Industry scooper and journalist Jeff Sneider said he heard that Marvel was looking into a voice cast member of the franchise to play Charles Xavier/Professor X in the X-Men reboot. Colman Domingo lent his voice to Norman Osborn in the Disney+ series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. And now, if these rumors are correct, he might lead a righteous band of mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Actors of color eyed for Professor X in X-Men reboot, Colman Domingo rumored
Sneider claimed on The Hot Mic podcast that Marvel was considering Colman Domingo for Professor X. He told co-host John Rocha that Marvel intended to build the X-Men cast around Professor X, Scott Summers/Cyclops, and Jean Grey, “the same way they built the F4 cast around Vanessa Kirby.” He added, “I continue to hear Black actors for Charles,” speculating whether that’s the direction Marvel wanted to take to distinguish their Charles from Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy.
Notably, these two actors portrayed Charles in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men film series.
Sneider said the rumors were that Marvel wanted Denzel Washington for Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto. He mentioned that it would be interesting if Erik’s counterpart was played by a Black actor as well. “Colman Domingo is someone who I think is high on that list,” Sneider said.
Back in February 2025, Domingo expressed disinterest in being recast as Kang and wanting to portray a character that he could “build” from the ground up. He told Josh Horowitz of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. If these speculations turn out to be accurate, Professor X might give him exactly the opportunity he had been looking for.
While speaking on X-Men’s future in the MCU, franchise boss Kevin Feige said in November 2024, “I think you will see that continues in our next few movies with some X-Men players that you might recognize. Right after that, the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men. Again, [it’s] one of those dreams come true. We finally have the X-Men back.” (via Deadline)
Notably, Michael Lesslie is writing the script for the X-Men reboot. Per recent reports, Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier is in talks to direct the film.
Originally reported by Tamal Kundu on SuperHeroHype.
