which is airing its final season.
Written and directed by Simon Kinberg, Dark Phoenix stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters and Jessica Chastain. The film is scheduled to be released on Jun. 7.