The Real Reason Patrick Stewart Won't Play Professor X In The MCU

For a brief, shining moment in the early 21st century, there was really only one game in town for chronically watchable superhero movies: Sam Raimi's Spider-Man series. X-Men was a close second, though.

Sure, the stuff they got wrong was egregious from a fan standpoint, and yes, this was the series that started the bizarre, decades-long tradition of not letting Mystique performers wear clothes. But where X-Men rarely dropped the ball was in its casting. Hugh Jackman's name became synonymous with Wolverine, and the eventual addition of Kelsey Grammer in the role of Beast fit like a blue fur-lined glove. But the big win came when the franchise landed Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier, the fictional father figure of a generation of nerds.

And while James McAvoy and Harry Lloyd both went on to play the character in other live-action adaptations of the comics, it's unlikely that anyone will ever roll through the halls of the Xavier School with quite the same gravitas as Stewart did when he was between Picards. Maybe that's why, as was revealed in an interview last year with Digital Spy, head of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige met with Sir Patrick to offer him another go-round in the chair. Oddly enough, the now-80-year-old thespian claims to have turned it down. His reasoning: Logan was just too good.

"I met with Kevin Feige a couple of months ago," Stewart told Digital Spy, "and we had long, long conversations, and there have been moves and suggestions, which include Charles Xavier.

"Here's the problem," he continued. "If we had not made Logan, then yes, I would probably be ready to get into that wheelchair one more time and be Charles Xavier. But Logan changed all that."

Stewart has been vocal in the past about his reluctance to return to the role of Charles Xavier, stating that his death in Logan was an emotional enough experience for him that he can't imagine bringing him back. Still, it's a shame to think that the iconic actor was done with the franchise after a mere 17 years, seven movies, and three video games. He never even got to hang out with Deadpool. Is there no justice?

What's even more interesting, however, is the idea that Feige has been taking meetings about potential Professor Xavier appearances at all. While nothing has been confirmed, this seems like the most solid news we can expect to get about the X-Men joining the MCU in the near future. As for who they'll look to for paternal, telepathic guidance, only time will tell.