There’s no rule that says Magneto can’t be played in an X-Men movie by an American, but so far, the Master of Magnetism has been portrayed solely by talent from outside the United States. The Shakespearean gravitas of Ian McKellen was the perfect fit for the heightened realism of Bryan Singer’s first installment, and the legendary actor went on to make the role his own.
German-born Irishman Michael Fassbender, meanwhile, was a more than adequate replacement, although his accent in First Class veered all over the place before he settled on a middle ground which paid tribute to his predecessor without devolving into a straight-up McKellen impression. Even the youngsters who played Magneto in flashbacks hailed from outside the U.S., with Canadian Brett Morris appearing in X-Men‘s haunting prologue, while English child actor Bill Milner portrayed the 12 year-old version of Erik Lensherr in Matthew Vaughn’s 2011 effort.
Another Englishman in Dan Stevens has found himself linked to the part for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s reboot as well, but some new fan art from SPDRMNKYXXIII imagines how outgoing James Bond Daniel Craig could look as Magneto, which you can check out below.
You might think that casting Craig would be skewing younger for the MCU’s take on the character, but McKellen was 61 years old when X-Men arrived in the summer of 2000, while the current 007 will be 53 when No Time to Die eventually hits theaters, and the reboot isn’t expected for a long time yet. That being said, though the actor would be an interesting choice for Magneto, it seems very unlikely that he’d be interested in joining another blockbuster franchise when the weight of carrying the burden of Bond for fifteen years has clearly taken a heavy toll on him.
