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‘X-Men’ Star Maya Boyd Begins Training for Storm With Charlie Cox’s ‘Daredevil’ Coach

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Marvel’s new X-Men are starting to take shape. At D23 in Anaheim in August, Kevin Feige took the stage with director Jake Schreier to introduce the cast of the studio’s long-awaited mutant reboot, the first X-Men film Marvel Studios has made since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox.

The lineup includes Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, and Adam Driver as the villain Mister Sinister. Broadway rising star Maya Boyd was also revealed as Ororo Munroe, better known as Storm.

Now Boyd has started getting into superhero shape. A photo shared by DiscussingFilm shows the 23-year-old actress smiling alongside trainer Naqam Washington in a well-equipped gym, as she begins preparing for her role as Storm.

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Washington is a familiar name to Marvel fans. He’s the trainer who helped Charlie Cox build Matt Murdock’s physique for ‘Daredevil’, and he also worked with Cox to prepare for ‘Daredevil: Born Again’.

Fans quickly reacted to the news, with many excited about the ‘Daredevil’ connection. Comic Basics noted that Marvel hasn’t shared details about the physical demands of the role or Boyd’s specific training plan.

Washington is the founder of Arazi Fitness and describes his approach as modern, sport-specific training. For Cox, he designed a full-body routine focused on strength, agility, and endurance, including rowing machine sprints, sled pushes, and incline treadmill sprints.

He has also stressed the importance of diet in building lean muscle. During his ‘Born Again’ preparation, Cox reportedly ate 6 to 7 meals a day built around lean proteins, complex carbs and healthy fats.

Storm will be Boyd’s first major movie role. A University of Michigan graduate with a degree in musical theater, she made her Broadway debut while still in school in the ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ revival alongside Jonathan Groff, Lindsey Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe.

She went on to play the title role in ‘& Juliet’ and appeared earlier this year as Molly Cunningham in a limited run of August Wilson’s ‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone’, directed by Debbie Allen. She has also built a large TikTok following of more than 450,000 people through skits, family videos and singing clips.

Boyd follows Halle Berry and Alexandra Shipp in bringing the weather-controlling mutant to the big screen. After her casting, she called the role an honor on Instagram, and Alison Sealy-Smith, the first actor to voice Storm, welcomed her to the role.

Schreier, who previously directed ‘Thunderbolts*’, is helming the film from a script by Michael Lesslie. Production is scheduled to begin in 2027. Marvel still hasn’t announced who will play Wolverine, Magneto, or Beast, leaving plenty of room for more casting news.

Many fans had specifically asked for a dark-skinned Black actress to play Storm, and Boyd’s casting received a warm response. The film is set to open in theaters on May 5, 2028. Before then, the X-Men begin their move into the MCU in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ this December.

With training already underway, Boyd appears to be preparing well ahead of filming. That early start suggests Storm could have a substantial action role in the reboot. For fans who have waited years to see the X-Men join the MCU, these early glimpses of preparation are an exciting sign that the new team is coming together.

Are you excited to see Maya Boyd take on Storm in Marvel’s X-Men?

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