Insomniac Games Leak Reveals Debra Wilson To Portray Race-Swapped Callisto In ‘Marvel’s Wolverine’
Spencer Baculi
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Reset the clock, they got another one.
According to information uncovered in the recently leaked trove of Insomniac Games’ internal files, the X-Men’s noted sometimes-ally, sometimes-enemy Callisto is set to make an appearance in the studio’s upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine – but with a very significant, race-based change made to her character.
[SPOILER WARNING: Significant spoilers for Marvel’s Wolverine follow below. If you’d like to avoid them, please refrain from reading any further.]
This race-swapping of the Morlocks’ rough-and-tumble leader was first revealed courtesy of a series of promotional casting images discovered within the aforementioned leak, each highlighting one of the game’s main characters and the respective actors whose voices and visual likenesses were used to bring them to life.
Per these images, the game’s cast includes:
- Self described “actor, writer, producer, drag king, and queer abolitionist activist” Noga Wind as Leech
- Tamil singer Pragathi Guruprasad as Davina, an original character who serves as the leader of a mutant sanctuary in the seedy country of Madripoor, where it appears most of the game will take place
- X2: X-Men United Lady Deathstrike actress as Tyger Tiger, a powerful Madripoorian ‘mover’ who is married to Mystique
- Criminal Minds actress Nicole Pacent as said blue-skinned seductress, who will apparently take on the guise of notorious anti-mutant weapons developer Bolivar Trask during her time in Madripoor
- Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire actor Raphael Corkhill as the Russian, whip-wielding monster known as Omega Red
- Alchemy of Souls star Jonathan Toshiobu Tanigaki as the flame-wielding Sunfire, a noted Mutant freedom fighter in his hometown of Tokyo
- The Last of Us Joel Miller voice actor Troy Baker as Mr. Sinister, the pair’s adoptive father
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Camila Vazquez voice actress Krizia Bajos as the game’s “second protagonist” Jean Grey
- The Man in the High Castle actor Jeffrey Nordling as Sasquatch, who unfortunately finds himself as one of Mr. Sinister’s victims
- Queenmaker star Jolene Kim as the game’s incarnation of Lady Deathstrike
- Spartacus star Liam McIntyre as the titular mutant berserker
- And finally, Debra Wilson, who many may know for having portrayed essentially herself in a number of recent Triple-A releases such as Forspoken, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, as Callisto herself
RELATED RUMOR: Marvel Studios’ Upcoming ‘X-Men’ Reboot To Center On Female Mutants, Feature Mr. Sinister As Villain
As long-time X-fans may have surely noticed, Callisto’s depiction in Marvel’s Wolverine as a black woman presents a significant departure from her original, comic book appearance.
Per her introduction to Marvel Comics canon, as penned by noted mutant scribe Chris Claremont in 1983’s Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #169, the leader of mutantdom’s resident group of sewer-dewelling outcasts was originally presented as a pale-skinned white woman.
Notably, Callisto’s explicit background has never been explored, and thus exact details regarding such information as her heritage and parentage remain unknown.
However, despite this ambiguity, the Morlock leader has never been depicted – in any continuity – as anything other than a white woman.
That is, every continuity save one.
Previously, the supersense-wielding mutant was race-swapped in 2005’s X-Men: The Last Stand, wherein she was portrayed by actress Dani Ramirez.
And though Wilson’s casting as Callisto represents only the second such time the character has been race-swapped, it should be noted that both such times such changes have been made to her ethnicity, it was done in service of her appearance in a ‘big budget’ production.
Barring any set-backs as a result of the leak, Sony’s Insomniac Games’ Marvel’s Wolverine is set to claw its way onto shelves sometime in 2026.
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