After weeks of rumors, Michael Fassbender has officially signed on to play Erik Lehnsherr (a.k.a. Magneto) against James McAvoy‘s Charles Xavier in Matthew Vaughn‘s upcoming X-Men: First Class. [The Playlist]
The film, produced by Fox, will deal with the close friendship the two mutants had before their conflicting ideals rendered them enemies. Certainly one of the most complex, interesting relationships in the comic book canon (the two are not-so-subtly modeled after Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X), it’s reassuring to see two young talents like McAvoy and Fassbender taking on the roles. The evaporation of their friendship should make for some scene-chewing dialogue.
Many will recall that the first X-Men opened with a surprisingly powerful flashback to Lehnserr as a child being separated from his parents in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Assuming Vaughn and co. maintain that arc, Fassbender will have a lot to work with, just as Sir Ian McKellen did in the original trilogy.
Are you excited to see Fassbender and McAvoy face off?