The X-Men cast was one of the headline reveals during Disney’s D23 fan convention, held on Friday night in Anaheim, where a series of film and streaming announcements were made across the studio’s slate. Alongside titles including the Star Wars: Starfighter trailer, the reveals of Zootopia 3 and The Incredibles 3, and a first look at Frozen 3, the event delivered significant news for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Marvel chief Kevin Feige was joined by Sadie Sink to introduce the full ensemble for the upcoming X-Men film. Sink plays Jean Grey, a role previously teased during Spider-Man: Brand New Day. She appears alongside Kit Connor as Cyclops/Scott Summers, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier, Inde Navarrette as Rogue and Maya Boyd as Ororo Munroe/Storm.
Adam Driver appeared via video link, initially teasing that he would play Magneto before revealing he had in fact been cast as Nathaniel Milbury, one of the many names attributed to the X-Men villain Mr Sinister. The casting of Storm had drawn particular attention, with speculation circulating for months. In the comics, the weather-manipulating hero has a lengthy history, having married the king of Wakanda and become queen, featured in the Secret Wars storyline as a servant of Doctor Doom, and gained abilities from Asgard to become a Thor.
With such an extensive comics background, Storm could feasibly appear across the MCU once introduced. Given Sink’s Jean Grey appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the X-Men may surface in other MCU films, and are confirmed to feature in the upcoming crossover, Doomsday. The X-Men film is scheduled for release on 5 May 2028.
Avengers: Doomsday Trailer Debuts
The Avengers: Doomsday trailer was introduced by Feige alongside Robert Downey Jr (Victor Von Doom), Chris Evans (returning as Steve Rogers) and Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter). They confirmed the film would feature not only the Avengers but also the Fantastic Four and the original X-Men.
The footage showed Victor Von Doom comfortably fighting off Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, before ending with Doctor Doom raising Sentinel robots, which have been deployed against the X-Men in both films and comics. The trailer also offered glimpses of Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm) and Ian McKellen (Magneto), as well as Steve Rogers holding a baby.
In a video segment, Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), speaking to an off-stage Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), asked to be included in Avengers: Doomsday, though Feige gave little indication this would happen.
