21 Perfect Superhero Movie Casting Choices That Nailed Their Characters

7. Ian McKellen/Michael Fassbender As Magneto - X-Men Franchise

20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox

Yes, yes, I know this is cheating. But honestly, is there any way of separating the two?Erik Lensher has always been an icon of moral ambiguity in the Marvel mythos, representing the moral and political antithesis of what his main rival, Charles Xavier, and his X-Men espouse.

Magneto has experienced a level of persecution incomparable in its brutality, and the emotional weight and grief that comes with such a tragic life is clearly a difficult element to convey. He also believes that mutants are 'homo-superior', with his lived experiences vindicating the dogmatic creed himself and the Brotherhood of Mutants proclaim.On top of such a rich personality, the self-proclaimed 'master of magnetism' possesses a unique and amicable relationship with Professor X, and who better to embody such a friendship than real life BFFs, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart?

Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy too did justice to the roles, and the resurgence of the franchise has only been amplified by the acting talents displayed.Both are clearly fantastic in the role, but Magneto's strength of character takes the cake as far as complexity is concerned.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.