Marvel’s new X-Men team appears to be coming together.
“Heartstopper” star Kit Connor is reportedly Marvel Studios’ pick to play Scott Summers, the mutant hero also known as Cyclops, in its upcoming “X-Men” reboot. According to Deadline, the film’s director, Jake Schreier, and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige had met with a number of candidates before landing on the British actor.
Marvel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Cyclops is one of the leaders and founding members of the X-Men. He needs to wear special eyewear — usually goggles or glasses — to control the beams of energy that blast from his eyes. The character was previously portrayed by James Marsden in Fox’s original “X-Men” film trilogy (2000, 2003, 2006) as well as in the 2014 crossover “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” Tye Sheridan played a younger version of the character in “X-Men: Apocalypse” (2016) and “Dark Phoenix” (2019).
Marsden is among the original “X-Men” actors set to reprise their roles in the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday.”
Connor’s casting follows recent reports that Samara Weaving has landed the role of Emma Frost in the upcoming “X-Men” film. Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne for the comics, the mutant-villain-turned-hero is a powerful telepath also known as the White Queen. The character has previously appeared onscreen in “X-Men: First Class” (2011) portrayed by January Jones.
With his “X-Men” casting, Connor would join his fellow “Heartstopper” and “Heartstopper Forever” star Joe Locke in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Locke made his franchise debut as William Kaplan, a.k.a. Billy Maximoff, in the 2024 Disney+ series “Agatha All Along.”
These latest “X-Men” developments follow the debut of the MCU’s new Jean Grey, portrayed by Sadie Sink in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Although no official announcements have been made regarding Sink’s future Marvel projects, she is expected to appear in the “X-Men” reboot.
The “X-Men” reboot is expected to land some time after next year’s “Doomsday” follow-up, “Avengers: Secret Wars.” In 2024, Feige told Entertainment Weekly that “the whole story of ‘Secret Wars’ really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men.”