X-Men Star Jessica Chastain Reveals Prank Pulled on James McAvoy During Dark Phoenix's Grimmest Moment

By Nathaniel Brail

After the Walt Disney Company purchased FOX and merged companies, the house of the mouse had been slowly integrating their X-Men lineup of characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Just this year we saw Patrick Stewart return as Professor Xavier in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and it was recently announced that Hugh Jackman will return as Wolverine in Deadpool 3. Before this could happen the studio had to release the final 20th Century Fox X-Men movies, X-Men: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants, which were both heavily delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. X-Men: Dark Phoenix featured Jessica Chastain as the film's main villain and James McAvoy as the younger Professor Xavier. Chastain recently made an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, where the actress revealed a hilarious prank she pulled on McAvoy.

"We were shooting X-Men and [McAvoy is] Professor X, and he's in the wheelchair -- he's on wires -- and at some point he's being lifted up," Chastain explained. "He does the scene. It's good, and I had planned this with the director. The director said, 'Final take. Please do it again.' So they lift him up, and he's acting like he's being lifted by this magic...and all of a sudden, the "Macarena" starts playing. And the guys that were holding the wires were having him dance the Macarena....There's no topping it. I think it was the best."

During the final minutes of the season finale of Ms. Marvel, mutants enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe when it is revealed that the reason Kamala can access her superpowers is because of a mutation in her genetics. In this moment, the iconic X-Men animated series theme song plays, confirming that the character is indeed a mutant. Within the same AMA, Vellani recently broke her silence on the substantial reveal. 

"Don't get me wrong, I love the Inhumans. Black Bolt is my father. But I do think the MCU is in a very different place than the comics were, and so we were actually able to go this way with Kamala, and, to be fair, the original intent for the comic character WAS to make her a mutant, so I am over the moon that this is real and we could make it happen," Vellani revealed. "Sana Amanat and I were freaking out; every single brain cell exploded when we found out we can do this. I was literally refreshing the ep 6 discussion thread on here until someone finallyyyy mentioned it."

The most recent Marvel Studios film to hit theaters was Thor: Love and Thunder. The film is being directed by Taika Waititi and will star Chris Hemsworth as the titular character, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster/Mighty Thor, Russell Crowe as Zeus, Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star Lord, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Karen Gillan as Nebula and Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher. In addition to directing, Waititi will also be reprising his role as Korg. Thor: Love and Thunder is exclusively streaming on Disney+ now!

What do you think of the prank? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!

Trending Now: