Giancarlo Esposito wants to play Professor X in the MCU

The X-Men are coming. Ever since Disney acquired Twentieth Century Fox four years ago, fans have known that it would only be a matter of time before mutants began entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While there have been a few teases and references to mutants in recent Marvel projects, we still have a few years ahead of us before we get a proper X-Men movie; But that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating about who should play iconic X-Men characters. One popular choice among fans calls for Better Call Saul star Giancarlo Esposito to play Professor X or Magneto, but the actor might prefer the good guy.

Giancarlo Esposito appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he said that while he was interested in both Professor X and Magneto, he’d choose Professor X just because he’s already played for many bad guys. “I want to play a good guy,” Esposito said. “Charles is smart. He’s good. But I feel as if there may be some mileage with me and Marvel. I know I love what they do. I know I love creativity. So who knows what could happen? Keep putting it out there.“

It remains to be seen whether Giancarlo Esposito will join the MCU, but he has been offered a Marvel role before, albeit on the small screen. The actor said he turned it down as he feared it would have taken him out of the running for a role in the movie franchise. “I know the Marvel world exists on the Disney lot. I love those guys at Marvel,” Esposito said in 2016. “We’ve been trying to figure out how to collaborate on something. I’m hoping that it is something. They came to me with something for their television department, then I realized if I did that, I’d never be able to have that same character be in that film department. Once you’re in a Marvel character in the television version, you have to stay in the particular character. They can’t carry that over to film.“

Patrick Stewart played Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine, Logan, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He also shared the role with James McAvoy in X-Men: Days of Future Past, with McAvoy playing a younger version of Xavier in X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool 2, and Dark Phoenix. Giancarlo Esposito will next be seen reprising his role of Moff Gideon on the third season of The Mandalorian, which will debut on Disney+ on March 1st.

Would you like to see Giancarlo Esposito join the MCU as Professor X, Magneto, or some other Marvel character?