Is Sunspot Joining Thunderbird in New X-Men Drama 'Gifted?'

Warning: The following article contains potential spoilers on the upcoming X-Men series, Gifted.

Over the past few weeks, several announcements have been made about the new X-Men series #Gifted, a joint project between Marvel and Fox. Gifted will be the second television series produced by the two studios, adding to our hopes that a major crossover will take place in the near future. For now, let's take a look at what's to come in Gifted.

Blair Redford is playing Thunderbird.

The latest information revealed Blair Redford would be playing mutant Thunderbird. The detail was discovered in a tweet posted on the #XMen Saga Twitter account. Check it out below.

Redford was initially believed to be playing a character by the name of "Sam" (and he's still listed as that on the IMDb page) but with the news that Redford's superhero alias will be Thunderbird, it makes more sense for him to be playing John Proudstar rather than a character by the name of "Sam." So very likely some smoke and mirrors on the part of the series to keep his character secret for as long as possible.

In the special issues of Giant Size X-Men, John Proudstar had taken on the Thunderbird mantle. Thunderbird was recruited by Professor X to join Nightcrawler, Storm, Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus, Banshee, and Sunspot on that iteration of the X-Men team.

Thunderbird's mutant abilities merely enhanced his normal capabilities to superhuman levels but his mutant power made him a formidable hero nonetheless.

Redford, who is part Native American, would most likely be a good fit for John Proudstar from the comics. So, pairing that tidbit about Redford with his code-name of Thunderbird, it provides enough evidence to conclude Redford is portraying John Proudstar.

Apart from Thunderbird, there are still a few characters we don't have much information on. But, the aforementioned tweet may have revealed the identity of another mutant, played by Sean Teale.

Sean Teale Playing Eclipse a.k.a. Sunspot

If you look at the picture in the embedded tweet, we can see #SeanTeale is given the codename of Eclipse. The name "Eclipse" may not seem all that familiar and that's because Eclipse is known by a different name in the comics: Sunspot.

In the comics, Eclipse/Sunspot's full name is Roberto Da Costa. As a fighter in the Mutant Resistance, he played a prominent role in the Days Of Future Past story. That detail on his character would coincide with the plot details of Gifted which indicate mutants are being hunted down.

An iteration of Sunspot was introduced in X-Men: Days Of Future Past but that iteration won't be affiliated with the newest version of Sunspot on Gifted. It also seems likely that Teale is playing the newest version of Sunspot with the name of "Eclipse" being a perfect way to detract attention away from his real identity as Sunspot.

With their codenames being good indicators of their character's identities, it's fair to say Teale will be playing Sunspot alongside Blair Redford as Thunderbird.