Top Gun: Maverick breakout star Glen Powell has responded to the "rumor" that he's been in talks with Marvel Studios to play Cyclops in the planned X-Men reboot... despite never being rumored to be up for the role in the first place.
The trend of internet speculation and fan-casts being picked up and ran as rumors by certain websites continues, and these bogus reports have become so widespread that even major trade publications don't seem to be able to tell the difference.
While speaking to Variety about the Top Gun sequel's incredible box office success, Powell was asked if there was "any truth to rumors that you’ll be playing Cyclops in Marvel’s X-Men movie?"
"Before Comic-Con, everybody was like, “Dude, are you Cyclops?” No, I’m not. Nobody has called me. I don’t even have one contact info for Marvel, so I have no idea what people are talking about," the actor responded.
We're not suggesting Powell wouldn't be a good pick for Scott Summers, but it's important to keep in mind that any rumors relating to Marvel Studios' X-Men plans are likely to be bogus. While it's entirely possible that there has been some movement on the project behind-the-scenes, it would be practically unheard of for the casting process to begin before a script was even completed, and if said script was finished, we'd almost certainly know about it.
It's also worth noting that a recent report claimed that contractual issues may be preventing Marvel Studios from introducing new actors as established mutant characters such as Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, etc to The MCU, and they may not be able to move forward with a reboot until 2025. If accurate, we shouldn't expect to hear any official word on cast, director, etc for quite some time.
That said, maybe Kevin Feige and co. have managed to keep some major news under wraps, and we'll all be pleasantly surprised with a massive announcement at D23 next month!
Would you guys like to see Powell as Cyclops? Here's a shot of him shouting with shades on.