The full introduction of theX-Menin the Marvel Cinematic Universe is creeping ever closer, with mutants springing up in various places across the Marvel franchise. With Hugh Jackman making his MCU debut as Wolverine inDeadpool 3, and Patrick Stewart having appeared as a variant of Professor X inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the question of which other stars of 20th Century Fox’sX-Menmovies could potentially return is the stuff of social media fan theory threads galore. During hisrecent interview withMovieWeb, Kelsey Grammer responded to the possibility ofreprising his role as Beastin the MCU.
Kelsey Grammerwas the first actor to bring the Marvel character of Hank McCoy aka Beast to life in live-action, playing the role in 2006’sX-Men: The Last Stand. The character would then be played by Nicholas Hoult in prequel movieX-Men: First Class, while Grammer returned for a cameo appearance inX-Men: Days of Future Pastin 2014. Now over a decade on from that last appearance, how would the actor feel about bringing Beast for at least one more run out. He said:
“If they don’t ask me to return to the role of Beast, I’ll never go to Disneyland again. I’d love for them to do that. I want to do that.”
With everything seemingly on the cards at Marvel thanks to the opening of the Multiverse, there is every chance that Grammer could get his wish to return as Beast,although like Jackman’s Wolverine, it would probably not be in a long term role if it did happen. With the X-Men set to be part of the MCU for a considerable amount of time, it is fair to assume that younger actors will be the main consideration for all X-Men castings going forward.
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Who Else Could Reprise Their X-Men Roles?
Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe are not expected to fully reveal theirnew X-Men line upuntil after theMultiverse Saga, it is possible that we will see some familiar names cropping up in the next couple of years. The real question is who of the older X-Men stars would be up for reprising their roles in the MCU.
The main challenge for Marvel Studios is how to recast some truly iconic performances. They have not yet had to tackle the major recasting of Wolverine, and with Hugh Jackman reprising the role one last time…again…that particular headache has been postponed a little longer. The originalX-Menmovie line-up included the likes of Halle Berry, Famke Jensen, James Marsden, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellen. Patrick Stewart’s return to the role for this year’sDoctor Strangesequel was an unexpected treat, but also explained what seemed to be the best way for these older stars to reprise their roles for a short time – via the Multiverse.
Of course, the X-Men franchise was given a kind of reboot withX-Men: First Classand its sequels, which saw stars like James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Alexandra Shipp, Tye Sheridan taking on some of the iconic roles as younger versions of the characters. Also included in this group wasEvan Peters as Peter Maximoff aka Quicksilver, a character that he “reprized” inWandaVision. While he turned out not be the same character, that kind of trickery is as good a way of any for some older stars to find their way back to the Marvel franchise.
In the most part, Marvel will already be looking at who will and won’t be appearing as X-Men, even though we are still a few years from seeing that translate to on-screen appearances. Whether Kelsey Grammer’s Beast will be among them is yet to be seen, but if not, then Disneyland has just lost a future visitor.
