In typical Bryan Singer fashion, the director has taken to social media to announce the newest arrival to his X-Universe. Via his Instagram account, Singer revealed that newcomer Lana Condor will board the sizeable cast of X-Men: Apocalypse. She will play Jubilation Lee – known by comic fans as the cleverly-abbreviated Jubilee.
The teen mutant has been spotted throughout the cinematic X-Men franchise, albeit in the background. She appeared in both X-Men and X-Men: The Last Stand for brief cameo appearances and was played by Katrina Florece and Kea Wong, respectively. The latter also shot a sequence as Jubilee for the middle sequel X2 which was left on the cutting room floor. Today’s reveal could suggest that this time Jubilee will be granted a speaking part which secures her a position in the core cast.
The character was first introduced in Uncanny X-Men No. 244 as a troublesome teenage mutant who winds up befriending Wolverine before joining the X-Men. She later became a mainstay in the X-Men comic books over the next decade. Her powers include the ability to detonate matter at a subatomic level. That ought to come in handy when Magneto plans another deadly attack, right?
Condor, whose appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse will be her first major role, joins an already impressive roster for the highly-anticipated sequel. James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Alexandra Shipp, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, and Kodi Smit-McPhee are all onboard to play various mutants for the comic sequel that will arrive on May 27th, 2016. If yesterday’s spate of rumors are to be believed, this squad may also witness pop-up cameos from Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Halle Berry as Storm and Channing Tatum as Gambit.