Superhero casting announcements don't always go over very well with comic book fans (believe it or not), but the recent news that Samara Weaving will play Emma Frost in Marvel Studios' X-Men reboot was met with almost universal approval.
The Ready or Not star has been a popular fan pick for the White Queen for quite some time, and looking at these resurfaced Instagram photos, it's easy to see why.
Weaving actually shared these shots over two years ago, but the Emma Frost energy is undeniable, and anyone would think she was manifesting the call from Marvel Studios here.
Frost - who could be introduced as either a hero or a villain - was previously played by January Jones in X-Men: First Class, and a version of the character (played by Tahyna MacManus) also briefly appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
On the page, the powerful telepath started out as a formidable enemy of Charles Xavier and his students as The Hellfire Club's White Queen, but ultimately joined their cause as the morally flexible co-headmistress of the school.
We don't expect Weaving's take on Frost to be a member of the team (initially, at least), but nor is she believed to be the primary antagonist.
Weaving joins Sadie Sink as Jean Grey and Kit Connor as Cyclops. Adam Driver is believed to have signed on for an undisclosed role, but this has not been confirmed. We're expecting a full cast reveal during D23 next weekend.
Sonny Lee Sung Jin (Beef) and Joanna Calo (The Bear) recently came aboard to write a new draft of Michael Lesslie's script.
Kevin Feige had the following to say about Marvel's plans for the X-Men shortly after SDCC.
"Acquiring the X-Men rights isn't just about... for example, Wolverine is an outstanding character, and we were able to team him up with Deadpool, which is great. But the X-Men are far more than just Wolverine, far more than the original team; fundamentally, it's a universe, a multi-stage saga. Much of that is what we're working towards."
"We’re constantly changing, constantly evolving, but having some guidance helps us act more purposefully, especially with X-Men—it’s already had 10 movies, some very, very good, some I think haven’t lived up to expectations—how do we plan the 'mutant saga' in a very grand way?"
"That being said, we have many more characters to explore in the future—the schedule is already booked until 2042, especially the X-Men," Feige added. "The X-Men have many unexplored characters from the Asia-Pacific region, particularly China, which we're very eager to explore. That's why I'm excited about the X-Men: we can show the world different types of heroes."