Marvel has assembled its new generation of mutants, with “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink leading the cast.
Marvel’s X-Men reboot is no longer just a distant prospect. After years of speculation, the studio will launch its own take on the superhero team in May 2028, with Sadie Sink and Kit Connor leading a new-look cast.
Few Marvel comics have introduced as many iconic characters as the X-Men, from Wolverine and Professor X to Jean Grey and Magneto. The series follows mutants born with extraordinary abilities, many of whom are feared and discriminated against because of their powers. Unlike heroes such as Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four, mutants are born with their abilities rather than gaining them through accidents or experiments.
The X-Men have already starred in a movie franchise spanning more than two decades, with actors including Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry and Jennifer Lawrence helping bring the characters to life. But this reboot will mark the first time Marvel has launched its own X-Men team within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Here’s everything we know so far.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Who will star in the ‘X-Men’ reboot?
Marvel unveiled the cast of the X-Men reboot at Disney’s fan event, D23, on Aug. 14.
Sadie Sink will reprise her role as Jean Grey, who was played in previous X-Men movies by Famke Janssen and Sophie Turner. The Stranger Things actor made her debut as the telepath in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, bringing one of the X-Men’s most important characters into the MCU.
“Now that it’s out and X-Men is being talked about, and it’s happening, it’s so exciting to think about what’s next for [Jean],” Sink told Entertainment Weekly. She added, “I’m really excited about having a group of people to feel like you’re on a team with.”
Sink made her MCU debut in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
(Matt Winkelmeyer via Getty Images)
Speaking to Variety, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said that Jean “has immense significance within the Marvel Universe, and she plays a key role in the future of the MCU.”
Heartstopper‘s Kit Connor has been cast as Scott Summers, better known as Cyclops, the primary leader of the X-Men. Wolf Man actor Christopher Abbott will appear as Professor Charles Xavier, while Ready or Not star Samara Weaving will play Emma Frost. Obsession‘s Inde Navarrette has joined the movie as Rogue, and Star Wars actor Adam Driver will star as the villainous Nathaniel Milbury, known as Mister Sinister. Newcomer Maya Boyd has been cast as Storm.
Driver said, “Kevin and I have been talking for years about maybe joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And I think we finally found the perfect film at the perfect time.”
What else do we know about the ‘X-Men’ reboot?
The X-Men reboot has been a long time coming. Although the characters are among Marvel’s best-known superheroes, they were absent from the MCU for years because 20th Century Fox owned the film rights. Disney’s acquisition of Fox in 2019 brought the heroes back under Marvel’s control, allowing the studio to reboot the franchise.
The movie will be released in theaters on May 5, 2028, and will later be available to stream on Disney+. Plot details remain under wraps, but Thunderbolts filmmaker Jake Schreier will direct the film, while Beef creator Lee Sung Jin and The Bear co-creator Joanna Calo are writing the screenplay.
According to Feige, next year’s team-up blockbuster Avengers: Secret Wars will lay the groundwork for the return of the X-Men. Speaking in 2024, he said, “The whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men… We finally have the X-Men back.”
Schreier has hinted at what fans can expect. “One of the great things about the comics is there is such a rich and broad history,” he told Good Morning America. “That was one of the first things that Kevin and I talked about when I came in; they made many great movies in this world, and they’ve made so many great things. Let’s find the things that haven’t recently been done well. All these other corners of the universe.”
He added, “There are so many stories that are still untold, to honor and to reach into, and then to meet this cast and try to do something new, I think you always want to see something that reveres where it came from and then is still taking a new spin on where we want to go.”
Which X-Men will be in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’?
Before Marvel unveils its brand-new X-Men team, several familiar faces will return in Avengers: Doomsday, which hits theaters in December.
The movie’s cast includes Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, James Marsden as Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Kelsey Grammer as Beast and Channing Tatum as Gambit.
Stewart previously reprised his role in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, while Grammer returned in 2023’s The Marvels. Tatum was introduced as Gambit in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine.
Those appearances don’t necessarily mean those actors will remain Marvel’s long-term X-Men. Instead, they appear to bridge the gap between the earlier films and the upcoming reboot.
Despite returning as Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine, Hugh Jackman has not been announced as part of the Avengers: Doomsday cast.
Are there any other mutants in the MCU?
In the finale of the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, the title character learns she has a genetic mutation, marking the first time the concept of mutants is explicitly introduced in the franchise. The scene is accompanied by a brief version of the classic X-Men: The Animated Series theme.
