When Marvel Studios announced the cast of Avengers: Doomsday, one of the biggest and most exciting surprises came when we learned that Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen would reprise their X-Men franchise roles as Professor X and Magneto.
Stewart had already shown up in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as a Charles Xavier Variant on Earth-838. However, McKellen's long-awaited return as the Master of Magnetism was, understandably, a huge deal for many fans.
Jake's Takes recently had the good fortune to sit down with McKellen and ask about his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Avengers: Doomsday.
"I didn't realise how popular he was," The Lord of the Rings icon said of Magneto. "I thought he was the villain, but no, I think people rather like his attitude. It was fun working with all those younger actors who were so confident about the parts they played in many other movies."
"Patrick and I came in as old-timers," McKellent noted, "but they were very respectful and allowed us to have comfortable seats and so on."
Reflecting on some of his favourite moments as Magneto, McKellen appeared to drop a major spoiler for Avengers: Doomsday when he revealed that the villain destroys New Jersey in the upcoming ensemble.
"A favourite time was when I detached the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco from its moorings and was sailing it through the air towards Alcatraz. That was magical because they’d built the bridge in the open air, and I was on it, and the wind machine was blowing, and I was just doing that. Over the loudspeaker, the director—not Bryan this time—was saying 'more, Ian, more,' and eventually had to shout 'less and less,' but it was all basically that. And in the first film, I remember the camera behind me, my hands raised up, and as they did that, two police cars in front of me were raised up by cranes. When I, at a signal, dropped my hands, the cars dropped. These were not special effects. Nowadays, I think things will become a little bit easier, though. I did destroy New Jersey the other day. Oh, I perhaps shouldn’t have said that."
While that's a pretty major bombshell—we'd put money on this happening when Earth-616 and Earth-10005 collide in an Incursion—McKellen wouldn't be drawn on whether he shares any scenes with Robert Downey Jr., who plays Doctor Doom in the movie.
It was recently reported that Magneto is Avengers: Doomsday's "MVP," and thanks to the screen legend, we may now have a better idea of why.
Avengers: Doomsday officially stars Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Winston Duke, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, and Robert Downey Jr. Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Mabel Cadena, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, and India Rose Hemsworth all make their Avengers franchise debuts.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn join them, as do X-Men franchise stars Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, with Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum. The trades have pointed to Ryan Reynolds and Hayley Atwell also appearing in Avengers: Doomsday.
The Russo Brothers direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Avengers and Captain America franchises. Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness's Michael Waldron has also been enlisted to help.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.