With characters who are ostracized by society because of the way they were born, Marvel's X-Men is frequently heralded as one of the greatest LGBT allegories of the superhero genre. Couple that with the fact that James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender have attracted a rabid fan base since the handsome actors first stepped into the roles of the Charles Xavier and Magneto in 2011's X-Men: First Class, and it was only a matter of time before their following began to express itself -- in some interesting ways.
In the months leading up to this Friday's release of the latest instalment in Marvel's mutant movie franchise, X-Men: Days of Future Past, fans have created a flood of artwork depicting McAvoy and Fassbender in a variety of homoerotic situations ranging from the sexy to the sweet. The actors were actually asked about it during a recent interview together on Graham Norton's show (watch the clip on the last page).
Take a look at the collection of art we've pulled together celebrating some of the best of the Cherik (Charles and Erik) phenomenon floating around the interwebs.
Click here to see more work of x-gogole-x.
Click here to see more work of x-gogole-x.
Click here to see more work of x-gogole-x.
Click here to see more work of verilyexed.
Click here to see more work of Piper of Hameln.
Click here to see more work of Piper of Hameln.
Click here to see more work of Brilcrist.
Click here to see more work of Brilcrist.
Click here to see more work of maXKennedy.
Click here to see more work of maXKennedy.
Click here to see more work of maXKennedy.
Click here to see more work of maXKennedy.
Click here to see more work of maXKennedy.
Click here to see more work of maXKennedy.
Click here to see more work of Nina Kask.
Click here to see more work of Allinor.
Click here to see more work of Kotokto.
Click here to see more work of Kotokto.
What do Fassbender and McAvoy think about all this? Well, they seem game. Watch their reaction to some of the artwork and fan fiction when presented with it during an interview with Graham Norton: