Edi Gathegi To Play Darwin In X-Men: First Class

A couple weeks ago, when Lucas Till was added to the cast of X-Men: First Class, a source close to the film came out to say that Fox is pulling a misdirect with its casting process, having actors attached to characters that won't actually be appearing in the film. It went a long way in explaining why lesser known characters were finding their way into the well established franchise. Time to throw another one on the pile.

Deadline reports that Edi Gathegi, best known for playing Laurent in the Twilight films, will be playing Darwin in the Matthew Vaughn directed comic book adaptation. Because nobody other than extreme comic book geeks would know who that is, Darwin is a mutant with the power of "reactive evolution," the ability to immediately physically adapt to any situation he may find himself in (i.e. placed in a dark room, his eyes adjust so that he can see as though it is brightly lit).

The whole "misdirection marketing" bit is enough to turn anyone's brain into a pretzel. There are already plenty of established characters in this film, from Professor X to Mystique, so would it be so implausible that Fox would want to bring some new mutants to the table? At the same time, who has ever heard of Willow or Darwin? Once the film has actually started filming we'll likely learn more about the film, but, until then, don't scratch your head too hard. You might eventually hit bone.