Marvel Studios Electrifies D23 Expo with ‘X-Men’ Announcements and More

Whenever there’s a giant event where Marvel Studios is “X-Pected” to give a presentation, Kevin Feige loves to steal the show. That is exactly what the head of Marvel Studios did at San Diego Comic Con a few weeks ago with the announcements of Ghost Rider and Black Panther III, and once more, we saw him doing it again at 2026’s D23 Expo!

The Entertainment Showcase is one of the most anticipated events every D23 Expo, and this year was no exception. The child studios of the House of Mouse all put their best feet forward, with Pixar bringing Coco 2 and Incredibles 3, Walt Disney Animation Studios bringing Frozen 3, Hexed, and Zootopia 3, and Lucasfilm bringing Star Wars: Starfighter. And yet, with so many insanely exciting titles presented, it was once again Marvel Studios and Feige that walked out with the biggest impression on all of the over 6,000 attendees at the Honda Center on Friday.

For good reason, too. In a move that felt moderately tame by comparison to the rest of his presentation, he set up a slow burn show starting with (as Yelena Belova may say) “small potatoes.” Feige began with the anticipated Disney+ project, VisionQuest: the third and final part of the WandaVision trilogy, in which we find out what happened to the White Vision from the finale of the first series. Feige then brought out stars Paul Bettany and (reprising his role as Ultron, but in the flesh this time) James Spader. As is tradition for D23, the two stars did not say much, but Bettany expressed his gratitude for the role, as well as frustration at the fact that the character has seemingly died several times already. They debuted the first teaser trailer for the project, which looks to be incredibly surreal; something its predecessors firmly established in their own respective series.

Following that, Feige plugged the Insomniac Wolverine game, as well as the re-release of Avengers: Endgame (entitled Avengers Endgame: Encore).

Then it was time to get serious. With only four months left between now and the debut of their most anticipated project since 2019, Feige could not complete the panel without discussing Avengers: Doomsday. And to assist him, he brought out stars Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, and of course, Robert Downey Jr. They each essentially said one thing, before they rolled the same trailer that was shown to Comic-Con audiences two weeks ago.

While it was admittedly disappointing knowing that the “Comic-Con exclusive” footage they showed was not entirely exclusive any longer, the team still managed to include some surprises, in the form of a funny skit between Ryan Reynolds and the Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman. It was a hilarious setup, and essentially, like Reynolds announced in a very cheeky way at SDCC, all but confirmed that the man who originated Logan in live action seems to be joining the fray that is Avengers: Doomsday. That, on the whole, more than makes up for any recycled footage.

We were lucky enough to be in the room for all of this, which you can see here:

Little did I know that my personal appetite for something new was minutes away from being satisfied, as Feige commenced confirmation about what months and weeks of speculation was suggesting: that D23 was going to be the forum in which the studio head announced the new generation of X-Men!

Feige started out by bringing up Spider-Man: Brand New Day star, Sadie Sink. As fans, watching the Sony Pictures co-owned film confirmed everyone’s speculative suspicions (SPOILER ALERT): that Sink was in fact playing Jean Grey! And the incredible actress made a very grand entrance to the Honda Center stage to join the Marvel Studios head. Together they both brought out director Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts, Beef), who in turn, teamed up with Sink and Feige to announce the rest of the confirmed cast and announce the date for the film: May 5, 2028.

Feige explicitly stated that this was only a partial list, most likely meaning that many of the long-running casting rumors that escaped into the ether prior to D23 were either bogus or potentially fell through. Nevertheless, much of what was revealed in the announcement was known, while others were complete surprises.

Joining Sink, Feige, and Schreier on stage were Kit Connor (Heartstopper, The Wild Robot) as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Obsession star Inde Navarrette in the surprise role of Rogue, and newcomer, Maya Boyd (another surprise) as Storm. Feige then cut to a pre-taped video from the villain of the film: Academy Award nominee, Adam Driver. Driver, in a humorous turn, did a sketch in which he pretended to have mistook Feige’s suggestion of joining X-Men as him physically going to an empty set. Messing with fans, the star then pretended he was casted as Magneto before finally and sincerely revealing his name would be Nathaniel Milbury (though I firmly believe the Milbury bit is an alias for Essex).

We documented the whole reveal here:

Admittedly, while more notable trades, like Deadline and Variety reported on the news of some of the cast being confirmed (Weaving and Connor for instance), the rest were genuinely shocking for me. Rumors suggested Navarrette, for instance, would be joining the cast as Mystique, only for us to discover she will actually be playing Rogue instead. Additionally, Jayme Lawson was said to be the frontrunner for the role of Storm. However it ultimately went to Boyd, who is more known for her Broadway work in shows like & Juliet.

Credit where credit is due, the casting department at Marvel Studios, led by the amazing Sarah Finn, has never missed. For instance, it has made household names out of stars like Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, and Tom Holland. As such, I anticipate the same to be made of Connor and Boyd.

While the casting of the X-Men was long speculated to be the hottest piece of news to come from the D23 Expo Entertainment Showcase, to have it made official with many surprises thrown in, seems to have floored audiences, and generated precisely what it was supposed to generate: absolute hype! Given Schreier is a terrific director who understands humanity and emotional stakes in between some great action (check out our review for Thunderbolts here), and with the strength of the cast they announced at today’s expo, I have all the faith in the world that this is going to turn out positively X-Cellent!

We’ll be there to cover all things pertaining to Marvel Studios’ X-Men in the years to come as more news drops. And we have lots more coverage for D23 coming your way soon, including more from the Entertainment Showcase. So stay tuned to The Nerds of Color, as we breakdown the best things we saw at this year’s D23 Expo!