Ben Wang is reportedly in talks to play Bobby Drake, better known as Iceman, in Marvel Studios’ X-Men reboot. Deadline reports the casting talks, as The Beat reports. Marvel has not announced the casting, and a deal is not yet final.
According to the report, Wang, 29, came out ahead of Gabriel LaBelle (The Fabelmans), Jackson Kelly (The Body), and Rhenzy Feliz (The Penguin) for the role. The film is directed by Jake Schreier, who helmed Thunderbolts*, and The Beat lists its release date as May 5, 2028.
Wang is best known for Karate Kid: Legends and Disney+’s American Born Chinese, where he worked with frequent MCU director Destin Daniel Cretton. He also appeared in The Long Walk (2025) alongside David Jonsson, Marvel’s newly cast Black Panther. His next release is The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, due in theaters Nov. 20.
If the deal closes, Wang would be the second actor to play Iceman on film after Shawn Ashmore, who held the role across the original trilogy and 2014’s Days of Future Past. He would also be the first Asian actor to play the character.
The reported X-Men lineup already includes Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Inde Navarrete as Rogue, Maya Boyd as Storm, Asa Germann as Angel, and Adam Driver as Nathaniel Milbury.
The original film X-Men return sooner. As we covered when Patrick Stewart died at 86, his Charles Xavier is part of Avengers: Doomsday, which hits theaters Dec. 18.
