Adam Driver Reportedly Not Magneto as Hot Mic Insiders Detail MCU X-Men Reboot Casting Rumors

Adam Driver is reportedly attached to a villain role in the MCU's X-Men reboot, but not as Magneto, according to Jeff Sneider's co-host on the Hot Mic podcast. On the same podcast, Sneider said the shortlists had been trimmed but nobody had been cast yet.

The week before, a number of industry insiders and accounts on Twitter had thrown all sorts of names around for all sorts of roles in the reboot. In each of our pieces on those reports, we said we would wait for a more trusted source like Sneider and his co-host to weigh in. They did, with a lot of new detail, and their report also cleared up some of the confusion around casting like Driver as Magneto. Apparently the industry insiders got ahead of themselves there.

Why Jeff Sneider and John Rocha carry more weight on X-Men casting

In my view, Sneider and Rocha have the most proven track record, probably the best outside of Daniel RPK over the last three or four years. They are the same sources who reported Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom months before that was confirmed. They also had Sadie Sink playing Jean Grey and appearing in Spider-Man, along with the Punisher and the Hulk in Spider-Man.

They have had a lot of scoops, and their accuracy record is doing really well. No scooper gets everything right, so take all of this with a grain of salt. Still, these two get a lot more reverence than an anonymous post on 4chan or Reddit. The first set of claims came specifically from Jeff Sneider, and then his co-host John Rocha weighed in.

Jeff Sneider said nobody had been cast and named Professor X contenders

Sneider's first point was that there wasn't much actively going on. The lists had been shortened, but nobody had been cast yet. Tom Pelphrey and Drew Starkey were among the names mentioned in the mix for the MCU's Professor X.

He corroborated what Apocalyptic Horseman had been saying about Cailee Spaeny being eyed for Rogue. He had also heard that Monica Barbaro could be in the mix for a character who he pointed out could be the mutant Blindfold. His sources suggested that a younger X-Men storyline was possibly the focus, and he had heard that Michelle Randolph was in the mix for Emma Frost.

John Rocha said Adam Driver's villain role is not Magneto

Rocha said Patrick Wilson was not in the running for Professor X, and that Bill Skarsgård was the top choice. He also said Adam Driver was already attached to a villain role, but not as Magneto.

We hadn't covered this yet, but a day after saying Driver was Magneto, Apocalyptic Horseman came back and said, "Look, my source had his sources crossed. It is not Magneto. He's actually cast as Mr. Sinister." I found that funny, because in our piece on Driver as Magneto that is exactly what I said: "He should really be Nathaniel Essex. He looks exactly like Mr. Sinister."

"I love that casting if it ends up becoming true." Out of all the casting rumors we were hearing, that was the one I had my fingers crossed would be locked.

No Wolverine or Magneto, and Margot Robbie was reportedly wanted for Emma Frost

Rocha said his source indicated that Sneider's earlier scoop of Charles Melton as Beast was correct, and that Cooper Hoffman was in the mix for Cyclops. According to Rocha, there would be no Wolverine or Magneto, because the studio wanted to leave room for new villains. They didn't want to recast Wolverine because Hugh Jackman is sticking around after Avengers: Secret Wars, at least for now.

Rocha also said Emma Frost is in the film as an antihero, and that the studio wanted Margot Robbie for the role but knew it was unlikely. Separately, Twitter scoopers were saying Robbie may have been offered the role of Mystique, though not for the X-Men reboot. No clarification was offered, so I am leaving that in the rumor mill. Emma Frost as an antihero did line up with what we had been hearing from some of the plot leaks, and Robbie joining the MCU is something we have been hearing about forever.

Rocha's final point was that the studio wanted either Apocalypse or Mr. Sinister as the main villain for the next saga, but hadn't decided. They didn't want a repeat of Kang, so the idea was to develop both villains and then choose which one would be the ultimate bad guy.

Why the X-Men casting was still early

These two have a proven track record, especially on casting and names, and their report made it sound like it was still early. At that point, the studio was not actively casting, but it sounded like they were getting around to it, and I expected more names to surface before the end of the year. I also suspected major trades like The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline would break some of these same names in some of these roles before the end of the year.

At the time, I didn't think anyone should expect an X-Men cast announcement soon. They hadn't cast the movie yet and didn't have enough of those actors. They had a lot to focus on with Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars and didn't want to upstage that, and industry insider Daniel Richtman had said as much.

My take on the names: a younger team, and some picks I don't love

Some of this felt like filling in the blanks. We know they are doing a younger X-Men storyline. Just look at the actors and actresses tied to it. It is a much younger cast that can grow into the roles over the next couple of decades.

I have to be honest: I can't say I love a lot of these names. I really didn't like Patrick Wilson as Professor X, so I was glad to hear that was just a rumor. I'm not sure how I feel about Cooper Hoffman as Cyclops either, because that doesn't seem to fit for me. I also can't say I love Bill Skarsgård as Professor X right off the bat, although he is a very talented actor and maybe I'm selling his acting short.

Even so, it seems Marvel Studios has a pretty definitive idea of how to avoid some of its past mistakes and make this feel new. Not repeating a major villain would be a huge way to do that, as would making sure the team lineup is what we want to see. So no Wolverine and no Magneto in this film makes a lot of sense. We don't need Magneto right off the bat, although he is necessary to an MCU X-Men universe.

We certainly don't need Wolverine right away either, and that falls in line with everything we have been hearing about Hugh Jackman sticking around after Secret Wars. If you are wondering why they wouldn't cast a younger Wolverine, Deadpool and Wolverine made 2 billion dollars at the box office, or very close to it. There is no way Marvel Studios isn't making another movie with those two and trying to get one more box office run out of it. That is just the numbers talking, so it was always a lock.

Charles Melton as Beast, and new names for Emma Frost and Ruth

As for other members of the team, Jeff Sneider had been bringing up Charles Melton as possibly playing Beast for about two months, so apparently that was still hanging around. Before this report, we had not heard about Michelle Randolph possibly being in the mix for Emma Frost, or about Monica Barbaro for a character named Ruth. Who some of these characters may be is something I want to speculate on separately.

X-Men '97 shows Marvel Studios understands the team

Marvel Studios has already shown with X-Men '97 that it has a really good grasp of the X-Men universe. To me, there should be no doubt that the people at the top understand the team dynamic and how to write for the X-Men. The heavy lifting now is working out why they can do it so well in an animated series and how to bring that into live action.

Those are obviously not the same medium, but if anyone has had more practice at it, it's Kevin Feige. It is well documented that he was part of all those Fox X-Men characters. I'm sure he has had a lot of time to think about his success at Marvel Studios and how he would redo some of these characters on film, and it looks like they have a great idea of how to move forward.

Would an Apocalypse or Mr. Sinister saga still end with an Avengers title?

Basing the next saga on one of the big X-Men mutants like Apocalypse or Mr. Sinister is, I think, probably a great idea. But it raises a point I have always found interesting. When we get to the end of that saga, could we get a title along the lines of Avengers: Age of Apocalypse or Avengers: Apocalypse Rises?

That wouldn't seem to make much sense. But the X-Men reboot is basically kicking off the saga, and the Avengers title has come to mean the end crossover event for each saga, so it is hard for me to see it another way. They may end up combining an Avengers and X-Men title to close the saga. It would still be strange to take the next X-Men villain and give that story an Avengers title, yet given how much they have invested in Avengers titles as the end caps for these sagas, I don't think they will be able to move away from that.

How MCU casting rumors usually play out

With castings, this is usually an area where the leaks turn out to be true. There are a lot of names to begin with, all attached to different roles. It went this way for Fantastic Four, and it has gone this way for Marvel characters before: Will Poulter as Adam Warlock and, again, Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, among others.

Usually several names are out there for a role, then over time most fall by the wayside while one sticks around. A month or two later, it gets confirmed by a Hollywood trade, by Marvel Studios, or both. So the time to really get excited or upset is when you see only one name, or one group of names, consistently tied to a role. Then it's usually true. We have eight years of data from looking back at the leaks for these actors. Hollywood is just too small, with too many working pieces; too many people find out, they talk, and it becomes pretty much common knowledge.

What do you think the team lineup should be for the first MCU X-Men film, and who would be in your dream cast?