Marvel Studios may very well have a candidate to play Magneto in the MCU, with Morgan Spector the rumored frontrunner. Casting for Marvel’s reboot of the X-Men has been slow and steady throughout the year, with rumors swirling ahead of the full debut at D23 Expo when the likes of Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, and Maya Boyd as Storm were confirmed to the world. At the time, it was clear that this wasn’t everyone who would appear in the film, and new rumors point to some familiar faces that could be joining Marvel’s next chapter.
According to Cartier Films, who the terminally online will recognize from DCULeaks, not only is The Gilded Age star Morgan Spector “being seriously eyed” for the role of Magneto. The report only notes that Marvel “really wants him for the role,” with no indication of when or if they might decide to make this decision. That said, they go on to note another piece of the Marvel puzzle, reporting that Alien: Romulus star Cailee Spaeny auditioned for Polaris, which aligns with another rumor that, together, could paint a picture of how the Marvel villain will be used.
For those unaware of Spector’s body of work, he can currently be seen on HBO’s drama series The Gilded Age, but has a slew of additional roles to his name, like in Suits, The Plot Against America, and Person of Interest. It’s also worth noting that Spector is only six years older than the new Professor X, Christopher Abbott, making them contemporaries.
A major worry that fans have had about the MCU take on Magneto, specifically a younger version, is how it might affect his origin story as a survivor of the Holocaust. It still remains to be seen how Marvel will address this in X-Men, but at the very least, Spector does have Jewish roots in his family history, which could indicate Marvel is at least serious about preserving some elements of the character’s history.
It’s worth noting at the top that the new X-Men movie has seemingly already confirmed its primary antagonist when Marvel Studios confirmed that Adam Driver would take on the role of Nathaniel Milbury, aka Mister Sinister. Despite rumors that Magneto would also appear in the film, it seems like the Master of Magnetism may have a smaller role in the first MCU X-Men movie ahead of a bigger presence in the sequel, or even in other Marvel projects.
It was previously reported that Cailee Spaeny had auditioned for another Marvel role after seemingly losing out on playing Rogue. That news, on top of today’s report that her character Polaris “is expected to appear in the movie in some capacity,” could indicate that Marvel wants to plant a flag about the MCU Magneto and his cohorts without making them the main antagonists once again. Mister Sinister has never once appeared in the 20th Century Fox X-Men movies, while Magneto has appeared in almost all of them. Doing things marginally different from what audiences have already seen with the X-Men is one of the key elements of rebooting the property, and if they play their cards right it might fuel the MCU for another decade.
