X-Men's James McAvoy Explains What Needs To Happen for Him To Return as Professor X in the MCU

James McAvoy says Marvel Studios hasn't called him to return as Charles Xavier.

Now that Disney once again owns the live-action rights to the characters that once resided at 20th Century Fox, Marvel Studios has slowly been folding some of them into the mix of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ms. Marvel formally introduced the idea of mutants to the franchise, and Kelsey Grammer's Beast was brought back for the post-credits scene of The Marvels. Now that Deadpool 3 is on the horizon, most are thinking many other X-Men characters could end up appearing in the flick. When it comes to James McAvoy's Charles Xavier, however, the actor says he has yet to be contacted for a return by Marvel Studios.

"Anything I say will get me in trouble on that. I've had no contact from them," McAvoy recently said to Entertainment Tonight. "If they want me to come back, they need to talk to me and there needs to be a good script. They need to want me. When stuff like that happens or doesn't happen, that's the reality of it."

Who's all in Deadpool 3?

In addition to Reynolds' Deadpool starring in Deadpool 3, Hugh Jackman is set to reprise his fan-favorite role of Wolverine from 20th Century's X-Men franchise. Other familiar faces include Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Karan Soni (Dopinder), Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), Rob Delaney (Peter), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), Shioli Kutsuna (Yukio), and Stefan Kapičić as Colossus.

Judging by set photos, it appears Sabretooth and Toad will also return, though it has yet to be seen exactly which versions of the characters will appear. There's also been speculation Jennifer Garner's Elektra from the 2003 Daredevil film could appear as well. Patrick Stewart said late last year his second MCU return as Xavier has come up recently too.

"I have every confidence he's still around," Stewart said when Professor X's multiple film deaths came up in the interview on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast. "It has come up, there's been a process," Stewart admitted when asked about appearing in Deadpool 3. "But the last two-three years have been so difficult with the labor problems and the health problems, COVID, you know..." 

Deadpool 3 is set to hit theaters on July 26th.

What other members of Fox's X-Men universe would you like to see join the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things Marvel!