There has never been a better time to be an X-Men fan. Not only are the X-Men back on television via the acclaimed animated series X-Men ‘97, but the iconic group of heroes is finally making their way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and gearing up for their first solo film within the franchise.
We’ve known for years that the X-Men were coming in the MCU, and recent years have brought back many familiar faces from the 20th Century Fox era of the franchise. It’s been fun playing the greatest hits, but we’re finally getting closer to the project we’ve been dreaming about ever since Disney purchased 20th Century: an MCU-set X-Men movie. After waiting more patiently than we would have liked to, Marvel is finally assembling the X-Men in the MCU, and the last few months have made major strides in building the X-Men.
It began with Sadie Sink’s introduction as Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and it was just a few short weeks later that Marvel announced the first wave of X-Men castings during the annual D23 Expo. During the Studio Showcase, Marvel Studios confirmed the casting of Kit Connor as Scott Summers, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Maya Boyd as Storm, Inde Navarette as Rogue, and Adam Driver as Mister Sinister.
Fast forward to this week, and Asa Germann has become the latest addition to the ensemble, joining the X-Men film in the role of Angel. It’s clear that Marvel is still working to assemble the cast, but the studio is actually closer than you might expect to finalizing the core cast for its X-Men movie.
Beast and Iceman are reportedly the final two core characters for the X-Men movie
While there are likely a few secondary characters still being cast for the Marvel X-Men film, it seems that there are two major roles left to cast: Beast and Iceman. That’s right, it seems the two original members of the X-Men team are the final two pieces of the puzzle Marvel is missing at the moment.
These new reports circulating align with reports that have been floating around online for months now, with trusted insider Alex Perez doubling down on his previous reports that the original X-Men heroes are the last core members Marvel is casting. Casting for the two roles is said to be still underway, with Marvel looking to lock down actors to take on the pivotal roles as the studio eyes the start of production.
Interestingly, while there has been a lot of speculation over who might play Beast, with Charles Melton leading the pack for months before apparently withdrawing his name from the race before D23, there hasn’t been much conversation about which actors are on Marvel’s radar for the role of Iceman. Considering most of the X-Men actors cast so far have been in their early 20s, we imagine this trend will continue for both Iceman and Beast, and we could be close to finding out who will play the characters very soon.
It’s definitely exciting to see the two characters in the mix and to know they might finally play a larger role in the franchise. While Beast and Iceman were both featured in the original 20th Century X-Men films, the two characters were utilized more as secondary characters in those films than as part of the central ensemble. We’d then see Beast utilized a bit more heavily in the prequel films, which failed to introduce Iceman into the fold.
Thankfully, Marvel is looking to honor the roots of the franchise by building a team that features a perfect mix of both the original five X-Men (Cyclops, Jean, Beast, Angel, and Iceman) and favorites who have made their mark on the franchise such as Rogue, Storm, and Emma Frost!
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