X-Men: First Class did an impeccable job of casting the ever-charming James McAvoy as Professor Charles, a younger version of Patrick Stewart’s character. While he proved to be a right fit for the character, McAvoy was not done justice in his final two major appearances as the character. Dark Phoenix had to be one of the worst films, not only among his X-Men films but in his entire filmography.
One true fan of McAvoy pointed out this to him in a recent encounter. While McAvoy was a little offended at the comment, it was wholesome to watch the actor take on the criticism like a true champ. Fans agree that his interaction with the fan was just wholesome to watch.
James McAvoy Getting The True Verdict About Dark Phoenix From A Fan Is Wholesome to Watch
Fans often don’t see the fun side of James McAvoy in films, who often takes extreme Method acting steps for his roles. However, he happens to be one of the nicest celebrities to interact with. One fan posted a video of an interaction with the Split actor that proved this nice side to McAvoy.
The fan, who goes by the X username @chxriks, met McAvoy at an event. The actor could have been promoting his new horror film, Speak No Evil, which is currently receiving positive reviews from critics. In the video, McAvoy asked the fan about the worst film she had seen from him. He insisted that he needed an honest answer from her.
While she was hesitant and shy at first to answer the question, she eventually gathered up the courage to say X-Men: Dark Phoenix. McAvoy was a little shocked and offended by the answer. However, the fan explained that she had loved his version of Charles Xavier in all the other movies. But Dark Phoenix portrayed the character to be somewhat of a villain, which the fan absolutely hated.
as promised, me telling james mcavoy his worst film is x-men: dark phoenix, honestly would’ve stood and bantered with him all day if i could he’s such an engaging conversationalist and so expressive and funny 🥹❤️ pic.twitter.com/rjUyrUPEm2
— fai (@chxriks) September 18, 2024
McAvoy appreciated the fact that she was a Charles defender. She further added that she didn’t like the way the character was treated in the film. However, she assured that McAvoy was not a bad actor in it. She shared:
I love Charles. So I feel like they kind of characterized… You were like the villain in that film and I didn’t like it. Because I was a Charles defender. So I didn’t like how you treated him. Not that you were bad in it.
The Wanted actor responded that it was he who tried to make him more like a villain. However, he seemed to understand the criticism from the fan. She wrote in her post that the actor was an “engaging conversationalist” and further described him as “expressive and funny.” The comment section was filled with love for both the actor and the fan.
James McAvoy Arguably Being The Bad Guy Might Have Impacted Dark Phoenix‘s Reception
Dark Phoenix was one of the biggest box office bombs among the X-Men films, having lost approximately $133 million after its marketing and distribution costs (via Deadline). It has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 22% which shared that the film ended the X-Men franchise with “deeply disappointing results.”
Critics and fans hated the film for its bad adaptation of one of the best source materials. The acting was pretty bad too, with some of the creative decisions raising some eyebrows. The most prominent one was making James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier almost seem like a villain. He protects Jean despite her unstable powers harming innocent people and he even gets Raven killed in the film.
Michael Fassbender‘s Magneto, too, had a confusing arc, going from helping Jean to wanting to kill her and then helping her again. Simon Kinberg failed to create an engaging film like its predecessors with all the talented actors.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is now available for streaming on Disney+.
