Edi Gathegi

Edi Gathegi

Edi Gathegi portrayed Armando Muñoz/Darwin in X-Men: First Class.

Significant roles

• Bodie in Death Sentence (2007)
• Cheese in Gone Baby Gone (2007)
• Dr. Jeffrey "Big Love" Cole in House M. D. (2007)
• Laurent in Twilight (2008)
• Deputy Martin in My Bloody Valentine (2009)
• Laurent in New Moon (2009)

Quotes

• My character’s mutant ability is reactive adaptation. For instance if I fall from a building my bones turn to rubber. Or if the lights go out I have perfect vision in the pitch black. Or if I happen to get catapulted into outer space, my body no longer requires oxygen. That sort of thing. And the list is as extensive as the need to survive.
• Well those who know me know that I was a major X-Men fan as a youth. I'd wake up every Saturday morning with my bowl of cereal glued to the tv screen enjoying my favorite comic brought to life as a cartoon. So you can imagine my sense of joy when I was asked to be apart of the live action version. Really it’s just living out a childhood dream. Not to mention it’s a super cool movie.
• You trying to get me killed? Let's just say I think the fans have been waiting for this film even if they don't know it yet. It’s being handled well by the creative powers that be. For instance it’s a dope script. And Vaughn is not a joke - he got game. And McAvoy ... He's on some next level acting. He's a beast. No pun intended.
• Up against the ropes time wise Vaughn had his work cut out for him. But he knows what he wants. He has a good eye. And he's got a very interesting competitive spirit. I don't think he would even allow himself to not make a great movie. And personally, he is a hilarious guy. I like him.
• Great cast all the way around. Lucinda, Zoe, Roger and Jeremy did a fantastic job casting this project. Kudos to them. And I'm probably the most excited to see Kevin Bacon in action. He's really cool in this film. Really cool.
• Darwin, a mutant, is a relatively new addition to the X-Men comic world. Nicknamed after Charles Darwin - father of the theory of evolution - Darwin adapts to harsh environments based on an instinctual need to survive. His ability is called reactive adaptation. I want that power in real life - I'm not gonna lie.
• Not only will Darwin transform into his pale form, but he will also transform into his obese form, his female form and even his bovine form. Totally messing with you. You just have to wait to see what transformations occur. No spoilers here buddy. Not today. Not evah. No way.
• In our film Darwin is discovered by the mutant recruiters (I totally made up that term). I won't tell you who's on that recruiting team - it's better to be surprised.
• I think everyone in the cast has a certain responsibility to maintain the integrity of the characters they are portraying as seen in the comics. With that said, we are actors, human beings, portraying these characters, so inevitably we have to make the characters our own. Bring them to life in our own unique way. Hopefully we strike a happy medium of what's expected, and a surprise unique personal take to really make our characters come to life on the screen as live action.
• Because of all the transformations that Darwin can undergo as an evolving mutant, I am indeed as human as I can be for as long as I can be. That's my final answer. I'd like to use a phone a friend....the extensive make-up might come in subsequent movies providing that all our fans show up like they do in my dreams.
• Is this a trick question? Darwin. Duh. Well in truth there is a difference between "who is your favorite mutant in this particular movie" versus "who is your favorite mutant and power in general." The answer to the latter would indeed be Darwin. The answer to the former would have to be, gee, I don't know all of them? They are all dope. Love Azazel, love Prof. X, love Shaw. Magneto is a badass too. And Mystique. I wanna date Mystique. I wanna have Mystique babies. Little blue reactive adaptive rug rats. Don't judge me.
• I would be 2 parts Darwin and 2 parts something proactive. On second thought, I would be all parts Darwin, but learn how to control the evolution so it was proactive.
• I've learned that you can't please everyone. And everyone has an opinion. Not everyone will like what you do and by that same token not everyone will hate it either. So the best thing I can do for my general overall happiness, the work, and the simple enjoyment of the process is to attack the characters the best I can - taking into consideration the source material. When I can do that then it's much easier to handle the negative feedback. So to that end I don't really feel pressure from fans. I feel pressure from myself to do my best. I thank my lucky stars everyday that I am even in a position where I am answering questions like this. Two franchises? Pinch me, am I dreaming? Don't pinch me I don't wanna wake up.
• I feel like this may be true for a lot of the mutants...they feel alone until they find each other. I think we all know what it's like to feel a little lost until you find a person, cause, or passion to give your life that much more meaning and direction.
• D-money wasn't around when I was a young buck. But if he were you better believe he would have been my favorite. It was all about Wolverine when I was younger. I'm totally on the Darwin bandwagon now. His possibilities are literally endless. Limitless.
• "I’ll tell you a story – I was an 'X-Men' fan growing up. I woke up every Saturday morning and I was glued to the TV when the 'X-Men' cartoon was on. And when the movie came out I loved it. It was the best superhero reimagining that I’d ever seen. I loved the 'X-Men' series. But Wolverine was the guy I loved when I was a kid. For some reason – the adamantium, the swagger, it was all about Wolverine. My character’s relatively new – he was created maybe five years ago – and if my character were around when I was a kid, he’d definitely be my favourite character. I tell you what the powers are and you go, ‘Wait a minute, that’s awesome.’ He wasn’t around when I was a kid, but if he were it’d be all about Darwin."
• My character's name is Armando Muñoz, otherwise known as Darwin, and he gets his nickname from Charles Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution. My character is in a constant state of evolution. It's called reactive adaptation - so whatever environment he's in, in order to survive he will mutate, basically. If he gets thrown in water, all of a sudden he might have gills. The lights go out, he'll have 20-20 vision in the pitch black. He's the coolest one! What I like about my character's powers is that a lot of the X-Men have very cool powers, but with this one you actually see it happening and you see why it's happening. In the right circumstances you see the thought behind the character and the need to create that evolution. There's a logic to it. And the possibilities are endless with good writing.
• Everybody has their own unique set of circumstances, but I think every mutant probably goes through the phase where they hate themselves because they're different. They're terrified of their own mutant abilities. And then they come to a place where they can see the beauty in it and they accept themselves. I think my character had it really, really tough, because he was constantly in situations where his body would start to mutate and he didn't understand why it was happening. He was suicidal because of it and he couldn't even kill himself, because his body would protect him. He jumped off a building and his bones turned to rubber. So he was stuck in this life of feeling different - sort of indestructible. And I think in this movie, he's finally found a calling. He's finally found people like him. And he finally gets to be the person he was meant to be. He comes out of his shell. He's a good guy.
• You know what, I'm so excited to show this movie to the fans, because I myself am the audience. I remember my experience watching the X-Men films and I think hopefully we're doing something that's exciting and a good addition to the series.
• You know, the honest answer is I guess it depends on what's going on in my life at that time and who comes back and who's involved in it. But the stock answer is I'm an X-Men fan, so absolutely. Bring me back, I'll put on the suit.