When it comes to casting for comic book adaptations, the stars of Fox’s X-Men movies are hard to top. Actors such as James Marsden and Rebecca Romijn have become closely associated with members of the mutant superhero team, even if their roles only touched on their full potential. Thankfully, these X-Men are getting another shot to capitalize on two decades of unmet potential.
In Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel’s most beloved mutants are entering a new cinematic universe, where they’ll join forces with Earth-616’s mightiest heroes to face the threat of Doctor Doom. While the wait for this crossover has just started, Marvel is smartly using this period to tease its most ambitious film to date. Four teasers will be released in theaters, and the third one offers our initial glimpse of the X-Men in the MCU. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are back as Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto, but the most thrilling part of the preview is the return of Marsden’s Cyclops, now finally wearing a costume true to the comics.
By the time Doomsday arrives in theaters this December, two decades will have passed since we last saw Marsden fully in action as Cyclops. He did make a return in 2014’s Days of Future Past, but it was just a short cameo meant to undo his underwhelming exit in X-Men: The Last Stand. The X-Men movies never quite figured out how to use Cyclops; he mostly acted as a narrative counter to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and a barrier to Wolverine’s forbidden relationship with Jean Grey (played by Famke Janssen). It’s safe to say that they’ve learned from Fox’s missteps, because this iteration of Cyclops is front and center in the Doomsday teaser.
While his return is short, it’s unforgettable: the teaser concludes with Cyclops tearing off his protective visor to unleash a huge optic blast— the largest we’ve ever seen him use. Since he’s surrounded by Sentinels— the giant, kaiju-like robots built to eliminate all mutants— this move makes perfect sense. After years of being a quiet, simmering presence on the sidelines, we finally get to see Cyclops as he’s always been in the comics: a warrior and a leader. If his sky-splitting optic blast isn’t enough proof of a refreshed, better Cyclops, there’s also his costume— a clear nod to the blue-and-gold outfit he wears in the comics. This might not be the Cyclops we remember from the original Fox movies— who favored black leather jackets and full-latex suits— but we could be getting something even better: a Cyclops that finally lives up to Marsden’s talent.