Adam Driver Cast as Mr. Sinister in Marvel's X-Men Lineup, Joining New Storm, Rogue and Xavier Reveals

Marvel's X-Men cast got a lot fuller at last night's D23 presentation. Adam Driver has been cast as Mr. Sinister, and he was revealed alongside brand new castings for Storm, Rogue and Professor Charles Xavier, plus confirmation of names we already suspected for Jean Grey, Cyclops and Emma Frost.

Some of this is casting I know a lot of people have been wanting, and some of it gets me personally excited about where X-Men is going. Let's get into all of it.

Jean Grey, Cyclops and Emma Frost Confirm What We Already Suspected

Going in, we already knew Sadie Sink was playing Jean Grey. As far as I'm concerned that was the worst kept secret on the internet, and heading into Brand New Day we all kind of already knew. Sink came out at the presentation and helped introduce the rest of the cast.

Kit Connor came out too, already previously announced as Cyclops. And then Samara Weaving arrived as Emma Frost, and she kind of method dressed for the occasion, coming out in a great white number. She's going to kill it in this part.

Adam Driver Is Mr. Sinister, and I Think That Casting Is Smart

Capping off the reveals is the big bad, Adam Driver as Mr. Sinister, though he came out using the character's civilian name. That makes me wonder how much of a transformation we're going to see on screen from that Nathaniel character into Mr. Sinister himself.

I think it's smart to have Driver be the big name attached to this villain. The actress playing Jean Grey has plenty of fame and has been in critically acclaimed work, but I don't know if she's quite a household name for a lot of people the way Adam Driver is: Academy Award nominated, been in so many things, been in so many franchises. He's also an actor who can play big and isn't afraid to, which fits a character this over the top.

Mr. Sinister is wild. He's obsessed with Cyclops, obsessed with mutant genetics, and constantly performing messed up experiments on mutants. I think this is a great villain to bring in here. I've talked about this on my podcast too: if we've already established the X-Men as the other by making Jean so villainous in that Spider-Man film, you already have a world that feels like mutants are dangerous. And if they've already been othered, how do other people feel about them being experimented on and contained? I think it's really smart to have a big name carrying that idea.

Storm's New Casting Brings Broadway Chops and a Much Younger Take

Bringing in names that aren't at household level yet is all I've wanted. I've been clamoring for unknowns, particularly people with musical theater backgrounds, and it worked for Hugh Jackman, didn't it? That's why I'm so excited about the actress cast as Storm, straight out of college, with Broadway credits including a run in Merrily We Roll Along.

I love that we have somebody with tremendous acting chops playing Storm who isn't yet known to most people. The other interesting thing is that the actress playing Storm is 20 years old, which makes Storm a contemporary of Jean and Scott rather than an older mentor figure. She's going to be one of the gifted youngsters.

Storm's age has varied across her portrayals, sometimes a mentor and sometimes a mentee. I think this younger take is lovely because it can cement the sister bond between Jean and Storm, especially given what has happened in Brand New Day. Her age also makes me excited about the longevity of this franchise going forward.

Christopher Abbott's Xavier Raises the Bigger Question of How This Franchise Handles Magneto

Our Charles Xavier is Christopher Abbott. Some people may know him from Girls, and the role I most recently saw him in was The Crowded Room on Apple TV, where he played a lawyer with a bit of an edge. That's interesting because I always think of Charles as very gregarious and caring, but in the comics he can do some messed up stuff, so you need somebody dynamic in that part.

Christopher Abbott is only 40 years old, which places him much closer in age to Emma Frost than the usual old paternal figure who's been mentoring the gifted youngsters. That's a very interesting choice, and being 40 means he's likely in this role for a long time.

But it also makes me wonder how this franchise is handling Magneto, something a lot of people have been concerned about. Magneto is canonically a Holocaust survivor whose powers ignite when he's separated from his family, so how do you put that character in modern times? Comics have gotten around this before by having him control the oxidization of his blood to stay younger, though that risks making him too much like Wolverine's immortal body. Maybe that's the answer, maybe it isn't. Another option is moving his backstory to a different, more recent genocide or cultural conflict, but I don't know if that's the right call either.

I'm also wondering whether, if he ends up around Charles's age, we'll get any of the Magneto and Rogue material from the comics. I hope not. It worked for X-Men '97, but I don't think it would work here.

How would you update Magneto for a modern-day X-Men story, or should he simply stay an old man who can cleanse his own blood to stay young?