Kirby Howell-Baptiste, who plays Death in Netflix's The Sandman, is the latest actress to be linked to the role of Storm in Marvel Studios' X-Men reboot.
Though we weren't aware of the original rumor (it came from an anonymous Twitter scooper without much of a track record, so was largely ignored at the time), TheDisinsider.com seems to think there might be something to it, and asked Howell-Baptists about the report during a recent interview.
Here's an excerpt from their article.
"When asked if she was aware of the rumor, if she was even interested in taking up the role – or if she had any reaction to the news at all, Howell-Baptiste paused and played coy. 'Send that article,' she said. 'I’d love to read it. How intriguing?' She didn’t say Yes. She didn’t say No. But she did also give this big grin insinuating that she might know something we don’t."
Director Jake Schreier recently confirmed that work on the new X-Men movie has begun, and we have heard that casting is underway, so there's always a chance Kirby was approached about potentially suiting-up as the weather-manipulating mutant.
Other actress that have been mentioned in connection with the role are Jodie Turner-Smith and Ayo Edebiri - though we have heard that the Wicked star was actually being courted for Ryan Reynolds' mysterious Deadpool/X-Men project.
The likes of Harris Dickinson, Margaret Qualley, and Julia Butters have previously been rumored to be on the studio's radar (they were reportedly in contention to play Cyclops, Rogue and Kitty Pryde, but we don't know if this is still the case), along with Alien: Romulus star David Jonsson and Trinity Bliss, who may be in line to play Jubilee.
Other names that have popped up in the rumor mill include Hunter Schafer (Mystique) and Javier Bardem (Mr. Sinister).
Here's what Kevin Feige had to say about his "10-year plan" for the Mutant Saga in a recent interview.
"I think you will see that continues in our next few movies with some X-Men players that you might recognize. Right after that, the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men. Again, [it’s] one of those dreams come true. We finally have the X-Men back."
Macbeth (2015), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) and Assassin's Creed (2016) scribe Michael Lesslie penned the script, but we wouldn't be surprised if another writer (or two) were brought in to give it another pass before the movie enters production.
No release date has been set.