It’s a big year for Marvel fans, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day topping the box office after a 5-year break in the franchise, and Avengers: Doomsday slated for release later on the 2026 movie schedule. The MCU fans keep getting fed, too, as Disney’s D23 Fan Expo finally revealed the cast of the new X-Men movie, which will be directed by Jake Schreier. There are some big names signed on to this upcoming Marvel project, including Kit Connor, and now I’m cracking up over the times the Heartstopper actor denied the potential to join the MCU.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige officially introduced the new X-Men cast, and wow, it’s star-studded. Obviously, Sadie Sink will be playing Jean Gray, after her character debuted as the antagonist in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. However, quite a few castings surprised me, including Kit Connor as Cyclops, mostly because joining a Marvel project has been so far off his radar.
To that point, I can’t stop thinking about all the times in the past couple of years he’s denied interest in the MCU, and thankfully, someone on TikTok made a compilation:
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I’m dying at the playful overlay text “all men do is lie,” because there’s almost no chance Connor knew his future MCU involvement. Both clips in the compilation are from over a year ago, the first being from an MTV interview in July 2024, and the second being a HuffPost clip from July 2025. A couple of months before that second interview, reports that Schreier was going to direct the film had come out, but overall, there was very little known about this X-Men reboot.
Of course, Connor’s Heartstopper co-star Joe Locke has already made his Marvel debut as Wanda and Vision’s son Billy Maximoff in 2024’s Agatha All Along. And that’s why Connor was getting questions about joining the MCU.
Now, with Heartstopper Forever, which is available to stream with a Netflix subscription, marking an end to the beloved romance series, I’ve been thinking about what Connor could do next. My mind couldn’t help but wander back to Marvel, and now that the Warfare actor’s casting as Cyclops is official, the irony of these clips is hilarious.
I have to wonder if Locke, whose true character was a well-kept secret for a long time, knew about Connor’s X-Men casting in advance. If he did, I’m sure he was able to provide some great pointers on keeping MCU secrets.
Everyone knows how top secret Marvel keeps their casts and scripts. They take their NDAs very seriously, and some actors are better at keeping their lips locked than others. Sadie Sink proved to be very skilled at avoiding questions about her character during the Brand New Day press tour, unlike Spidey himself, Tom Holland, who is notorious for spoiling Marvel movies. But it seems like Connor and the new X-Men cast did a good job of keeping their lips sealed leading up to D23.
In addition to Kit Connor as Cyclops, Sadie Sink as Jean Gray, and Samara Weaving as Emma Frost (which was previously announced), Feige introduced Maya Boyd as Storm, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, and Adam Driver as Mr. Sinister.
Many fans were shocked to see Navarrette announced as Rogue, after she showed interest in playing Mystique. However, after her potentially nomination-worthy performance in the hit horror film Obsession, I’m excited to see where she will take this next role, and I have no doubt she will knock it out of the park.
Additionally, I think this is a great next step for the Heartstopper actor as well, as he has yet to partake in any project like it. Unfortunately, Schreier’s X-Men movie isn’t slated until 2028. I can only hope for some X-Men morsels in a post-credit scene when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18.