Marvel’s best choice to lead the X-Men piles on the pressure thanks to Netflix triple-whammy win

The MCU is coming down with a serious case of X-Men fever this year, what with X-Men ’97 currently unfolding on Disney Plus and Deadpool 3 smashing onto the big screen in the summer. Let’s not forgot that work is underway on a full-on reboot of the mutant super-team behind the scenes as well.

That means that we’ll soon be getting all-new interpretations of these beloved characters, which might just prove to be the most important round of Marvel casting since the Avengers in Phase One. After all, Kevin Feige is pretty much putting all his eggs into the X-Men and Fantastic Four baskets going forward. So whoever ends up playing Professor X and his students will no doubt be the face of the franchise for the next couple of decades.

While the X-Men reboot remains in the scripting stages at present, you know that Marvel is already putting out its feelers to determine who might be well-suited to the task. Well, the latest streaming success story brings to light someone who would be an X-ceptional choice to lead the new X-Men.

The Maze Runner runs rings around the competition on Netflix, reminding Marvel to give Dylan O’Brien a call

FlixPatrol tells us that Netflix users around the world are having a craze for The Maze Runner movies right now. All three entries in the YA dystopian trilogy have sprinted up the streaming charts to claim three spots in the Netflix worldwide top 10.

Specifically, 2014’s The Maze Runner is in 5th place, while 2015’s The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and 2018’s The Maze Runner: The Death Cure are in 7th and 8th. Sandwiched in between the films is Polish comedy No Pressure. Ironically, though, Disney — which now owns the rights to the IP following the dissolution of 20th Century Fox — might be feeling the pressure to reboot the franchise given its enduring success. Although the studio is likely pleased it’s kept hold of director Wes Ball to helm Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

If Disney really want to make a smart move, though, then it might be wise to snatch Dylan O’Brien back to star in another key property on its books. Yes, you can see what I’m getting at here. The former Teen Wolf star would be an excellent pick to lead Marvel’s rebooted X-Men as Cyclops aka Scott Summers. Poor Cyke was routinely undervalued in the Fox era, but O’Brien is someone with the immense screen charisma and pre-existing popularity to make him a favorite all over again. His Maze Runner co-star, Will Poulter, is even already in the MCU as Adam Warlock!

Of course, O’Brien himself has admitted he’s not all that interested in signing up for a superhero film, but Marvel has a knack for going after the stars it wants and getting them — see Chris Evans turning down Captain America twice before he said yes. I’m just saying, Dylan might be the real deal to lead the MCU out of the maze of mediocrity it’s got lost in across the Multiverse Saga.