Mister Terrific in ‘Superman’ is ‘undoing the wrongs’ of X-Men’s Darwin (exclusive)

Superman isn’t the first time Edi Gathegi portrayed a comic book figure.

A longtime Marvel fan growing up, the actor, known for films like Twilight and The Harder They Fall, claimed the part of Darwin in 2011’s X-Men: First Class, directed by Matthew Vaughn. The young mutant, with the ability to evolve and adapt to any environment, showed off his skills in the movie by submerging his head in a fish tank only to spontaneously sprout gills.

And yet, Darwin was quickly killed off in the film, despite having powers that should have saved him. Since he was also one of the few examples of a Black superhero on screen at the time, fans have routinely pointed to Darwin as a character who deserved better.

“They’re not wrong,” Gathegi tells Entertainment Weekly during an interview pegged to Superman. “I think it is just a case of bad representation and missed opportunity. There was a lot that they could have done with that character, probably should have done with the character.”

The actor admits, “I was waiting to be brought back [after First Class] because, as you know, the character doesn’t die. The fact that he died in the first one isn’t that big of a deal if he does what he does in the comics, which is come back. Every movie that came out and the character didn’t come back, it solidified that it was a misrepresentation and a missed opportunity.”

Now with Mister Terrific in Superman, Gathegi says, “This job is kind of undoing the wrongs of Darwin. I know that as it stands right now, this isn’t the only project that I’ll be in.”

Mister Terrific, a.k.a. Michael Holt, arrives in this summer’s event film for DC Studios as a member of the Justice Gang, a super-trio of heroes backed by tech billionaire Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn). The winged mace-wielding warrior Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced, The Last of Us) and the bowl-cut sporting Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion, The Rookie) are his teammates.

Gathegi calls Mister Terrific “one of the most philosophically compelling heroes in DC,” noting, “He’s an atheist who believes in justice.”

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Armed with a genius-level intellect, Michael became Mister Terrific after his wife died in a car accident. He invented T-spheres, computerized floating orbs that respond to his vocal commands for a variety of effects: force shields, weapons, holograms, communication, etc.

“He found meaning in knowledge,” Gathegi explains. “He saw that, while the universe might be cruel, intelligence, science, and innovation could make it better. He chose to become hope rather than succumbing to the despair of losing his wife.”

In the comics, Mister Terrific often lacks social graces and instead appears stoic. “That was the key for me,” Gathegi continues. “And unemotional. Just really interested in doing the right thing and saving the most amount of people. I did have my ideas of how to play the stoicism of this character, and then I found myself in these scenes going, This feels a little psychotic. No one who’s going through what these characters are going through, with the stakes being as high as they are, has the ability to not be affected by that. I think in the doing of it, we found a lot more color and more complexity and just more humanization.”

Audiences will meet Mister Terrific and the Justice Gang when Superman soars into theaters on July 11. Learn more about the film through EW’s exclusive cover story.