Age: 80
male
Brian Denis Cox (born June 1, 1946) is a Scottish actor. A classically trained Shakespearean actor, he is known for his work on stage and screen. His numerous accolades include two Laurence Olivier Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a British Academy Television Award. In 2003, he was appointed to the Order of the British Empire at the rank of Commander. Cox trained at the Dundee Repertory Theatre before becoming a founding member of the Royal Lyceum Theatre. He went on to train as a Shakespearean actor, starring in numerous productions with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear. Cox received two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor for his roles in Rat in the Skull (1984), for Royal Court, and Titus Andronicus (1988). He received two more Olivier Award nominations for Misalliance (1986) and Fashion (1988). Known as a character actor in film, he played Robert McKee in Spike Jonze's Adaptation (2002) and William Stryker in X2 (2003). For his starring role in L.I.E. (2001), he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. His other notable films include Manhunter (1986), Iron Will (1994), Braveheart (1995), The Boxer (1997), The Rookie (2002), Troy (2004), Match Point (2005), The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007), Coriolanus (2011), Pixels (2015), and Churchill (2017). Cox won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his portrayal of Hermann Göring in the television film Nuremberg (2001). The following year, he guest starred on the NBC sitcom Frasier, earning his second Emmy nomination in 2002. He portrayed Jack Langrishe in the HBO series Deadwood. He starred as Logan Roy on the HBO series Succession (2018-2023), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series.
Brian Cox
William Stryker
for William Stryker in X-Men: Re-imagined
Suggested by bencasting
My attempt to reorganise X-Men films into a more cohesive timeline. X-Men (2000): Growing fear of mutants. Focus on the X-men’s found-family dynamic across generations. Rogue given more character development. Clash with Magneto & the Brotherhood stopping his increasingly extreme plan. X-Men: Mankind (2003): Wolverine’s past emerges through flashbacks. The cruelty of William Stryker’s Weapon X program forces the X-Men and Magneto into a reluctant alliance, while Jean Grey’s powers are pushed to the limit saving the team. X-Men: Phoenix Rising (2007): Jean, believed dead, returns with the Phoenix Force, amplifying her anger at humans, Charles & Magneto. She causes destruction, struggles morally, and ultimately chooses to take control of the power, manifesting as the Phoenix in the sky and removing herself from the world. Sentinel program quietly advances. X-Men: First Class (2010): Nathaniel Essex as architect pulling strings from the shadows. More time with Erik hunting Nazis. More comic-accurate Emma Frost; Darwin survives; Havok swapped to fix continuity. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2013): Mostly the same but with enough focus and better lines for characters to give them time to shine. X-Men: Bloodlines (2023): Set against the fall of the iron curtain – Mr. Sinister is abducting unregistered mutants across Europe. Setting traps for the x-men, to divide and capture Scott & Jean to harness their DNA. Jean’s powers surge during a showdown beneath Berlin, destroying Sinister’s archives, forcing his retreat. X-Men: Apocalypse (2025): Jeans power surge & Sinister’s failure awakens Apocalypse. Seeing his “pawn” could not control the X-Men or Jean’s cosmic power, Apocalypse corrupts 4 Horsemen to reshape the modern world. Guided by future Charles via the astral plane, Jean learns to control her Phoenix energy. The team overcome Apocalypse, entombing him & preventing his conquest.
