Evidence Is Mounting That Obsession’s Breakout Star Is Going To Be in the MCU’s X-Men Reboot

Curry Barker’s Obsession has already staked its claim as one of the defining entertainment stories of 2026, turning a horror film shot on a budget under $1 million into a box office phenomenon that has climbed past $400 million worldwide for Focus Features. While Barker’s direction and premise generated significant buzz since the film’s debut, its staying power in theaters rests heavily on its cast, and specifically on Inde Navarrette. Her performance as Nikki, the film’s possessed antagonist, has been singled out by critics and fans alike as the element that keeps the supernatural premise grounded and genuinely unsettling rather than gimmicky. That kind of breakout turn tends to open doors across the industry, and Navarrette’s recent comments about her career ambitions suggest one of those doors could lead directly into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“I would,” Navarrette told Nylon Magazine when asked if she would take a role in a Marvel movie, a short answer that carries real weight against the rest of her wish list. She named Ryan Coogler, Greta Gerwig, Michael Mann, and Jake Schreier as her dream directors, and according to Nylon, she has already met with the latter two. That detail is important considering Schreier’s current job at Marvel Studios, as after the critical success of Thunderbolts*, he has been tasked with directing the X-Men movie for Marvel Studios. A private meeting with the director attached to Marvel’s next mutant movie, paired with Navarrette’s own stated openness to the MCU, is difficult to read as a coincidence.

Is Inde Navarrette Becoming an MCU Mutant?

While some people on social media are already celebrating Navarrette’s casting, Marvel Studios has not commented on any names attached to its X-Men reboot. Still, while it might be too soon to call victory, the circumstantial evidence is tight in this instance. Schreier’s mutant movie is expected to premiere soon after Avengers: Secret Wars, positioning the project for one of several open 2028 release dates Disney has already reserved on its slate. Landing any of those windows requires that Schreier’s production be already poised to begin filming in the near future, early 2027 at most, which means Marvel Studios has to lock its cast. If Navarrette’s meeting with Schreier had any connection to casting conversations, it lines up with exactly the moment the studio would need to be making those decisions.

Navarrette also fits Marvel’s stated approach to rebuilding the X-Men from the ground up. Kevin Feige has described the franchise’s mutants as a vehicle for stories about young people who feel like outsiders, a theme that calls for fresh faces. Navarrette, fresh off a widely praised performance, fits that mandate well. Marvel still has an entire roster of iconic mutants waiting for a live-action introduction, including Rogue, Kitty Pryde, and Psylocke, each of whom appeared in the previous era of X-Men films, sometimes more than once, but who need a new actress to bring them to the MCU. Whether Navarrette lands one of those roles or something else entirely, her name entering the conversation now, while Schreier’s project is reportedly deep in pre-production, tracks with how Marvel has historically approached franchise-defining casting decisions.

Obsession is currently playing in theaters. Marvel’s X-Men reboot does not yet have an official release date, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to close out the Multiverse Saga on December 17, 2027.

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Every Confirmed & Potential Mutant in the MCU To Date