Now that Marvel Studios has the rights to the mutant team, all the signs are pointing to the X-Men being rebooted in the MCU. Given the long history of the Fox franchise, though, most fans would probably say they’d prefer some shared continuity with what’s come before. Everyone’s first choice for Wolverine is still Hugh Jackman, for instance.
Now, we might’ve just got a hint that Marvel is open to bringing back a few familiar faces, via Charles Xavier himself, Patrick Stewart. Speaking with Digital Spy, the Star Trek: Picard star revealed that he had some in-depth chats with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige very recently, with the future of Professor X in the MCU definitely being on the agenda.
“I met with Kevin Feige a couple of months ago and we had long, long conversations. And there have been moves and suggestions, which include Charles Xavier.”
Before you get too excited, though, Stewart went on to make something clear: he’s not going to play the character again. It’s all to do with how pleased the actor is with Logan as his final turn in the role.
“Here’s the problem… If we had not made Logan, then yes, I would probably be ready to get into that wheelchair one more time and be Charles Xavier. But Logan changed all that.”
Stewart recounted an anecdote from the premiere screening of Logan, which ended with he and Jackman holding hands and in tears. Here’s an excerpt from his story:
“Hugh took my hand, and we held hands with the last seven or eight minutes of the film because there was so many things we were upset about. We were moved by the story. We were moved by one another. We were moved by the movie. But we also both made the decision that we were saying goodbye to our characters as well.”
So, clearly Stewart isn’t about to hop back into his X-branded wheelchair any time soon, but it’s still intriguing to hear that he met with Feige. From what the star is saying, it sounds like the producer at least left the option open for him to return if he wanted to. Which may tell us that he wants a few of the old faces from Fox’s films to come back.
In any case, while Feige figures out how he’s going to reboot the X-Men, the Fox franchise will get something of a last hurrah when The New Mutants hits cinemas on April 3rd.