“Not Gonna Be Me”: Cooper Hoffman Has Hilarious Response to X-Men Casting Rumor

Marvel Studios is officially moving forward with its long-awaited X-Men reboot, folding the mutants into the mainline Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time since acquiring 20th Century Fox. Jake Schreier, who directed the critically acclaimed Thunderbolts*, has been confirmed to lead the project, with Michael Lesslie penning the script under producer Kevin Feige. While Marvel Studios has yet to announce an official cast, the rumor mill has been working overtime this past month, with insiders naming Odessa A’zion and Inde Navarrette as frontrunners for Rogue, Adam Driver reportedly circling Mister Sinister, and Charles Melton and Peter Claffey both linked to Beast. One name that recently entered the conversation for Cyclops belongs to The Long Walk breakout Cooper Hoffman, and now the actor himself has weighed in on the chatter.

“Not going to be me, but I love the X-Men. Not for any reason, it’s just not. I don’t know where this came from. Sh-t spreads!” Hoffman said, breaking into laughter when Entertainment Weekly Tonight asked him directly whether he was set to play Cyclops in Marvel Studios’ X-Men reboot. Pressed on whether he would actually want the role if Marvel Studios came calling, the actor did not hesitate to express his enthusiasm for the franchise. “Of course. They don’t, but I wish they did! I love X-Men. I’ve been watching it since I was a kid. It would be such an honor,” he added.

Cooper Hoffman Would Fit Well in the New X-Men Roster

Marvel Studios appears determined to hand its X-Men reboot to a cast that skews notably younger than the ensemble audiences saw in Fox’s original trilogy, and Hoffman’s presence in the conversation lines up with that strategy. Reports have already tied Stranger Things standout Sadie Sink to Jean Grey, with her rumored casting emerging alongside her appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. At 23, Hoffman sits almost exactly at Sink’s age, and that same pattern extends across the rest of the rumored roster.

Where James Marsden, Halle Berry, and the rest of the original Fox ensemble entered their X-Men roles as established adults, Marvel Studios seems intent on assembling a roster of mutants who can visibly grow up together on screen across a franchise built to last for decades. That approach mirrors how the source material has long treated the X-Men as a haven for teenagers and young adults discovering their powers for the first time, giving Schreier and his creative team a built-in framework for telling ongoing stories about identity and belonging rather than wrapping everything inside a single self-contained trilogy the way Fox once did.

Hoffman’s own trajectory makes him a great fit for that vision regardless of becoming Cyclops. His breakout performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza earned him Best Actor nominations at the Critics’ Choice Awards and the Golden Globes, and his leading role in The Long Walk has since cemented him as one of the industry’s most closely watched rising talents. With Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars still positioned to close out the current era of the MCU before the X-Men properly arrive, Marvel Studios has time to finalize its roster. Whether or not Hoffman ends up wearing Cyclops’ visor, he would be a worthy candidate to become part of the X-Men.

Marvel Studios’ X-Men reboot does not currently have an official release date.

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