James McAvoy reveals his ‘biggest criticism’ about X-Men franchise

‘It was like, why did we just eject that?’ actor admitted

James McAvoy has revealed his “biggest criticism” of the divisive X-Men franchise.

The actor joined the series in 2011 as a young version of Professor Charles Xavier, the character played by Patrick Stewart in the first three films, which were released from 2000 to 2006,

McAvoy appeared in X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix from 2011 to 2019, with the final two films especially receiving a negative response from critics and audiences.

Over the years, there have been rumours suggesting the actor was not fond of his experience on the films – but, in a new interview, McAvoy described his involvement as “one of the most positive experiences I’ve had with a studio”.

“I don’t really [see them as just] money gigs,” he told GQ, adding: “Days of Future Past I think is one of the better films that I’ve been involved in.”

However, he did share one disappointment regarding the franchise.

“My biggest criticism of what we did throughout the four movies was that after the first movie, we didn’t take advantage of the relationship between [Xavier and Michael Fassbender’s Magneto], which really formed the backbone of the first film,” the actor admitted.

He continued: “So it was like, why did we just eject that massive weapon?”

James McAvoy has shared his candid thoughts on the ‘X-Men’ series (Getty Images)

McAvoy will next be seen in the third series of His Dark Materials, which will begin on 18 December.

All episodes will be available to stream non BBC iPlayer.