John Boyega reveals that Kevin Feige has approached him in the past about playing a Marvel character, though Boyega’s pick may surprise you. Boyega shot onto the scene with his breakout role in 2011’s Attack the Block and later reached new levels of superstardom when he was cast as Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a role he would reprise in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Boyega has since moved on from Star Wars and taken on roles in critically acclaimed films like Breaking, The Woman King, and They Cloned Tyrone. He also might move over from one Disney franchise to another as he hints at talks about joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
At a panel hosted by Josh Horowitz at C2E2, via Screen Rant, John Boyega revealed that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige once asked him which Marvel character he would like to play. Boyega reveals that he didn’t have an answer at the time, but a fan in attendance at C2E2 seemed to give him an idea when he shouted out the X-Men character Bishop. Boyega quickly responded:

“Oh, I’d play Bishop.”

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Bishop might not be the most well-known Marvel character compared to Iron Man, Spider-Man, or The Hulk, but he still is a major part of the X-Men’s mythology. Created by writer John Byrne and artist Whilce Portacio, Bishop’s first appearance was in The Uncanny X-Men #282 from November 1991, and he was established as a time traveler from a mutant dystopia with the power of energy absorption. The character was a significant part of X-Men: The Animated Series and returned in X-Men ’97. Bishop’s only cinematic appearance was in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, where Omar Sy played him.
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John Boyega’s comments about being approached by Kevin Feige are interesting, especially since it was long rumored that he was being considered to replace Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror before Marvel Studios abandoned the character altogether in favor of Doctor Doom. For those who were against retiring T’Challa after Chadwick Boseman’s death, Boyega emerged as a fan-favorite to play Black Panther in the MCU. However, these were all fan-casting and speculation, and so far as we know, they have never been considered. Boyega does appear to be on Marvel Studios’ radar, but it seemingly could have been as far back as 2015, when both Age of Ultron and The Force Awakens were released.
While Boyega seemingly only responded to playing Bishop because a fan suggested it, it is certainly not a bad call. The original X-Men are already set to return in Avengers: Doomsday, but following that, the MCU is expected to introduce their own interpretation of the iconic mutant team. Casting Boyega as Bishop for the MCU’s eventual X-Men reboot would be a strong start to the roster and give their version of the team a time traveler from the start. Bishop is a character that the 20th Century Fox X-Men films used essentially as a glorified cameo, giving Boyega and Marvel Studios the chance to put their stamp on the character. Boyega as Bishop could make the character as popular with the mainstream as Dave Bautista did for Drax the Destroyer or as Paul Rudd did for Scott Lang.
Source: Screen Rant

X-Men

Summary

The X-Men film series consists of superhero films based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. The films star an ensemble cast, focusing on Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, who is drawn into the conflict between Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart & James McAvoy) and Magneto (Ian McKellen & Michael Fassbender), who have opposing views on humanity’s relationship with mutants. Xavier believes humanity and mutants can coexist, but Magneto believes that mutants are destined to rule humanity. The films also developed subplots based on the comics’ Weapon X and Dark Phoenix storylines.

20th Century Fox earned the film rights to the characters in 1994, and after numerous drafts, Bryan Singer was hired to direct X-Men (2000) and returned for X2 (2003). He left a potential third and fourth film to direct Superman Returns, leaving Brett Ratner to direct X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Critics praised Singer’s films for their dark, realistic tone, and subtexts dealing with discrimination and intolerance, but Ratner’s film was met with mixed reviews. Nonetheless, each film outgrossed its predecessor, and Fox developed two prequels: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and X-Men: First Class (2011). Both prequels have been planned to continue into two separate trilogies. Some spin-offs of certain characters are being considered, with Deadpool being the only one confirmed so far. There are also discussions of a potential continuation to the main trilogy.

The X-Men films contributed to a reemergence of superhero films in the 2000s

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