D23 is Disney’s press event that runs once a year where the studio shows off their latest projects, showing exclusive footage and trailers, as well as announcements of projects up and coming. Naturally, the panels everyone gets the most excited for are when Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm take to the stage for their latest announcements.

We already had a huge stack of announcements from Marvel at San Diego Comic Con at the end of July where they unveiled their plans for Phase 5 & Phase 6, but they didn’t reveal everything. It was clear that there were certain points of the timeline that hadn’t been revealed just yet with people speculating that the rest of the timeline would be filled out at D23.

@Marvel_updat3s has said that we will get cast announcements for The Thunderbolts and Fantastic 4, Deadpool 3 and Shang-Chi 2 updates, as well confirmation of Nova, Wonderman and Okoye projects as well as the Halloween special, Werewolf by Night, as well as likely footage from Echo and Secret Invasion which is shooting and release next year. They even went onto talk about possible announcements of The Midnight Sons, Scarlet Witch, Hercules, Moon Knight season 2, Eternals 2, Doctor Strange 3 and talking about X-Men. This is all just speculation.

However it was the surprising tweet from sports reporter Emmet Kennedy (@RadioEmmet) that caught people’s attention. Not known for his entertainment tweets, on September 2nd he tweeted that he has been “reliably informed” that the following big actors have all been tapped to join the MCU. So let’s speculate as to who they could be playing, before all is revealed on Saturday.

HENRY CAVILL

Perhaps the biggest surprise to some people is the least surprising to some of the rest of us. Cavill became an A List name because of his role in the DCEU playing Superman, but with the lack of movement for a straight sequel and studio interference as well as the other numerous problems with Warner Bros at the moment it could be the perfect time for Cavill to look elsewhere where he can shine. He’s had big success with The Witcher, but is a big name that could easily lead a franchise if required if WB aren’t willing. Or he could be in both universes at the same time, he wouldn’t be the first actor to do so.

It’s natural that when there is a Superman-esque character floating about and getting mentioned that you go to the man himself. Whether Cavill would want to do that or not is another question. His name has recently been linked to the character of Hyperion, who could appear in Loki season 2. The villain leads Squadron Supreme, which is, very unsubtly, a rip-off of the Justice League, Hyperion being the Superman. It could even be possible that some other people from this list could be part of that team, but I don’t know any other characters so let’s just say any of them could be any of the characters.

In a way it would be funny that Cavill turns to DC’s rivals to actually get Superman done correctly, but I almost think Cavill is more talented than that and would like to see him do something different. Hyperion might be the most likely but I think he could be a decent Cyclops (maybe slightly too beefy), Wonder Man (we could get announcement of who is playing him on Saturday) Captain Britain, Wolverine (perhaps too tall) or as he is a busy man he could simply lend his voice to The Thing as part of the Fantastic 4 so it doesn’t confuse some of the audience.

JOHN BOYEGA

Boyega said recently, in an interview with Men’s Health “That’s not in the vision for me now” so unless he has gone full Andrew Garfield on us (which is a possibility) it felt unlikely, despite there being rumours a while ago that he was set to appear in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Boyega has some big problems with Disney after he felt he was led on and was being set up for a big role in the Star Wars sequel trilogy which wasn’t delivered on.

With his focus being on more independent and unique films at the moment, stepping into a big franchise like the MCU seemed like it was a long way a way. Perhaps it’s more likely that he will appear as a villain in a film where he can just do the one and be done.

As for a specific role I couldn’t think of anything specifically so I tried to think of what seems like that could be announced at D23 and we know that Fantastic 4 is coming. I think Boyega would be a solid choice as a Johnny Storm/Human Torch or Cyclops. We’ve seen him do a lot of serious roles in recent years that suit the Cyclops’ personality, or Finn was a bit more of a Human Torch personality. I’m giving the edge to Human Torch although he is a similar age to the actress I’m casting as The Invisible Woman, when he is typically younger.

DAISY EDGAR JONES

Daisy Edgar Jones’ star has been on a very quick rise over the last couple of years. Her role in Normal People got her noticed heavily and then had recent success with Fresh and Where the Crawdad Sings. Edgar Jones is certainly a star and a great actress to get onboard in the MCU at the age of just 24 she has a lot of years ahead and could grow to have a big role.

Her name was floated around with rumours of The Invisible Woman, but if John Krasinski is staying as Mr Fantastic there would be a significant age gap between them. I then looked at the X-Men I think she could be a solid Jean Grey but again feels like she might be slightly too young, but could depend on the age they want for that class of characters. Another X-Men she could be is Rogue, I do think you can give her a big character and Rogue is one that can pop up as early as in The Marvels with her powers being closely tied to Captain Marvel, but even then could be too young if they want more of a future for the character, as Anna Paquin was just 18 at the time of the release of X-Men.

I ended up settling on Jessica Drew. I don’t know what the deals with this character are, with her technically being a Spider-Man character. She is very closely tied to SHIELD and I think Edgar Jones would suit that more espionage area of the universe, so maybe we could see her in Secret Invasion.

I also think there’s a strong chance we could just see her as a character that I’m not aware of yet.

JOHN KRASINSKI

The others are pure speculation or me making something up but if John Krasinski is going to be unveiled as one character in the MCU it would only make sense for him to return to be Mr Fantastic like the variant he played in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Audiences would almost definitely be confused if he played any other character in the universe unless it’s a voice over role. After the reception of fans in the cinemas when he came on screen, it makes a lot of sense that Marvel will just chuck money at Krasinski and build the team around him.

JODIE COMER

Jodie Comer is another actress who is on the rise after her multi award winning performance as Villanelle in Killing Eve. She had a solid 2021, appearing in Free Guy alongside Ryan Reynolds (who is joining the MCU with Deadpool 3) and claiming more critical praise in The Last Duel proving she can hold her alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest actors, so the MCU would be easy work for her.

The blonde hair naturally makes her a strong choice to be The Invisible Woman, I have no doubt she could hold her own with Krasinski and be the perfect balance for his character. Again, she could be a Jean Grey or Rogue depending on the age they want for those characters, or even Emma Frost I could see her suiting. I like Comer as a villain but I think she could be heading towards being a hero in the MCU.

DENZEL WASHINGTON

There is only one role that I want for the legendary Denzel Washington, Magneto. I don’t care if you’re doing what some fans have suggested by changing his origin to be more race related, I don’t think that will be covered in the films, as they’re likely just to have the X-Men already existing in the MCU. It just fits perfectly, I won’t settle for anything else. There are other people that could do the role well, I have no doubt, but I’m firmly on Team Denzel for this one.

GIANCARLO ESPOSITO

Giancarlo Esposito is known for his roles in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, but has also had roles in The Boys and The Mandalorian giving him a lot of credit among the nerdier audience. It does seem like it would be a stretch to have him in The Mandalorian and MCU at the same time, but we are probably a few years away from seeing him anyway.

Esposito spoke at Superhero Car Show and Comic Con event recognising that he has been fancasted as Mr Freeze, Magneto, Dr Doom and Professor X, before he goes on to say the one he would want to play the most is Professor X, and that he has been and spoken with Marvel Studios at some point.

Esposito has played a lot of villains in recent years and I think it would be refreshing to see him play a good guy and managed to get across the darker and more selfish side of Professor X which was only hinted at during the previous X-Men films. Not going as far as an anti-hero but he could certainly give the character more dimensions that we have previously seen. He would also be great as Magneto or a Dr Doom but I think he would be able to shine the most as Charles Xavier.

There’s my casting for the 7 rumoured big announcements we could be seeing this weekend at D23. We only have to wait a few days to see if the rumour of them being announced is true and whether I managed to predict any of them rightly.

What do you think of my casting predictions? Which characters would you cast them as?

Let me know in the comments and be sure to follow me on social media via the links below to keep up to date with my latest posts and reviews.

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