New Mutants may not arrive in theaters until next year, but Marvel artist Phil Noto has given us a taste of how two of the stars could look as their characters. Fox may be struggling to create a proper Fantastic Four franchise, but their X-Men and Deadpool properties are going strong. Following a string of recent successes, including Logan and Deadpool, 2018 will be packed full of mutant content for Marvel fans. Next year will not only see the release of Deadpool 2, but both X-Men: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants. The latter will finally bring the young team from the comics to the big screen, potentially kicking off a whole new franchise.

Last month, New Mutants officially began pre-production, with director Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) scouting locations ahead of filming on New Mutants starting later this summer. In the meantime, fans are anxiously awaiting news of who will be playing the various (New) mutants in the movie. After months of rumors and negotiations, the first official casting news has finally arrived, with Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones, Doctor Who) and Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Split) now set to play Wolfsbane and Magik, respectively.

Marvel Comics artist Phil Noto took to his Twitter to share a sketch of Taylor-Joy and Williams as Ilyana 'Magik' Rasputin and Rahne 'Wolfsbane' Sinclair, bringing some startling realism to the world of fan sketches. Check it out below:

When it comes to fan renditions of actors as superheroes, we generally have to settle for digital constructions rife with shadow, heavy contrast, and lens flare. By keeping things simple, however, Noto's pencil sketch adds more depth and detail than we're used to seeing in these types of speculative works of art. Of course, Noto has spent years drawing for Marvel and DC, working on a number of X-Men titles along with Batgirl, Black Widow, and a few of the new Star Wars comic books, so his skills are hardly surprising.

With New Mutants a year away, it should not be that long before we get a proper look at Williams and Taylor-Joy in costume and learn who will be playing the rest of the core team. In the meantime, speculation is running wild as to who else will feature in the movie. For one thing, there's Ilyana's brother Colossus, who's appeared in multiple X-Men films and time periods already, played by different actors. One character who reportedly won't be appearing, however, is James McAvoy as Professor X.

NEXT: Every X-Men Movie & TV Show in Development

Source: Phil Noto