Giancarlo Esposito Already Knows How He’d Play Professor X
Whoa, putting the cart before the horse there, maybe Gus?
Usually when an actor is in talks to play a character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you won’t hear much from them about the role until after they’ve been confirmed; in some cases not even until after they’ve appeared as the character. But right now Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad fame seems to be smashing that particular mold to pieces. The man who brought Gus Fring to life is being very vocal not only about who he wants to play in the MCU, but who he thinks he will play, and how he wants to play them.
At a recent convention appearance captured by the TikTok account @countdowncitygeeks, Giancarlo Esposito went through some of the comic book characters he’s been rumored to play, as well as revealing he has had talks with Marvel. “So, there’s been talk of Magneto, there’s been talk of Dr. Freeze, there has been talk of who else are they talking about over there? Oh, Doom,” Esposito said. “And there is Professor X. Pick one? I’m going to go for something that is a little bit different. I’m going to go and put it out in the universe that it is Professor X.” He also added how he’d bring the X-Men founder to life, saying, “I’d play that character with force, grace, and a calm. Someone who controls the chaos but who also has the ability to uplift and inspire.” You can watch the video below.
@countdowncitygeeks #giancarloesposito announces which character he may play in the#marveluniverse! #superherocarshowandcomiccon #fyp #foryourpage #celebfanfest #comiccon2022 #marvel #countdowncitygeekcast #sanantoniotx ♬ original sound – countdowncitygeeks
Giancarlo Eposito is arguably an inspiring choice to play Professor Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, particularly considering many of his more recent roles. Ever since he embodied perhaps the single most chilling villain in TV history — Gus Fring of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul — the Do the Right Thing star has landed a number of prominent roles as powerful bad guys. In The Mandalorian he’s the merciless Imperial holdout Moff Gideon and in The Boys he’s the manipulative CEO Stan Edgar.
A new interpretation of Professor X could be served very well with just a dash of the villainous edge Giancarlo Esposito has brought to other roles. There’s one side of Xavier we’ve seen little of from either Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy — Xavier as a puppet master. Fans of the source material will point out that in the comics, it’s made clear that Xavier has proven willing on more than one occasion to set aside moral qualms for the sake of “the greater good.” In one particularly memorable Astonishing X-Men story, we learn that the X-Men’s Danger Room was — unbeknownst to the rest of the X-Men — run by a sentient artificial intelligence Xavier kept enslaved for years.
However, it is in one sense a little concerning to hear Giancarlo Esposito discussing so openly his talks with Marvel and his guess that he’ll play Professor X. It’s been proven time and time again how valuable secrecy is to Marvel Studios, and it may very well be the case that Esposito could lose his chance to show up in the MCU by discussing this so openly. It’s one thing for someone like Mark Ruffalo or Tom Holland to drop spoilers — both of them have already been hired, already have multitudes of fans in their respective roles, and their dismissal would cause no end of blowback. But simply passing on hiring someone? That’s another matter entirely. As much as we love to hear from Giancarlo Esposito about this, we’d love it more if he actually got the role, so hopefully we’re worrying about nothing.
