Cynthia Erivo reveals she wants to play this Marvel superhero next

Cynthia Erivo has delighted fans with her performance as Elphaba in the movie adaptation of Wicked. Still, the star already has her sights set on playing an iconic Marvel superhero next.

The 37-year-old actor, alongside her co-star Ariana Grande, has becomefor-defying-gravity-meme/”> the centre-point of a cultural phenomenon after Jon M. Chu’s movie was released in November 2024. 

After the actress-come-singer smashed records in the film, Erivo is now considering her next role in Hollywood. Namely, the Marvel Comics’ X-Men character Storm. 

The character, whose real name is Ororo Munroe, is a mutant who harnesses weather manipulation powers and is a much-loved character in the series. 

“I really want to play Storm,” the queer star told the National Board of Review. The star explained that previous X-Men films have yet to explore Storm’s “inner turmoil”, which could leave room for Erivo to take on such a role.

“I know it sounds frivolous but I think we haven’t uncovered how grand she is and all of that inner turmoil that she has, so I think there’s a world where we could do something like that.”

Halle Berry previously portrayed Storm in the Fox X-Men film series, before Alexandra Shipp took over the role in 2016 with X-Men: Apocalypse. After Disney acquired Fox in 2019, Marvel incorporated the X-Men characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This was seen for the first time with the divisive 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine, starring Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth and Hugh Jackman reprising his role as everyone’s favourite angry mammal. The film saw the pair going up against Emma Corrin’s villain, Cassandra Nova.

More recently, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed that more X-Men characters will start to be introduced in the “next few” MCU movies – meaning Erivo’s dreams of portraying Storm might come true. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.