Twilight’s Edi Gathegi Joins X-Men: First Class

 

Edi Gathegi, who played the wicked vampire Laurent in Twilight and The Twilight Saga: New Moon, has been cast as the ever-adapting mutant Darwin in Fox’s X-Men: First Class, Deadline reports.

Debuting in 2006′s X-Men: Deadly Genesis #2, Darwin (aka Armando Muñoz) possesses the power of “reactive evolution,” enabling him to adapt to whatever the situation demands. For instance, if he’s submerged in water, he grows functioning gills; if he’s in darkness, he gains night vision. Rejected by his mother, Armando attempted suicide but was saved by his mutant power. He was taken in by geneticist Moira MacTaggert, who trained him in the use of his abilities.

The 31-year-old Gathegi joins a cast that includes James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr, Alice Eve as Emma Frost, Nicholas Hoult as Henry McCoy, Caleb Landry Jones as Sean Cassidy, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Lucas Till as Alex Summers, and Kevin Bacon as their as-yet-unnamed enemy.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, X-Men: First Class centers on the early friendship between Xavier and Lensherr, who work with other mutants to stop a global threat. In the process, a riff between them opens, beginning the war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men. The film opens on June 3, 2011.