Is Michael Fassbender Coming Back As Magneto?

With the popularity of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 cementing the superhero genre for another generation or two, rumors are beginning to swirl (in a beautifully articulated CGI formation of metal shrapnel, of course) around the upcoming X-Men films.

While fans have bid adieu to Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart, they may be getting another dose of Michael Fassbender. The AV Club reports that he may be putting his helmet back on for the upcoming X-Men film, Dark Phoenix.

According to the AV Club, Fassbender's co-stars James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence may have let their contracts come to an end with 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, but easy-on-the-eyes Fassbender could reprise his role at least one more time. The news comes courtesy of MTV News' Josh Horowitz, who "ran into Fassbender" and teased that an episode of his podcast that would provide further details.

The only thing that fans know so far regarding X-Men: Dark Phoenix is that it'll showcase Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner and (hopefully) improve on the franchise's first attempt at the storyline in X-Men 3: The Last Stand (2006). ScreenCrush adds that it'll hit theaters in 2018, so there's plenty of time for fan theories to circulate and for those unfamiliar with the classic storyline to get acquainted with Jean Grey's relationship with the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force.

ScreenCrush adds that while Fassbender is being connected to Dark Phoenix, it's not entirely impossible for McAvoy to join the other X-Men film in Fox's pipeline, New Mutants. Back in 2016, the movie's producer basically confirmed that McAvoy would make an appearance in the film, which stars another Stark sister, Maisie Williams. That film, which is set to premiere in April 2018, will focus on a "separate group of heroes and is somewhat peripheral to the central X-Men universe."