According to Deadline and The InSneider, Kit Connor has been cast as Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, in Marvel Studios’ upcoming ‘X-Men’ reboot.
Cyclops, one of the key figures in X-Men, is best known for the powerful beams of deadly energy emitted from his eyes, only controlled through a visor and sunglasses. The character was originally played by James Marsden in three ‘X-Men’ movies in the 2000s and Tye Sheridan in the 2010s.
Connor is primarily known for starring as Nick Nelson in the megahit Netflix series “Heartstopper.” He began his career as a child actor, notably playing a young Elton John in the 2019 biopic “Rocketman.” The X-Men gig is obviously huge for his career, and will keep him busy in the MCU for next decade.
Connor’s Cyclops comes hot off the heels of Samara Weaving’s casting as Emma Frost and Sadie Sink’s casting as Jean Grey. There have also been persistent rumors that Cailee Spaeny is in contention to play Rogue.
Details remain scarce about Marvel’s upcoming “X-Men” reboot. What we do know is that “Thunderbolts” director Jake Schreier is officially at the helm. Previously, Michael Lesslie — known for “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” and “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” — was scripting the film, revising an earlier draft by Aaron Rabin and Zach Dean. It now appears the screenplay has undergone another rewrite by “Beef” creator Lee Sung Jin and “The Bear” writer and co-showrunner Joanna Calo.
The upcoming reboot is being billed as the X-Men’s major return to theaters since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019. Fox’s previous X-Men franchise, which included seven main films and three Wolverine spin-offs, stumbled after 2019’s “Dark Phoenix” flopped with critics and audiences alike.
There have been a lot of bad ‘X-Men’ movies: “X-Men: The Last Stand” (‘06), “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (‘09), “X-Men: Apocalypse” (‘16), “Dark Phoenix” (‘19), “The New Mutants” (‘20) … Fox has been milking this franchise for a few decades now. In March 2019, Marvel Studios got back the film rights to X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool after Disney acquired Fox for $71.3 billion.
As far as the consensus goes, there have been five good X-Men movies released in the last 25 years: “X-Men” (‘00), “X2” (‘02), “X-Men: First Class” (‘11), “X-Men: Days of Future Past” (‘14), and “Logan” (‘17) — otherwise, this franchise had its day, which is why Feige believes it’s a good idea to reboot the entire thing.
Eisenberg has made a surreal nightmare of a comedy, one that's a step up in polish. It helps that Moore is wildly unhinged here — this performance is something to see, and some of her strongest work in years.