James Marsden couldn’t be happier to pull his iconic Cyclops visor back on for another on-screen turn as the X-Men hero.
Marsden will return as Cyclops/Scott Summers in the upcoming MCU installment Avengers: Doomsday, and the actor says he’s very “excited” to slip back into the role he first brought to screen in Bryan Singer’s 2000 X-Men film.
“I was excited because you’re a part of something gigantic, and I’ve spent 20 years listening to people say, ‘When are you coming back? When are you coming back? Are you coming back?’ I’m dead. Well, maybe not,” Marsden recently told Vanity Fair.
The 51-year-old actor, who was about 26 years old when X-Men premiered in 2000, joked that he would have had “a tough time struggling to get [back] into costume if they waited a couple more years” to bring his character back.
“It’s been a blast. It really has,” he said of shooting Avengers: Doomsday, which started filming back in April and is slated to hit theaters next winter.
“It’s been a nice little homecoming to a role that really put me on the map. It was the first real event project that I was ever a part of, and a very beloved character, this icon from the comics. And so to step back into that role was pretty special,” Marsden added.
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Marsden reprised his role as Cyclops in 2003’s X2 and 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand. In the latter film, his character tragically dies at the hands of his lover Jean Grey’s alternate personality Phoenix early in the movie.
The actor also made a cameo appearance as Cyclops in the 2014 movie X-Men: Days of Future Past.
The actor will appear in Avengers: Doomsday along with several other original stars from the 2000s’ X-Men trilogy, including Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellan (Magneto), Kelsey Grammer (Beast), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), and Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler).
The movie will follow the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Wakandans, and New Avengers team as they face off against Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr.
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to hit theaters on December 18, 2026.
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Gallery Credit: Erica Russell