Despite being one of the core members and leader of the X-Men in the comics, Cyclops has been given a bit of a short shrift in the films. James Marsden played the character in the first three X-Men movies, but he was killed off pretty early into X-Men: The Last Stand. Frankly, Cyclops was never well-serviced or properly adapted to begin with. Instead, Wolverine became the main focus of the franchise, and while that’s worked out well for Hugh Jackman and fans of the character, many have remained hopeful that Cyclops will someday make his way back into the fold.
A younger version of the character appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but we’d all like to leave that film far behind us and forget it ever existed (something that will hopefully be accomplished with time travel magic in Days of Future Past). With Bryan Singer uniting cast members of the original trilogy with those of X-Men: First Class, many fans hoped that Cyclops would somehow be brought back. While we don’t know for sure if he’ll have a cameo or not, I wouldn’t count on it. In fact, Marsden himself recently spoke about returning to the franchise, and gave no indication that he’d done so already.
“I’ve always been very proud of my role and it’s out of my hands. It’s nice to see Bryan [Singer] go back in and turn the boat a little bit. I’m happy for those that made it back. I’d like to. I get excited watching the trailers because I’m excited for the continuance of the X-Men world. I’m a fan of X-Men and I know it’ll be a kick ass movie.”
When asked about how he feels about the superhero genre now that it’s far more popular than it was when X-Men debuted in 2000, he said:
“I loved being a part of those movies. It was a great group of people. It was rare to get fans excited for a comic book movie, and do well at the box office with films that critics loved, too. I mean nobody doesn’t like them.”
So, it sounds like Marsden is up for returning to the role, if Singer ever decides to bring back the character and actually do him justice.
Tell us, would you like to see Marsden return as Cyclops, perhaps in X-Men: Apocalypse? Or would you rather they recast him, or feature a younger version? Let us know in the comments below!
