Giancarlo Esposito Won’t Play Professor X After All, But There’s Still Some Good News For MCU Fans

Giancarlo Esposito is an actor who knows his way around the superhero genre thanks to roles like Lex Luthor in Harley Quinn, Ra’s al Gaul in Son of Batman and Stan Edgar in The Boys. However, he has yet to leave his mark on the Marvel Cinematic Universe side of things, though it’s not for a lack of interest, as Esposito has said he wanted to play Professor X in the upcoming Marvel movies. While that casting won’t end up happening, there is still some good news for MCU fans who would like to see him in this franchise.

Giancarlo Esposito Is Joining The MCU

Although he won’t be the one to succeed Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy in bringing Charles Xavier to life on the big screen, Giancarlo Esposito has confirmed that he has signed on to play a mystery role in the MCU. At a panel being held on the Thunder Stage at CCXP (via Collider), the actor informed the crowd that he’s set to play a different role in the franchise, and that it’s coming "sooner rather than later," and "better than you can imagine."

This reveal comes a few months after Esposito had shared that he wanted to play Professor X without being in the wheelchair. Whether or not that factored into the Marvel Studios brass deciding not to cast him in the role, assuming they were even aware of his comment, it wasn’t meant to be. But on the bright side, now seeing Esposito in the MCU is not a matter of ‘if,’ but when, and going off that comment, not only does it sound like his appearance is coming up in the near future, but it’s a bigger deal to him than the man who founded the X-Men. However, don’t start compiling a list of other major Marvel characters for whom he’d fit the bill just yet.

Who Is Giancarlo Esposito Playing In The MCU?

Upon first hearing this news, I immediately started speculating about if Giancarlo Esposito might have been cast as either Doctor Doom or Galactus, as it’s only a matter of time before the former is introduced to the MCU, and the latter is expected to appear in The Fantastic Four following the news that Julia Garner is playing a female version of The Silver Surfer. However, according to @LouAlpizar, Esposito said at that CCXP panel that he’s playing (as translated into English) a “new and original character.”

Right off the bat, it sounds like he’ll be following in the footsteps of actors like Clark Gregg and Kat Jennings, who respectively played Phil Coulson and Darcy Lewis, by playing someone who was specifically created for the MCU. But on the other hand, it’s possible his comment shouldn’t be taken that literally, and maybe he’s playing someone who’s never been adapted on screen before. So they would be “new” in a sense, yet still hail from the source material. While I imagine it will be a long time before Esposito’s character is officially identified, hopefully he either he or someone from Marvel can clarify soon exactly what the deal is with his character’s status.

Meanwhile, remember that the majority of the MCU’s movies and TV shows can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription. That’s also how you can see Giancarlo Esposito’s performance in The Mandalorian.