Original X-Men Star James Marsden Offers Advice to the MCU's Cyclops Actor

The Marvel fandom is eagerly awaiting the day when Marvel Studios will reboot the X-Men movie [...]

The Marvel fandom is eagerly awaiting the day when Marvel Studios will reboot the X-Men movie franchise within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ever since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, Marvel's X-Men reboot has become an official reality, and its only a matter of time before we get official announcements about the new actors that will take over the roles as Marvel's X-Men. Well, James Marsden was the trailblazer who stepped into the role of Scott Summer / Cyclops at the dawn of the modern comic book movie era, and now Marsden is giving some wise advice to the actor that will play Marvel's Cyclops!

James Marsden is currently out doing press for his new video game movie Sonic the Hedgehog, and was asked by Collider what he would say to the next Cyclops actor coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to Marsden:

"The biggest challenge was that, the audience and other actors never being able to see your eyes. Definitely was a handicap in bringing a persona to the character, and an energy to the character. To a character who is also very, by nature, very by-the-books. Kind of a Boy Scout, 'do the right thing.' He's a foil to Wolverine's character, who is more fly by the seat of his pants, a little more unpredictable, and aggressive.

I would just say lean into it. Own it. And carve out your own thing. The fans of the books are going to tell you 'it needs to be this'. Find a new way to make it interesting. Because it is tough to like get something interesting and cool and different across when no one ever sees your eyes. Which is obviously, you know, the main part of the character."

Marsden is right from an acting standpoint, perhaps, but his files on who Cyclops is are woefully outdated. Marvel Comics has done repeated major overhauls on Cyclops' character in the 21st century run of Marvel Comics. Some of them have been fun (Utopia / Schism Cyclops), while others have been misfires (Phoenix Force Cyclops), but it's all definitely shattered the impression of Scott Summers being a boring boyscout who is primarily definied by not being Wolverine.

In fact, depending on how Marvel Studios chooses to approach its X-Men franchise, the modern version of Cyclops in the Marvel's new "Dawn of X" reboot is indeed a cunning strategist, soldier, family man, and mutant community leader, who has much more snarky wit. He's also seemed to have solved his rivalry with Wolverine, as "Dawn of X" has hinted Cyclops and Wolverine now share Jean Grey as a lover.

Marsden never got to have that kind of fun with the role!

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1st,, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (rumored for August), The Eternals on November 6th, WandaVision sometime in Fall, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.

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