Kevin Feige closed the Disney Entertainment Showcase on Friday night by naming the X-Men, which is the headline everywhere and is the correct headline.
But the most interesting name on the list is one that isn't news, exactly.
Jean Grey did not debut at D23. She debuted at the multiplex.
Sadie Sink plays Jean Grey in the new X-Men film. She also plays Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is in theatres right now.
Sink was cast in 2025 with her character undisclosed, filmed under a decoy codename, and sat through more than a year of press without saying it. In Brand New Day she is set up as a mysterious antagonist, using telepathy to possess bystanders and get inside the Department of Damage Control — an agency that turns out to have worse motives than hers.
So the sequence Marvel actually ran is this: put a mutant on screen, let audiences watch her for two weeks without a franchise label attached, and only then hold the press conference. The X-Men were not announced into the MCU. They were already in it before anyone was told what to call them.
That is a meaningfully different play from the one Marvel has run for a decade, and it is the thing the cast list buries.
On stage, Sink put it plainly: "It is so wonderful to be here and to finally be able to talk about this character after months of speculation. We're here to talk about the X-Men. Should we meet some more of the cast?"
The X-Men, in full
Directed by Jake Schreier, who made Thunderbolts*. In theatres May 5, 2028.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Sadie Sink | Jean Grey |
| Kit Connor | Scott Summers / Cyclops |
| Christopher Abbott | Professor Charles Xavier |
| Samara Weaving | Emma Frost |
| Inde Navarrette | Rogue |
| Maya Boyd | Storm |
| Adam Driver | "Nathaniel Milbury" |
Two things worth flagging.
Christopher Abbott as Xavier is the reveal that tells you the tone. Abbott is 40 and does not do stately. Casting him rather than an elder statesman suggests a Xavier closer to the character's actual comics age when the school opened — and a school that is being built, not inherited.
Adam Driver announced himself as "Nathaniel Milbury," by video from an empty soundstage at Pinewood, which is a small piece of theatre. Milbury is the alias Mister Sinister uses when he needs to pass for human.
The tease was deliberate. "Kevin and I have been talking for years about maybe joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe," Driver said. "So I'm very excited to be playing Mag…. Nope. Even better. Nathaniel Milbury."
He starts to say Magneto and stops himself. Marvel gave out a cover name, dangled a bigger one, and let the room do the rest of the work.
Feige also said more X-Men casting is still to come — so this is a partial roster, not the team.
The rest of Marvel
Avengers: Doomsday — in theatres December 18. Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell and Robert Downey Jr. took the stage to introduce a special look and a new poster, teasing the showdown between Downey's Doctor Doom and a multiverse of heroes. Evans and Atwell return as Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter.
VisionQuest — a genuine premiere. Paul Bettany and James Spader debuted the trailer and poster. The series follows a rebooted Vision, in hiding after escaping those who wanted to weaponise him, consulting the A.I. personas embedded in his programming — F.R.I.D.A.Y., E.D.I.T.H., J.A.R.V.I.S. and Spader's Ultron — while on the run with a boy named Thomas Shepard who may be his son, reincarnate. It completes the trilogy that began with WandaVision and continued in Agatha All Along. On Disney+, October 14.
Marvel's Wolverine — Feige also unveiled a new trailer for Insomniac's game, in which Logan hunts for answers about his past. Exclusive to PlayStation 5 from September 15.
Star Wars
Ahsoka season 2 — Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni brought Rosario Dawson, Hayden Christensen and Eman Esfandi out to debut the teaser and, more usefully, a hard date: January 20, 2027 on Disney+.
Star Wars: Starfighter — director Shawn Levy and Ryan Gosling revealed the film's official logo. Gosling plays Kade Auberon (StarWars.com's spelling; several outlets ran "Cade Oberon"), described as a man from the wrong side of the galaxy whose fate is bound up with the fastest starfighter ever built.
Levy's other detail is the good one: Starfighter opens next May, on the exact weekend the original Star Wars opened 50 years earlier.
LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian — a new special hits Disney+ on September 2, with a trailer already out.
Pixar, at forty
Pete Docter used the studio's 40th anniversary to lay out four films.
Incredibles 3 — June 2028. Docter's framing: "it's the kids' turn." Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack lead, sneaking out to fight crime while Jack-Jack's powers get harder to contain, and the family faces a villain with "more power than the family put together." Concept art shows Mr. Incredible back in his original blue suit.
Coco 2 — November 2029, original directors returning. Benjamin Bratt appeared to confirm he is back as Ernesto de la Cruz, now seeking revenge. Miguel is a teenager and gets pulled back into the land of the dead.
Gatto — March 2027. Two clips shown, including a trailer cut to the Rolling Stones' "Paint It, Black," following Nero as he dodges police and says he "just wants the straight life for once."
Ono Ghost Market — Spring 2028. Pixar's first supernatural film.
Disney Animation and live action
- Zootopia 3 — confirmed by Goodwin and Quan. The logo's "3" is made of feathers and the tease points upward into the city's higher reaches. No date.
- Hexed — November 25. Hailee Steinfeld as Billie Doe, Walton Goggins as a cat named Beef Roger Crummchuck, Jodie Foster as Queen Celeste.
- Clay — November 2028. A film about a ball of clay, with Kieran Culkin voicing a mentor.
- Oswald — a three-part hand-drawn 2D miniseries on Disney+ in February 2027, animated by a mix of Disney veterans and new hires.
- Lilo & Stitch 2 — May 2028. Angel, Experiment 624 and Stitch's pink counterpart, is confirmed.
- Tangled (live action) — Kathryn Hahn says it is filming on location.
- The Bluey Movie — 2027. First footage, in a new 3-D animation style, released online.
- The New Simpsons Movie — September 3, 2027. Rough storyboard footage of Homer chasing a foul ball through a stadium, a bar, a bowling alley and a factory before it lands at Bart's feet.
- The Princess Diaries 3 — Anne Hathaway says they are "hard at work." No title, date, cast or production timeline.
- Romy and Michele 2 — Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino, entering "a whole new phase."
- Ice Age: Boiling Point — Queen Latifah and Denis Leary; new trailer shown, film in final touches.
- The Greatest Showman stage musical — details shared.
Disney+ and games
- Kingdom Hearts: The Series — an original anime inspired by the games, coming to Disney Channel and Disney+. No date. Separately, Coco is joining the next Kingdom Hearts game.
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 3 — trailer debuted with star Walker Scobell present. November 20. New gods include Hera, played by Ming-Na Wen. The season follows Percy's rescue of Annabeth and the war brewing between gods and Titans.
- Camp Rock 3 — the Jonas Brothers appeared; it is streaming now.
The dates, in order
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| Sept 2, 2026 | LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian (Disney+) |
| Sept 15, 2026 | Marvel's Wolverine (PS5) |
| Oct 14, 2026 | VisionQuest (Disney+) |
| Nov 20, 2026 | Percy Jackson S3 (Disney+) |
| Nov 25, 2026 | Hexed |
| Dec 18, 2026 | Avengers: Doomsday |
| Jan 20, 2027 | Ahsoka season 2 (Disney+) |
| Feb 2027 | Oswald (Disney+) |
| March 2027 | Gatto |
| May 2027 | Star Wars: Starfighter |
| 2027 | The Bluey Movie |
| Sept 3, 2027 | The New Simpsons Movie |
| Spring 2028 | Ono Ghost Market |
| May 5, 2028 | X-Men |
| May 2028 | Lilo & Stitch 2 |
| June 2028 | Incredibles 3 |
| Nov 2028 | Clay |
| Nov 2029 | Coco 2 |
What was missing
Nothing on Avengers: Secret Wars. No release date for Zootopia 3, and nothing concrete on The Princess Diaries 3 beyond Anne Hathaway's "We are working so hard on getting Princess Diaries 3 right." No Frozen 3 update. The rest of the X-Men roster is still unannounced.
D23 runs through August 16, and the parks and experiences announcements are still to come.
This is a developing story and will be updated as further announcements are made.
