Beyond the Villain: Giancarlo Esposito on Fan Castings, Marvel Regrets, and His Dream Historical Icons

By Samantha Nelson
Published September 18, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT

Main Facts

In a recent interview ahead of the premiere of Netflix’s The Gentlemen Season 2, acclaimed actor Giancarlo Esposito opened up about the boundaries of typecasting, his true comic book preferences, and his aspirations to portray legendary historical figures.

While internet fandoms famously flooded social media in 2022 with photoshopped concepts casting Esposito as Marvel’s telepathic mutant leader Professor X, the actor revealed that his personal comic book alignment leans toward the Master of Magnetism, Magneto. Furthermore, discussing his entrance into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as the Serpent Society leader Sidewinder in Captain America: Brave New World, Esposito voiced creative frustrations regarding the cinematic dilution of Seth Voelker’s comic-accurate backstory.

Moving beyond the realm of speculative fiction, Esposito also mapped out his ambitions to tackle substantive historical dramas, specifically naming literary pioneer Alexander Pushkin and Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture as dream roles.

Chronology: From Internet Fandoms to the MCU and Beyond

To understand Esposito’s current career trajectory, one must trace the convergence of fan culture, major franchise casting decisions, and the actor’s deliberate choices in prestige television.

• 2022: Following the expansion of the multiverse in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, X-Men fandoms generated viral viral concept art depicting Esposito as Professor Charles Xavier. At the time, Esposito expressed polite interest in the role, fueling industry speculation.
• 2024–2025: Esposito officially crossed the threshold into the MCU, signing on to play Sidewinder in Julius Onah’s Captain America: Brave New World. While eager to join the blockbuster universe, the actor found the film’s narrative scope limiting regarding the character’s intellectual depth.
• 2026 (Leading to September): Marvel Studios solidified its casting for the upcoming 2028 X-Men feature film, tapping Catch-22 star Christopher Abbott to play Professor Charles Xavier—a choice Esposito met with absolute equanimity.
• Late 2026: Ahead of the second-season premiere of Guy Ritchie’s hit Netflix series The Gentlemen—in which Esposito stars alongside Theo James as billionaire history buff Stanley Johnston—the actor detailed his creative philosophy, addressing his preference for complex antiheroes, revolutionaries, and historical icons.

Supporting Data: Examining Esposito’s Iconic Filmography and Aspirations

Throughout a career spanning decades, Esposito has mastered the art of playing cold, calculating, and authoritative antagonists. However, his recent reflections suggest a desire to expand his palette toward characters driven by deep ideological motivations, intellectual rigor, or tragic flaws.

Official Responses and Direct Quotes

Speaking directly with Polygon, Esposito addressed the massive wave of fan-casting that tied him to the founder of the X-Men, setting the record straight about his actual franchise preferences.

“Professor X, just to be clear, was a fan casting idea that got spread very quickly, and it was an idea that appealed to me because of who Professor X is,” Esposito explained. “I like Magneto. I like that world. That world has its own rhythm to it that is fantastical in some ways. Freeze is another one that I would like to be.”

Regarding his transition into the MCU via Captain America: Brave New World, Esposito expressed appreciation for the platform while lamenting the omission of deeper character lore:

“I like Sidewinder, and I love the fact that I could be that mercenary, but I was even more interested in playing Seth Voelker, the scientist, the educated man who then flipped. There’s a story there which I didn’t have the ability to tell in what I had to do in Captain America 4.”

Stepping away from science fiction and comic book adaptations, Esposito turned his attention toward the heavyweights of world history—figures whose intellectual and physical revolutions reshaped global politics.

“[Alexander] Pushkin, the poet, artist and musician, came from another culture and really came into his own by understanding what his strengths were,” Esposito noted. “There’s Toussaint Louverture, the liberator of Haiti and the leader of the uprising. There are historical characters that Napoleon and other greats learned from.”

This fascination with power dynamics directly informs his work in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen. Describing his character, Stanley Johnston, Esposito highlighted the psychological undercurrents of the billionaire’s fascination with the British aristocracy:

"He’s fascinated with power and royalty and rightful heirs. Are you going to preserve that legacy, that inheritance, or are you going to squander it? It’s an interesting puzzle for Stanley. It’s like watching a possible train wreck or watching a missile go to the moon. Stanley is interested in the outcome of how humans think and act. The behavior that they take that either contributes to their elevation or their downfall is interesting not only to me, but to Stanley as well."

Implications: The Evolution of Typecasting and Future Casting Trends

Giancarlo Esposito’s recent remarks carry significant weight for Hollywood casting directors, studio executives, and the broader fan ecosystem.

1. The Power and Pitfalls of Fan Casting

Internet fan casting has become a powerful marketing barometer for studios, frequently pressuring casting directors to consider viral internet favorites for major comic book roles (as seen with John Krasinski’s brief appearance as Mister Fantastic). However, Esposito’s graceful dismissal of missing out on the Professor X role—which ultimately went to Christopher Abbott—demonstrates a healthy disconnect between internet speculation and actor ambition. Esposito is not chasing iconic titles simply for clout; he is searching for thematic resonance, narrative depth, and ideological complexity.

2. Redefining the "Villain" Archetype

By expressing a preference for Magneto over Professor X—and lamenting the lack of Seth Voelker’s academic backstory in the MCU—Esposito highlights a common frustration among classically trained actors hired for blockbusters. Studios frequently employ veteran character actors for their gravity and menace, reducing complex comic book villains to standard-issue mercenaries or CGI punch-bags. Esposito’s critique signals a growing demand from top-tier talent for multi-dimensional character writing that explores why an intellectual mind turns toward opposition or radicalism.

3. A Shift Toward Global Historical Epics

Perhaps the most telling aspect of Esposito’s interview is his pivot toward historical revolutionaries like Toussaint Louverture and Alexander Pushkin. For decades, Hollywood has overlooked or underfunded cinematic projects centered on Black historical figures of global consequence outside of American civil rights narratives. An actor of Esposito’s stature advocating for narratives surrounding the Haitian Revolution or Russian-African literary history points toward a potential renaissance in biographical cinema—one that matches the actor’s off-screen intellectual curiosity and reverence for world cultures.

As The Gentlemen moves toward its third season and cinematic universes continue to expand, Giancarlo Esposito remains a rare commodity: a performer who elevates every project he touches, whether he is wielding the dark power of an Imperial warlord, mentoring criminal scions in London, or dreaming of the day he gets to bring history’s greatest revolutionaries to life.