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Will we get X-Men casting news at D23?

The internet is convinced we will. I’m not.

Tomorrow is the start of the D23 ultimate fan event. It’s an exciting weekend for Disney and Marvel fans. I’ve never been and would love to go one year. This year, the Internet is abuzz in the belief that we might get an X-Men cast announcement at D23.

I’m not so sure.

The Supporting Evidence

Chris Snellgrove at Giant Freakin Robot makes the case in Disney Just Secretly Revealed When We’ll Get More X-Men News.

Recently, Deadline revealed that Ready or Not star Samara Weaving would be playing Emma Frost and that Kit Connor would be playing Cyclops. When are we going to get more news, though, including official announcements from Feige or Marvel Studios? Many have been assuming we’ll get those announcements at the upcoming D23 fan event. Now, it seems that Disney has confirmed those assumptions in a very sneaky, very fun way with their latest D23 promotional poster.

So there’s your evidence for X-Men news at D23:

  • Samara Weaving cast as Emma Frost
  • Kit Connor cast as Cyclops
  • Sadie Sink is Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
  • And now, this really cool looking poster with Storm and other Marvel characters
Poster for D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, kicking off this weekend

The poster is cool, and you would imagine significant, especially given the inclusion of Storm. So there's some good evidence on the side of something X-Men related going on a D23.

The Evidence Against

The real problem is that the casting news we have is slim. No pun intended there, Cyclops. It’s just him and Emma Frost that have been cast. We just don’t have enough casting news to warrant a full X-Men cast reveal. It’s not like Marvel can cast the film in the next 24 hours before D23, and if there were going to be a full cast reveal, the specific casting news would already be leaked.

Also, Marvel doesn’t typically start hyping movies up 2 years ahead of their release. Sure, there have been those phase 5 and phase 6 announcements, but those are pretty general. Nothing as specific as a full cast reveal.

What We Should Expect

I would expect the focus to be squarely on Avengers: Doomsday. Maybe we get a little tease of Avengers: Secret Wars. Those movies are the entire focus of the MCU for the next year and half. I don’t expect Marvel to undercut that by hyping up X-Men.

I’m not saying all this to take all the fun out of D23. Just temper your expectations.

I think we’ll get some kind of nod to the X-Men—maybe a Sadie Sink interview talking about her character and the implications for a future film, maybe an X-Men ’97 retrospective of some sort. I just really don’t expect a full X-Men cast announcement, and I would hate for everyone to be disappointed when that doesn’t happen.

While you’re in your feels of the X-Men ‘97 season 2 finale

Polygon has a terrific, but spoiler-filled, X-Men ‘97 season 2 series retrospective.

Check out The cast of X-Men '97 break down 4 crucial moments from the season 2 finale by Brian VanHooker.

X-Men: The Animated Series meant a lot to a lot of people. The breakthrough cartoon from the 1990s featured some of the most complex storylines ever marketed to children, with thoughtful messages about prejudice and being different that weren't watered down for a younger audience. One of the kids it left an impact on was Ross Marquand, The Walking Dead and Avengers: Infinity War actor who now plays Professor X and Apocalypse on X-Men ‘97.

“X-Men: The Animated Series is quite literally the reason why I became an actor,” Marquand tells Polygon. “People look at me kind of cockeyed when I say that, but I mean it. That was such a seminal show for me as a kid because I was bullied a lot. I was super nerdy. I was in Boy Scouts. I was in theater. I was watching X-Men and getting into comics and everything.”

Two Comics I’m Excited About This Week

It’s Wednesday. That means new comic book day is upon us.

Here are two comics I’m excited about this week.

First up, we have Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1. Miles is back in his own series this week, which is great timing with the recent success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Initial reviews look good for this series, so I’m excited to check it out.

Cover for Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1

Also new this week is X-Men #35. I really enjoyed the recent “Age of Revelation” storyline and event, so I’m excited for the next steps here. This is a prologue issue for the upcoming DNX mini event.

Love the duality of the two Beasts and their teams in this cover!

Cover for X-Men #35

There’s someone somewhere excited about the Star Wars/Marvel crossover

Don’t harsh someone else’s buzz, man.

Marvel corporate crossover events are a well-worn space. There’s this one. This one. And then, this one. Those are just the few that popped to mind immediately. I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to click the links and enjoy.

With yesterday’s announcement about the Star Wars/Marvel Universe crossover, it’s too easy to read it as cynical corporate cross promotion. I mean, sure, Disney owns both Marvel and Star Wars, but there’s a non-zero overlap of Marvel and Star Wars fans. I’m sure there are many fans excited about this. Don’t harsh someone else’s buzz, man.

I might not personally be that excited for the characters to crossover, but I am excited for the creative team working on this.

Star Wars and Marvel Comics crossover event announced

Excelsior! May the Force be with you.

Star Wars and Marvel Comics crossover event announced

Yesterday, Marvel announced a Star Wars and Marvel Universe crossover event “Hope Assembles” , coming in January 2027.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Wars, Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm Publishing unveiled Star Wars/Marvel: Hope Assembles, the first-ever crossover between the two beloved franchises launching in January 2027. Penned by pop culture icon Kevin Smith and drawn by Uncanny X-Men (2024) superstar David Marquez, the historic five-issue limited series assembles heroes and villains from both universes in a single story for the first time. As the Avengers, Spider-Man, and more team up with the iconic Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca, Doctor Doom will ally himself with the likes of Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire.

Kevin Smith and David Marquez. That’s a creator crossover to get excited about.

I call myself a comics fan. But that’s just a starting point.

Where do I come down in the current too-online debate of Marvel comics fan vs. Marvel Cinematic Universe fan?

I call myself a comics fan. But that’s just a starting point.

I am trying again with the socials, particularly with Threads and Bluesky, as I try to connect this site with other fans who might appreciate what I’m writing and building here. I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I imagine we all do if we’re being honest.

The love comes from the promise. Social media really does help connect people to others with similar interests. That’s a great thing for geeks and fans! But then there’s the downside—the increased anxiety and depression, the promotion of terrible ideas, the development of a terminally-online perspective. Don’t get me started on the way it reinforces short attention spans!

On Threads, as I’m diving into the Marvel community space there, I’m seeing lots of debate about Marvel Comics fans vs Marvel Cinematic Universe fans. Who are the true fans?! the Internet asks. Take this post from themarvelreader.

Do I think this really matters? Nope, not a bit. It’s the kind of thing the terminally-online obsess over. If you ignore it, those short attention spans will shift and there will be something else to debate. I generally just don’t engage. Most of these debates are about gate keeping for a community. I’m definitely an all-are-welcome-here person.

But did it get me thinking about myself and how I see myself? Definitely! Am I a comics fan or an MCU fan?

Clearly, I love both. I hope this site is a testament to that. I did realize, though, that if you ask me—what kind of Marvel fan are you, Deryck?—I would likely answer that I’m a comics fan. Not because I think comics are better than film. Comics were my entry into the fandom. I mentioned how I found X-Men at a young age in my intro post for this site. But that’s the thing, it was just my starting point. It’s how I found my way in, but I love most anything with Marvel now. Movies. TV. Games. You name it.

I hope this site can be a little corner of the Internet where that ethos abides. All are welcome! But then, it’s also fun to know what someone’s starting point with Marvel was. How did you make your way into this fandom?

Hickman returning to X-Men in October

This Midnight Universe version of the X-Men looks spooky good.

I missed this somehow, but just found out from Charles Murphy at Murphy's Multiverse that Hickman is returning to write an X-Men title. Writing in Dark Dawn: Marvel Solicitations Detail Jonathan Hickman’s ‘Midnight X-Men #1’, Murphy says:

Jonathan Hickman is stepping back into the mutant sandbox, and he’s bringing pure gothic terror with him. Marvel Comics’ latest solicitations have formally unveiled Midnight X-Men #1, launching a dark, creator-driven Midnight imprint alongside artist Matteo Della Fonte.

Sign me up! I loved the world building that Hickman did with House of X, so I'm excited to see what he does here.

TheWrap: comics to read after watching Spider-Man: Brand New Day

So many great comics in this list!

Casey Loving at TheWrap has a terrific collection of 11 Comics to Read After ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’.

There are a lot of books referenced throughout Tom Holland and Destin Daniel Cretton’s “Brand New Day,” including classic Spidey tales, newer stories from the web-slinger and comics from the wider Marvel universe.

When they write “wider Marvel universe” here, they aren’t kidding. Some great comics are represented here, across a wide range of characters and titles.

Remembering Emma Frost’s First Film Appearance

I get the omission from Polygon. Many would like to forget that first Wolverine film.

Earlier today, I linked to a Polygon story comparing Emma Frost across comics and film. I realized the story only highlighted the version of Emma from the First Class series of X-Men films. A younger version of her, played by Tahyna Tozzi, also appears in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

The first version of Emma Frost in film

To learn more, here’s the X-Men Movies Wiki page entry on Emma Frost from that film.

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