Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse marches on. The director announced late last night that he had casted Storm, Jean Grey, and Cyclops — roles originally held by Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, and James Marsden, respectively, in the original X-Men trilogy. Given that the new movie takes place both years prior to 2000's X-Men (and also presumably in a separate timeline, cf. Days of Future Past), Singer went for younger talent that could grow into this timeline.

Sophie Turner, best known as Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, will play the telepath Jean Grey. Her future love interest, the one who shoots lasers out of his eyes, will be played by Tye Sheridan (Mud, The Tree of Life). Rounding out the trio is Alexandra Shipp (Straight Outta Compton, Aayliyah: The Princess of R&B) as Storm, who, at this point, we 'd like to let the reader know is actually really cool in the comics (as opposed to her previous portrayal in the film series).

Last November it was announced that Oscar Isaac would play the titular character (meaning the villain Apocalypse, not collectively the X-Men). The new characters join Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), James McAvoy (Charles Xavier), and Evan Peters (Quicksilver). Patrick Stewart recently said he isn't sure if he'll be returning as older Professor X (via E! Online), but we'd be very surprised if he and Ian McKellen didn't at least make a cameo. On a related note, Hugh Jackman will show up on set as Wolverine whether Bryan Singer wants him to or not.

X-Men: Apocalypse will hit theaters May 27th, 2016. For those keeping track, there are seven more superhero movies confirmed for 2016. For Fox, which owns X-Men, it's Deadpool (February 12th) and Gambit (October 7th) starring Channing Tatum. For DC / Warner Bros., it's Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (March 25th) and Suicide Squad (August 5th). For Marvel Studios, it's Captain America: Civil War (May 6th) and Doctor Strange (November 4th) starring Benedict Cumberbatch. For Sony, it's Spider-Man spinoff The Sinister Six (November 11th). There's probably a Star Wars film or two in there, as well.

... Y'know, when it's listed like that, it feels rather overwhelming and disheartening.