Heartstopper star and openly bisexual actor Kit Connor is reportedly preparing to swap the rugby pitch for a pair of ruby-quartz shades, with industry reports naming him as Marvel Studios’ choice to play Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, in the MCU’s upcoming X-Men movie.
Deadline reported that director Jake Schreier and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige had met with several candidates before settling on Connor to become the latest actor to take on one of the mutant team’s most important roles.
Marvel Studios and Connor’s representatives have not publicly confirmed the casting.
If the deal proceeds, Connor will join an increasingly star-studded new generation of mutants.
Sadie Sink has now been revealed as Jean Grey after making her MCU debut in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, while Australian actor Samara Weaving has reportedly landed the role of Emma Frost.
That combination could prove particularly interesting for comic readers, given Cyclops’ famously complicated romantic history with both women.
Who is Scott Summers, aka Cyclops?
Scott Summers is one of Marvel’s original X-Men, debuting alongside the rest of Professor Charles Xavier’s first team in The X-Men #1 in 1963.
His mutant ability allows him to unleash immensely powerful optic blasts from his eyes. Because he cannot naturally control those beams, Scott relies on ruby-quartz glasses and his distinctive visor to contain them.
After a childhood plane crash separated Scott and his younger brother Alex from their parents, Scott spent part of his childhood in an orphanage before eventually being recruited by Professor Xavier.
As Cyclops, he became Xavier’s first X-Man and one of the team’s most enduring leaders.
He has often been portrayed as disciplined, serious and intensely responsible — the straight-laced counterweight to some of the X-Men’s more chaotic personalities.
But beneath the square-jawed leadership is one of Marvel Comics’ messiest romantic histories.
His decades-long relationship with Jean Grey has survived death, resurrection, clones, psychic drama and more than a few universe-altering disasters.
He also developed a relationship with powerful telepath Emma Frost, creating one of the X-Men comics’ most memorable love triangles.
James Marsden played Cyclops in the original 20th Century Fox X-Men films and is returning to the character in Avengers: Doomsday. Tye Sheridan later portrayed a younger Scott in the prequel films, while Australian actor Tim Pocock played him in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Not quite the Marvel role some fans expected
For longtime Heartstopper viewers, Connor joining the MCU would create another connection between the queer Netflix hit and Marvel.
His co-star Joe Locke already plays Billy Maximoff, aka Wiccan, in Agatha All Along.
Before Locke’s Marvel role was fully unveiled, some fans had hoped Connor might eventually be cast as Teddy Altman, aka Hulkling — Billy’s boyfriend and eventual husband in the comics.
Hulkling is a Kree-Skrull hybrid who becomes a member of the Young Avengers and eventually rises to become Emperor of the Kree-Skrull Alliance.
Billy and Teddy have become one of Marvel Comics’ most prominent queer couples.
Connor previously poured cold water on speculation that he might join Locke as Hulkling.
Speaking in an MTV interview, he said a friend “did send me this rumour, no I’m not… not that I know of.”
“My friend Joe is very heavily involved in Marvel, and he has a very exciting project coming up, and I wouldn’t want to cramp his style.
“I think he’s going to kill and I can’t wait to see that. I’m going to leave that to him for a good long while, I reckon.”
Apparently, “a good long while” may now be over.
Exactly how queer are the X-Men?
Connor’s reported involvement also feels particularly fitting because few superhero franchises have resonated with queer audiences as strongly as the X-Men.
The central premise has always been ripe for queer interpretation: people discover they were born different, sometimes hide that difference from their families, find community among others like themselves and face a society that may fear, discriminate against or attempt to control them.
Over decades, X-Men stories have explored prejudice through themes touching on racism, sexism, disability, religious persecution, the AIDS crisis and LGBTQ+ discrimination.
The metaphor has never been perfect, but generations of queer readers have recognised something of themselves in characters trying to survive — and thrive — in a world that tells them their difference is dangerous.
And increasingly, the queer representation is no longer merely metaphorical.
Northstar became one of Marvel’s first openly gay superheroes, coming out in Alpha Flight #106 in 1992 after first appearing in 1979. He later married Kyle Jinadu in Astonishing X-Men #51 in 2012.
Bobby Drake, aka Iceman, one of the original five X-Men, came out as gay in stories published in 2015.
Betsy Braddock, the current Captain Britain, has been in a relationship with Rachel Summers.
Rictor and the sexually fluid Shatterstar have had a longstanding romantic relationship, while mutant Anole has been openly gay since his early appearances.
Then there are Mystique and Destiny.
The pair had effectively been written as lovers for decades despite restrictions preventing earlier creators from stating their relationship explicitly. Marvel eventually made their romance unambiguous, and the pair renewed their wedding vows in 2024’s X-Men: The Wedding Special.
There are plenty more.
For queer comic fans, then, seeing an openly bisexual star such as Connor potentially take a leading role in the MCU’s new mutant era feels particularly appropriate.
Mutants take over the MCU
Marvel has been steadily preparing the MCU for its mutant future.
Ms. Marvel provided one of the earliest explicit hints when Kamala Khan was told she possessed a genetic “mutation”, accompanied by a musical sting from the classic X-Men animated series.
Since then, mutants and characters connected to the X-Men universe have become increasingly prominent across Marvel’s film and television projects.
The upcoming X-Men movie, directed by Schreier following his work on Thunderbolts, is expected to establish the MCU’s principal new mutant team following Avengers: Secret Wars. Current reporting points towards a 2028 release.
For now, Connor’s Cyclops casting remains industry-reported rather than formally announced by Marvel.
But if he does put on the visor, one of queer television’s brightest young stars will be stepping into the shoes of one of superhero comics’ most enduring leaders.
And for those of us who grew up finding pieces of ourselves within the X-Men, that feels like an appropriately mutant evolution.
