Former Magneto actor Michael Fassbender weights in on rumors suggesting Denzel Washington will play the X-Men character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Speaking to the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, the 47-year-old German-Irish actor talked about his experience playing Magneto in Fox's X-Men films and shared his excitement for the eventual recast of the MCU's upcoming X-Men reboot.
When the idea of Denzel Washington playing Magneto was brought up, Fassbender has glowing words for the Oscar-winning actor, and also praised Washington for his performance in the 2012 film Flight. Fassbender jokingly said that it would be difficult for him to "pass the baton" to Denzel Washington.
“Brilliant. He’s a heavyweight,” Fassbender said when the rumor about Washington playing Magneto was brought up. “I don’t even think I could pass the baton to Denzel, you know what I mean? [laughs] He’s incredible. I love that film Flight … he’s so strong in it.”
Fassbender made his debut as Magneto in 2011's X-Men: First Class, and reprised his role in three films in Fox's X-Men movie franchise. His last appearance as Magneto was in 2019's X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which was released just a few months after Fox was officially acquired by Disney. Marvel Studios' Head of Streaming Brad Winderbaum recently confirmed that an X-Men movie is in active development right now.
For now, Marvel Studios and Disney haven't made any casting announcements for the highly-anticipated X-Men reboot. However, according to reports, it looks like Marvel Studios was in the early process of casting for the X-Men film. It was recently reported that the studio is looking at Julia Butters as Kitty Pryde, Harris Dickinson for Scott Summers, Jesse Plemons as Beast, and Sadie Sink (who was recently cast in Spider-Man 4) as Jean Grey. Denzel Washington was not one of the names mentioned, and it's unlikely that he will be cast as Magneto for the MCU's X-Men reboot.
It'll probably be a while before we get an update about the upcoming X-Men reboot as Marvel Studios is currently focused on the production of Avengers: Doomsday, which is scheduled to release in theaters on May 1, 2026.
