Bisexual Icon Kit Connor Is Reportedly Marvel’s New Cyclops And The Thirst Traps Practically Write Themselves

Kit Connor may be trading Heartstopper’s school corridors for Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.

The openly bisexual British actor is reportedly Marvel Studios’ choice to play Scott Summers, better known as Cyclops, in its forthcoming X-Men reboot and the choice has fans frothing over the possibilities.

Kit Connor is the most comic-accurate Cyclops we’ve ever had. pic.twitter.com/hTH7aLIQXm

— Dhritiman (@SonOfVaivasvata) August 7, 2026

Could Kit Connor be our new Cyclops?

According to Deadline, Marvel boss Kevin Feige and director Jake Schreier met with several candidates before landing on Connor. Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons have also reported the prospective casting. A completed deal has yet to be publicly announced by Marvel, so the there is nothing set in stone, just yet.

Connor became a queer screen favourite playing bisexual teenager Nick Nelson in Netflix’s Heartstopper. He publicly came out as bisexual in 2022 after intrusive “queerbaiting” accusations, later explaining that he would have preferred to do so differently.

Connor’s career beyond Heartstopper is also accelerating. He will voice teenager Charlie Paley in Netflix’s forthcoming animated film Charlie vs. The Chocolate Factory, opposite Taika Waititi as Willy Wonka. Directed by Jared Stern and Elaine Bogan, the film is scheduled to arrive on Netflix in 2027, adding another major franchise to Connor’s increasingly packed résumé.

Of course, Connor would not be cinema’s first Scott Summers. Hollywood heartthrob James Marsden originated the live-action role in 2000’s X-Men, returning for X2, The Last Stand and a cameo in Days of Future Past. Tim Pocock briefly played a teenage Scott in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, while Tye Sheridan inherited the visor for X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool 2 and Dark Phoenix.

Although Marsden brought movie star looks and clean cut charm to the part, many Cyclops devotees believe the films wasted near perfect casting by reducing Scott to Wolverine’s romantic competition. One recurring fan verdict is that Marsden was right for Cyclops but “screwed by the writers.” Sheridan attracted praise for capturing Scott’s youthful awkwardness, although reactions remain divided because his version was likewise given little opportunity to become the commanding leader known from the comics.

Marsden is returning as Cyclops in Avengers: Doomsday, reportedly wearing the classic blue and yellow costume for the first time, before Kit Connor potentially begins a new era for the character.

Cyclops was a cartoon sex symbol long before the internet invented the term “thirst trap.” Writer JP Larocque described the animated Scott’s sculpted torso, muscular thighs and conspicuously tight costume as a formative queer awakening in a wonderfully candid Xtra essay.

Fans debate whether “Thirst Trap Cyclops” began with an August 1981 comic or Jim Lee’s famously hairy-chested 1991 poolside artwork, but agree that his buttoned-up personality only intensifies the appeal.

Rowan Kaiser’s gloriously titled essay “How I Learned to Love Cyclops, and His Sexy Sexy Butt” argues that Scott became sexier as writers gave him a complex inner life, a kinkier relationship with Emma Frost and a revolutionary edge. A 2006 meditation on Cyclops and the male gaze similarly recognised how conspicuously his animated body was displayed.

kit connor cast as scott summers/cyclops
i actually love this choice, oh my god… pic.twitter.com/dzpsxncuAk

— 💫 (@suhojinyoung) August 6, 2026

His queer erotic afterlife goes further still beyond the comics and films. Wolverine and Cyclops have inspired slash fiction, fan art and, inevitably, an explicit gay porn parody. Apparently, decades of romantic rivalry were merely foreplay, if you believe the team at Men.com.

Should Connor officially secure the visor, Marvel will have cast a bisexual icon as a superhero already embedded in queer desire. After multiple handsome actors but decades of frustratingly limited screen treatment, Scott Summers may finally be brought to life in all the lusty, commanding glory fans have long craved.