James Marsden Admits ‘Part of Me Always Hoped’ He Could Play X-Men’s Cyclops Again

Returning to Cyclops has always been in the back of James Marsden‘s mind!

The 52-year-old actor is stepping back into the character’s shoes for Avengers: Doomsday years after starring as Scott Summers/Cyclops in the original X-Men franchise. At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) on Saturday, July 25, he admitted to PEOPLE that he always “hoped” to play the hero again, even when he thought it was a pipe dream.

Asked if there were ever moments he thought he wouldn’t play Cyclops ever again, Marsden said in the Marvel Studios press line, “Yeah, many times.”

“I think there was talk for a long time after the third movie [2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand] and then Days of Future Past,” he said, referring to the seventh entry in the X-Men film series, released in 2014. “Like, ‘Maybe we’ll do something where we bring back the original.’”

“You just go through your life and you work on other things and if it happens, great. If not, then don’t get your hopes up,” he continued of reprising the superhero role. “But part of me always hoped that it would come back.”

Fast forward several more years, and the 27 Dresses star found himself discussing a return to Cyclops with the president of Marvel Studios, he said, noting that the pair have “known each other a long time.”

“So they came around and had a chat with Kevin Feige, who worked on the first movie as well,” Marsden said at SDCC, referring to the now-Marvel president’s role as associate producer on the first X-Men movie, released in 2000.

“So to step back into the role and put on the comic book-accurate Cyclops costume was super special,” added the actor. “And to really turn Cyclops up to 11.”

As for whether it was an immediate “yes” when Feige asked him to revisit the mutant hero, the Enchanted star said, “Oh yeah.”

“Yeah, for sure,” he told PEOPLE at SDCC. “And you don’t even need to tell me what he’s doing, but there was part of me [that was] like, ‘Do we get to see him do his thing?’ And that was a big ‘yes.’ ”

“I was like, ‘All right, I’m in,’” added Marsden.

After appearing as Cyclops in X-Men, Marsden reprised the role in the 2003 and 2006 sequels and, despite the beloved comic book character dying in the third film, last appeared as the hero in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. He, along with several other original X-Men characters, will next grace the screen as Cyclops in the fifth Avengers movie in December.

Marsden previously described his return to Cyclops in Doomsday — alongside Patrick Stewart‘s Professor X and Ian McKellen‘s Magneto — to Vanity Fair as a “homecoming.”

“So it’s been a blast. It really has,” he told the outlet of working on Doomsday last August. “It’s been a nice little homecoming to a role that really put me on the map. It was the first real event project that I was ever a part of, and a very beloved character, this icon from the comics.”

“And so to step back into that role was pretty special,” Marsden added at the time.

Avengers: Doomsday opens in theaters Dec. 18.

Source: People