MCU Cyclops Actor Revealed as Heartstopper Star, And We May Already Know One Story That Marvel Will Tell
The search for Marvel Studios’ first official X-Men team has been ongoing for weeks now, especially after Spider-Man: Brand New Day revealed Sadie Sink as Jean Grey in the MCU. Rumors and hearsay have abounded about what characters will appear in the upcoming film from Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier, and a handful of roles have already been cast. In addition to Sink, Samara Weaving has been tapped as Emma Frost, with plenty of scuttlebutt about the likes of Professor X, Rogue, and more. Now, though, the central piece of the X-Men team has been found, with a new report revealing the MCU Cyclops.
Despite reports that actors like Cooper Hoffman and Drew Starkey had been in talks for the role of Scott Summers aka Cyclops, Deadline brings word that Heartstoppers‘ Kit Connor is the choice for the character. According to the trade, actors screen-tested for the part around the Fourth of July, with “a lot of back and forth” about who might take on the role of Cyclops (which explains the slew of rumors around the character). With Connor in the part, though, the MCU X-Men team not only has its field leader but a character who is already going to get caught up in a major comic storyline.
MCU Cyclops Will Be Kit Connor
It’s worth noting that Marvel Studios has not officially commented on any of the casting or characters that will appear in the upcoming X-Men reboot, but based on what we know from the trades and other rumors, the picture of what might happen is starting to become clear. Marvel fans already know that Jean Grey will show up, having made a major splash in the MCU with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and almost certainly kickstarting a plotline about civilians mistrusting mutants. To that end, fans will no doubt be expecting her and Kit Connor’s Scott Summers to immediately become an item.
That may well be true, but the addition of Samara Weaving as Emma Frost will no doubt make some X-Men fans raise their eyebrows about the possibilities. Though Scott and Jean have long been linked romantically, there’s a pretty notorious storyline where he cheats on Jean with Emma Frost, having a psychic affair that occurred within his mind and not the physical realm. It would certainly mark a storyline that hasn’t been told on the big screen, something that Kevin Feige has made clear is an MCU priority.
“The other awesome thing is the amount of X-Men stories that have not been told yet,” Feige said at SDCC. “Not just the ones that interact with other Marvel heroes, of which there are lots, but there are sagas upon sagas upon sagas within the X-Men that we’re very excited to delve into.”
To that end, it’s clear that the X-Men are not only about to become a bedrock franchise for the MCU moving forward, but perhaps one that isn’t limited to just singular movies based around the team. The casting of Scott Summers in the MCU could very well open up the potential for the Summers family’s wild comic history being told on screen too. Not only is Scott a mutant, but his brothers Havok and Vulcan have also been members of the X-Men, and that’s not even getting into his space-faring father Corsair or his time-traveling son, Cable.
As an aside, it’s also worth noting that Kit Connor being cast in the MCU now means that both Heartstopper actors are in the franchise. Connor previously appeared in all three seasons of the show and its finale movie with Joe Locke, who made his MCU debut as Billy Maximoff in Agatha All Along. If the two will ever share the screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though, remains to be seen.
The MCU may just be getting started with telling its X-Men stories, but they’re already starting from the right place, with heroes on the ground floor that can help sustain their narratives for another decade at least.
