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Doctor Strange 2: Why Professor X’s Hoverchair Scared Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart compares his more traditional wheelchair in Fox's X-Men movies to the cartoon-accurate hoverchair in the Doctor Strange sequel.

Warning: SPOILERS for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness!

Patrick Stewart explains why he was somewhat dismayed when he saw Professor X’s “monster” hoverchair for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Stewart rolled into frame as his iconic mutant when he first premiered in 2000’s X-Men. He would go on to play Charles Xavier seven times during the era of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise. Following his outing as the character in 2017’s Logan, it appeared Stewart’s tenure in the role had come to an end. Then, when Disney acquired Fox in 2019, Deadpool, the Fantastic Four, and X-Men were brought under the control of Marvel Studios.

Avengers: Endgame (2019) hinted at the existence of a multiverse/multiple timelines before the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 4 started to explore the concept in earnest. Following WandaVision, Loki, What If…?, and Spider-Man: No Way HomeMultiverse of Madness sees Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) traverse the multiverse with America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), fleeing a Darkhold-equipped Scarlet Witch. The movie uses the multiverse to facilitate some major cameos, and ever since his voice was heard in the Super Bowl trailer for Multiverse of Madness, Stewart has been expected to make an appearance. However, he’s not necessarily playing the same telepath from Fox’s X-Men movies. Instead, the sequel teases he’s a variant of Professor X from X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-97) by putting him in his iconic yellow wheelchair. Stewart attended the premiere of Multiverse of Madness and spoke about his new ride compared to the old one.

In an interview with Variety following the world premiere of Multiverse of Madness, Stewart talked about making his MCU debut. When asked what it was like to finally drive Charles Xavier’s classic wheelchair, the 81-year-old actor admitted to approaching the massive hoverchair with a fair amount of trepidation. Read the full quote below:

“It was very unlike the Porsche that I was driving in the films. That was a very fast, very manipulative wheelchair. And when I first saw the monster that I was going to be driving in this one, I was dismayed. But it was fine. It worked very well. I had to bring it to a stop before a flight of stairs. That was my only concern, was that I would somehow get out of control and go all the way down the stairs in this thing! But it was a very, very different world from the X-Men movies, with references here and there, of course. But I was very, very happy.”

In Multiverse of Madness, Doctor Strange and America Chavez stumble into Earth-838 and are subsequently detained for being there. Strange is brought before the Illuminati, which consists of Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell), Maria Rambeau/Captain Marvel (Lashana Lynch), Black Bolt (Anson Mount), Mr. Fantastic (John Krasinski), and, of course, Charles Xavier. Stewart’s character floats into the chamber last as music reminiscent of X-Men: The Animated Series’ theme song plays. Later, Stewart says, “Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn’t mean they’re lost forever,” a quote he once said in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), which saw him float around in another levitating chair. That said, it’s more likely Multiverse of Madness’ Professor X is an amalgamation rather than a version of the character fans have seen somewhere before. Regardless, he and his co-workers don’t survive the Scarlet Witch.

Despite Stewart’s Professor X meeting his end, again, there’s no denying the thrill of finally seeing him in that big yellow hoverchair as opposed to Fox’s more practical design. It is unclear if Marvel Studios has any plans for Stewart, or James McAvoy for that matter, to play Professor X again in the MCU. Both actors have produced inimitable versions of the character and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has proved Marvel Studios can pretty much use anyone in the Marvel universe and Stewart has expressed a willingness to play Professor X again.