James McAvoy

In playing young Prof. Charles Xavier, McAvoy was sensitive to the class politics of the X-Men universe.

James McAvoy was also sensitive to how Prof. Xavier was a disabled character, a rarity in the world of superheroes, where lost limbs can be easily replaced by high-powered prosthetics. And we need to own that and explore that a little bit. Although McAvoy was quick to point out, somewhat jokingly, that a wild sci-fi device might also be cool. James McAvoy was sensitive to the class politics of the X-Men universe, acknowledging that Prof. Xavier is, in fact, a very rich man who own an enormous estate in upstate New York. He also seems to have enough money — presumably from private school tuition — to fund the high-tech gadgets the X-Men regularly employ in their villain-fighting quests. And it's why I love — I want to, if we go forward and do more, it's why I wanted to make sure he had a manual wheelchair at times as well. In "First Class," McAvoy played a young, brown-haired Xavier, prior to the founding of the school or the loss of the use of his legs.