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The X-Men franchise made a lot of mistakes over the years ever since it began back in 2000, but one of its biggest fumbles was killing off a character that can't die, and a likable one at that. In X-Men: First Class, Edi Gathegi, who is now playing Mr. Terrific in James Gunn's Superman, took on the role of Darwin, whose mutant power is the ability to adapt to any scenario. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for Gathegi's iteration, as he was killed off and the character never returned to the franchise, despite being promised he would.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the experience, Gathegi had issues with Darwin's death from the get-go. “I called my agents to say, ‘Hey, listen, I have a problem with the fact that this character is the only Black character in the film aside from Zoë Kravitz’s character. I am also the only mutant who meets an untimely demise halfway through the film,” Gathegi recalled. “It was 2009 at the time, and I was like, ‘Killing the Black guy first is so played out. I can’t do this.'”
According to Gathegi, even though his character died, promises were made that Darwin would return. Unfortunately, those promises were never kept. “They assured us that it was essential for the storytelling in order to motivate the mutants to avenge my [character’s] death. They also fully intended to bring my character back as they do in the comics."
In the X-Men universe, Darwin is one of the toughest mutants to keep down simply because it's in his nature to survive via any means necessary, which Gathegi was aware of. ”So we held onto the hope that they would honor their word. When I didn’t come back for X-Men: Apocalypse, I just knew it was done.”
It was a death that certainly stuck with fans who were equally as dissatisfied and confused that, potentially, one of the most unkillable characters in the franchise was taken out so swiftly. Understandably, there was some reluctance in taking on another comic book character, this time in the DC universe, but thankfully, Gathegi's audition for the role of Mr. Terrific has teed up one of the biggest surprises in Gunn's new film and a brand new favorite with fans.
“The pendulum has swung in the complete opposite direction. With X-Men: First Class, the message that I received as an actor and as a man of color in this world is you can be the most powerful mutant in the world and they’ll never let you reach your full potential,” explained the actor, who steals a stupid amount of scenes in a film about the most popular superhero in history. “Whereas with Mister Terrific in Superman, the message that I’m receiving is you can be one of the most intelligent characters in the universe, and you can help save the world. It’s a different level of conversation.”
Now it seems that the conversation is already seeing what the future holds for Mr. Terrific, with news that Gunn is considering a spin-off for the character. For now, see what other DC films and shows are heading your way here.
