X-Men star criticises the decision to kill his character

X-Men star Edi Gathegi has criticised the decision to kill off his character Darwin in First Class, calling it a "huge miss".

Gathegi, who played Armando Muñoz in the 2011 movie, was expecting Darwin to become a staple of the X-Men franchise. Ultimately, though, the series had other plans and Darwin was killed off part-way through First Class – despite being virtually indestructible.

Speaking to ComicBook.com about Darwin, his "favourite" mutant, Gathegi said: "I loved Darwin. He became my favourite. It was always about Wolverine for me, and then when I learned about Darwin, I said, 'Wait a minute. This dude is a G. He adapts to survive.'"

20th Century Studios

Reflecting on Darwin's power of rapid evolution, the actor admitted that he thought there was "so many possibilities" for the character. "He cannot die," Edi said.

"He's fought the Hulk and transported to space because he was dying. And he's died and regenerated... And visually, as a filmmaker, you can put him in all sorts of situations and just watch him adapt. And that's really fun because a film is a visual medium."

Arguing that killing Darwin was "a huge miss" for the X-Men franchise, Edi added: "I think Darwin does deserve redemption."

20th Century Studios

While Edi Gathegi may well jump at the chance of reprising his role as Darwin in any future reboot, X-Men star James McAvoy – otherwise known as Professor Charles Xavier – recently said that he wasn't "chomping at the bit" to return.

"I got to explore a ton of Professor X, and I feel quite satisfied with what I got out of him as a performer. It's not to say that you don't ever want to, you never want to come back, and you never want to do it again, and all that kind of stuff," he mused.

"I'm not chomping at the bit. I'm not going to be gutted and desperately sad if it never happens again."