At a glance
The “X-men” franchise may center on mutants and superheroes, but actor Michael Fassbender has long felt the magnetic pull of real-world problems as he stars in the movies.
Fassbender returns as the powerful Magneto in his latest film, “Dark Phoenix,” and leads a sanctuary called Genosha to protect his fellow mutants from oppression. The symbolism between the X-men and real life is something that attracted Fassbender to the series at the very beginning.
“We’re dealing with a fantastical world and it’s make-believe and it’s highconcept stuff, but at the center of it all, there is this core,” Fassbender, 42, said. “It was developed around the civil rights movement. Right at the beginning, I always saw (Magneto) as like a Malcolm X character and Professor X as Martin Luther King, and that was the way we always approached it.
“Dark Phoenix” is now playing in central Ohio theaters.
“I think that’s what makes it very interesting, that you can have this very relevant and serious theme at the center of it all, and that goes for whatever reason it may be, through sort of an ethnic background or whatever sexual preference anybody has, people that feel like they have been pushed to the margins of society or feel like they’re different, or they’re misfits, or they’re excluded. That’s something that is very relevant, and I think a lot of people experience it.”
The franchise’s latest movie involves one of the X-men, Jean Grey (played by Sophie Turner), gaining unprecedented power that she struggles to control after being struck by a mysterious cosmic force during a space mission gone wrong. The other X-men attempt to save her as she unintentionally wreaks havoc with her newfound abilities.
“Dark Phoenix,” which is in central Ohio theaters, is Fassbender’s fourth film portraying Magneto, whose name is Erik Lehnsherr. The complex character is capable of controlling metal and magnetic fields and has been both an adversary and ally of Professor Charles Xavier, leader of the X-men.
“In this one, he’s kind of like a cult-leader of sorts, I suppose,” Fassbender said of his character. “He’s made a compromise of sorts. The war against the human race has sort of come to an end for him because he’s managed to build Genosha. … That is interrupted by some news that comes his way which sort of pulls him back into conflict, but a different kind of conflict.”
Playing Magneto has been a fulfilling ride for Fassbender, who debuted in the movie series based on the Marvel comics in 2011’s “X-men: First Class.” He’s starred alongside James Mcavoy and Jennifer Lawrence in each of the X-men films he has appeared in.
With “Dark Phoenix,” Fassbender feels like the series has come full circle, with Simon Kinberg, who wrote the past two X-men movies and produced the last three, making his directorial debut.
“This story is about family and how one member of the family is going through a real hardship, and what that does to the family and how the family is kind of torn apart,” Fassbender says of the new movie. “It feels like a very satisfying finish to the saga.”
The X-men are among the properties recently acquired by Disney in a $71 billion deal with Fox, leaving the next phase for the beloved mutant characters undetermined.
“I’m very satisfied with the journey I’ve had on this,” Fassbender said. “I have no idea what’s happening in the future. In my mind, I see it as sort of the last film, but I’m really grateful to have been on the journey and really satisfied with the work that’s been done.”