Giancarlo Esposito Reveals ‘It Would Be an Honor’ to Join the MCU

For some fans, Giancarlo Esposito will forever be synonymous with Breaking Bad’s Gus Fring, The Boys baddie Stan Edgar, or The Mandalorian’s Moff Gideon. However, there are those who wonder what role Esposito might tackle in a DC Comics or Marvel adaptation. One X user wrote they could see Esposito “killing it” in the role of DC’s Ray Palmer, aka Atom. The Atom was portrayed in the CW’s Arrowverse by Brandon Routh, and, as it turns out, Esposito would consider it “an honor” to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And he’s particularly interested in the X-Men characters Charles Xavier and Magneto. Esposito answered the question during British GQ’s Actually Me:

Parish

3.5/5

Release Date

March 31, 2024

Cast

Giancarlo Esposit , Zackary Momoh , Arica Himmel , Ivan Mbakop , Dax Rey

Seasons

1

Writers

Daniel Brocklehurst , Sunu Gonera , Jim Poyser

Network

AMC

Esposito, who leads the new AMC crime thriller series Parish opposite Skeet Ulrich, continued:

“[Professor] X is a little more intellectual and he has a physical handicap. And I know we’ve seen him in some incarnations prior to the wheelchair.
And he kind of goes mad and does all that. So, that’s very interesting to me
.

“I like the idea of playing someone who’s on the right side of the law and might be able to do good, but there’s also Magneto. There’s a movement and action feeling about him that draws me to it.
I would be really, really, really happy to join the Marvel universe in some shape or form. It would be an honor
.”

Giancarlo Esposito Says ‘Villains Are Fun’ to Portray

Much is made of the actor’s television success, which has resulted in five Emmy nominations, but Giancarlo Esposito has also appeared in a number of memorable movies, including Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, and Okja. During his appearance on British GQ’s Actually Me, Esposito admitted that playing “villains are fun,” but he’s contemplated portraying Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, before. Esposito said during his March 10 sit-down on the Fade to Black podcast:

“You know, I’ve given it a cursory glance in my brain, and immediately I go, ‘Hmm,
it’d be great to play Professor X in some other incarnation than just the wheelchair
.’ Right? Because the physical idea of being in a wheelchair every single day does not appeal to me.”

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Breaking Bad star Giancarlo Esposito comments on playing Professor X in the MCU and the idea of starring alongside Denzel Washington.

Esposito continued:

“I just don’t feel that old and I don’t like to sit that much. But certainly, we could figure something out, maybe. Professor X wasn’t always in the wheelchair, but that is part of his character development. So, I think about it a little bit, but I don’t give it all of my thought, because it would have to come to me.”

When it comes to The Mandalorian, though, Esposito not only doubts the death of Moff Gideon, but he even suggests that the Star Wars villain could return as a clone while appearing on British GQ’s Actually Me. In the meantime, though, fans of the talented actor can watch Esposito in Netflix’s The Gentlemen now and in AMC’s new drama, Parish, when season one drops on Sunday, March 31.