Actor Patrick Stewart has made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, repeating his role as the ‘X-Men franchise's Professor Charles Xavier. Stewart has spoken out about returning to a familiar, yet distinct, character in the film, according to a report by Variety.
"It took about a day and a half," the actor told Variety.
He further added, "I was in a totally different setting from the one that I had ever been in, in any of the ‘X-Men’ movies. And, as in Star Trek: Picard, I was glad for it because it allowed me to think about who he was and how he interacted with people in”
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Stewart also contrasted his reappearance as Xavier to revisiting his position as the main character in ‘Star Trek: Picard' — whose second season finale aired one day before the official theatrical premiere of ‘Multiverse of Madness’. "Just like Picard, I was a little uncertain at first if that was a sensible thing to do," Stewart remarked, "Given that Logan had been such a dramatic movie and we witnessed him die in Hugh Jackman’s arms. So, after seeing [Multiverse of Madness] on Monday night, I'm quite delighted and glad to have been a part of it.”
The 81-year-old actor last played Charles Xavier in 2017's ‘Logan’, when the character was slain by Logan's lethal and vicious clone ‘X-24’. The counterpart in ‘Multiverse of Madness’, on the other hand, is a variety of Charles from somewhere in the multiverse — who meets a similar destiny as a member of the enigmatic, multiversal conclave known as the Illuminati. This alternate form resembles the character featured in the ‘X-Men’ animated series from the 1990s, and Stewart revealed his experience navigating a live-action version of the character's recognisable yellow wheelchair.
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"It was completely unlike the Porsche that I was driving in the pictures," Stewart added. "That was a highly swift and manoeuvrable wheelchair. And I was shocked when I first saw the monster I'd be driving in this one. But everything was OK. It worked extremely nicely" he said.
"I had to stop it before a flight of stairs," the actor explained. "My main fear was that I would lose control and go all the way down the stairs in this contraption!" he added.
Stewart has played Charles Xavier for the ninth time, beginning with X-Men in 2000.
"It was a very, very different universe from the ‘X-Men’ movies, with allusions here and there, of course, But I was very, very delighted," Stewart remarked of the movie.
‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, directed by Sam Raimi, is out in cinemas.
