‘Star Wars’ Star John Boyega Wants to Play Powerful Mutant in the MCU

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John Boyega’s most famous character is from a long time ago, and ironically, for Marvel, he wants to play a hero from the future. The “Attack the Block” star recently said that if asked he would play the X-Men member Bishop, a hard-nosed cop from a dystopian future.

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As reported by CBR, Boyega was asked during a conversation with Josh Horowitz at C2E2 which Marvel Cinematic Universe he would like to play. Boyega revealed that he’d actually been asked exactly that question by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, didn’t have a specific answer then, and still didn’t.

Thankfully, the fans were there at C2E2 to give Boyega some inspiration. One yelled from the crowd that he should play Bishop. Boyega immediately responded, “Oh I’d play Bishop.”

If Boyega did play Bishop in live-action, he wouldn’t be the first. Omar Sy played the character in 2014’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” Unfortunately, Sy didn’t have very many lines as the dystopian cop.

Bishop first appeared in the comics all the way back in 1991’s “Uncanny X-Men” #282. He’s somewhat like another dystopian future mutant – Cable – in that he doesn’t just have his powers to fall back on. Bishop is trained well in his futuristic arsenal, and then there are his mutant powers. Bishop can absorb and redirect energy, i.e. shoot him with death rays and you’ll just power him up so he can fire them right back at you.

Now seems like a pretty good time to jump on the X-Men train. Marvel’s 5 hour long “chair’ announcement confirmed that Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Kelsey Grammer, Rebecca Romijn, and Alan Cumming are all returning as their X-Men characters for next year’s “Avengers: Doomsday.” Even Channing Tatum will appear, presumably as Gambit. There are still more names to come and plenty of fans are no doubt hoping we’ll see more of the OG X-Men along with some new ones. In particularly, considering the multiverse nature of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” fans were no doubt hoping to see Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds’s names on those chairs.

Whether or not John Boyega will play Bishop, or any other mutant, in the MCU remains to be seen. But you can see a whole bunch of X-Men in next year’s “Avengers: Doomsday,” releasing in theaters May 1, 2026.

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