Is X-Men’s next live-action Cyclops Harris Dickinson?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had a pretty shocking run of things in recent years. For every Spider-Man: No Way Home or Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, there’s a Thor Love and Thunder, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, or so-so Disney+ TV show to crawl through.

And so a lot rests on the next couple of movies to come out of the once-mighty comic book stable — while we’re starting to get a good idea of what this summer’s Fantastic Four reboot is going to look and feel like, less is known about the long-awaited X-Men revival.

But casting rumours are starting to come into focus, and Hollywood's latest ‘It’ boy is high on the studio’s hit list.

The latest rumour puts Harris Dickinson — Babygirl, Triangle of Sadness, Iron Claw, Scrapper — as a front-runner to play Cyclops, the laser-eye-blasting leader of the comic book mutant squad.

The rumour comes courtesy of The Hot Mic’s Jeff Sneider, stating that Marvel and studio head Kevin Feige have a soft spot for Dickinson. Dickinson is certainly having a bit of a moment — that run of films listed above has been banger after banger, and he’s proving himself a versatile and magnetic onscreen presence.

Filling out the X-Men mansion

Elsewhere, Stranger Thing’s Sadie Sink is said to be being lined up for the role of Jean Grey, Ayo Edebiri of The Bear is being considered for Storm, and a more spurious rumour is putting Hunter Schafer up for the role of Mystique.

Take all of these with a pinch of salt for now, Dickinson included, but the actors behind the mutant team will need to be nailed down fairly quickly. Marvel has two untitled movies on its release slate, pencilled in for July 23rd, 2027 and November 5th, 2027. These big-budget blockbusters take an age to make, and if as expected one is set to be X-Men’s revival, a cast will need to be locked down soon.

As for the casting rumour itself? Dickinson would make for an excellent Cyclops. He’s got the dramatic chops to pull off the more tragic side of the mutant’s character, and is happy to do the rough-and-tumble, as seen by his performance in wrestling biopic The Iron Claw.

That said, I think I’d rather see him avoid the spandex for a while longer — he’s on a great run of films at the moment, and being looked into a likely decade-long contract with the MCU might limit scope elsewhere. A Cyclops is only as good as the Wolverine he plays opposite, anyway. And, in an alternate universe where such casting would be remotely possible, Dickinson would be my first choice for James Bond, too.

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