We have our MCU X-Men cast! After years of speculation, debate, anticipation (and dread), the initial cast of Marvel Studios’ first dedicated X-Men film (currently scheduled for May 5, 2028) was announced Friday at the D23 fan event in Anaheim, California.
While it seems likely there’s more to come (for one thing, there was a lot of noise about such-and-such actor being in the running for Beast, and we got no Beast announcement; for another, there’s no Wolverine — though maybe that means we’ll be blessed with at least an initial Wolverine-less film), for now we have a pretty solid core cast, featuring a variety of up-and-coming young stars (and one Serious Actor with a history of playing genre villains): Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue and Maya Boyd as Storm — along with Adam Driver as “Nathaniel Milbury,” a frequent alias of Mister Sinister.
If you read this website on the reg, chances are you have at the very least a passing familiarity with each of those characters — this isn’t exactly a roster of deep cuts. Nevertheless, we thought it might be fun to recommend one story for each character announced, something that sums up what they’re all about, showcases how cool they can be, and/or speaks to how they’re likely to be presented in the film. Something an established fan could read as a refresher, or could give to a friend curious about the cast of the film.
Jean Grey — Jean Grey (2023)
The 2023 Jean Grey miniseries by Louise Simonson and Bernard Chang, released as part of the “Fall of X” event, does an effective job of capturing Jean’s modern characterization while serving as a primer on her long and sometimes complex history. Veteran writer Simonson (who wrote Jean for a long time in X-Factor in the 1980s) is careful not to get bogged down in historical details, while Chang is clearly relishing being able to draw different versions of Jean from across her timeline. Buy it here.
Cyclops — Cyclops (2026)
Another recent character-specific miniseries — the most recent comic on this list — pairs nicely with Jean Grey as an effective expression of what makes Cyclops tick (and what makes him cool). Writer Alex Paknadel has said he wanted this miniseries to be the sort of evergreen story you could hand to someone looking to “get” a character — Cyclops’ version of Wolverine’s 1982 miniseries or Magneto: Testament; he and artist Roge Antonio succeeded in doing exactly that. Pre-order the trade here.
Professor X — Uncanny X-Men #309
Coming in the wake of Charles Xavier’s then-darkest moment — his wiping of Magneto’s mind — this done-in-one “quiet” issue by Scott Lobdell and John Romita Jr. paints a portrait of a complicated Professor X. Years before it became trendy to add one unspeakable crime after another to Xavier’s backstory, this issue threads the needle between an Xavier who genuinely wants to do good and one who is also pretty selfish and self-centered.
Emma Frost — Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost #1
It’s unclear at this point if Emma will be a villain or a hero in the movie, but the best portrayals of Emma tend to feature a bit of both. This Krakoa era one-shot from Jonathan Hickman and Russell Dauterman is an homage to the earlier New X-Men psychic surgery “silent” issue; like that issue, this is mostly textless, but it focuses a bit more on the sometimes prickly relationship between Emma and Jean, something the movie could lean into.
Rogue — ‘Supernovas’
The kickoff to Mike Carey’s underrated X-Men run, composed of X-Men (Vol. 2) #188-194 and featuring gorgeous art from Chris Bachalo, the Rogue of this story is unlikely to be found in the first MCU X-Men movie, given the young age of the cast. But it’s a critical pivot point in the character’s comic book development (you can draw a straight line from this story, in which Rogue assembles and leads her own eclectic squad of X-Men, to the Rogue of the current volume of Uncanny X-Men), and if the MCU gives Rogue any kind of an arc, they’d be wise to look to this story. Buy it here.
Storm — Uncanny X-Men #169-170
Perhaps the most “duh” entry on this list, this two-parter from Chris Claremont and Paul Smith (part of the pair’s all-too-short run in which every issue is a banger) introduces Callisto and the Morlocks, but more importantly, it features a key development in Storm’s character arc, showcasing the tension between her “serene goddess” and “fierce warrior” aspects. Plus, the art is really fantastic.
Mister Sinister — The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
There are essentially two versions of Mister Sinister: the original, mysterious scientist obsessed with Scott Summers and dropping cryptic clues to long-running subplots, and the current “Oscar Wilde in a vampire cape” who’s as comfortable splicing genes as delivering sassy bons mots. The MCU is most likely to go with the former version, making this miniseries, by Peter Milligan and the late John Paul Leon, the perfect snapshot of the character, since it effectively serves as his origin, featuring the tragic transformation of Victorian scientist Nathaniel Essex into a pawn of Apocalypse after the death of his family.
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Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him @austingorton.bsky.social.
