THE GIFTED Casts Grace Byers as The Hellfire Club's Reeva Payge

The Hellfire Club's Inner Circle is growing.

Marvel has announced that the Fox series The Gifted, based on Marvel Comics' X-Men properties, has cast Grace Byers as Reeva Payge, a mutant who becomes the Black Queen of The Hellfire Club's Inner Circle.

According to the announcement, Reeva is described as "a smart, charming, authoritative, elegant, beautiful woman who is ruthless in her efforts to fight for her people.  She leads an elite band of followers and has a soft spot for her new recruits, but is still capable of extreme violence in defense of her vision."

In addition, Reeva "will be teaming up with Polaris (Emma Dumont), Andy Strucker (Percy Hynes White) and the Frost sisters (Skyler Samuels) in the Inner Circle, following the huge turn of events that occurred at the end of Season 1."

Byers, 33, is best known as Anika Calhoun on the Fox music industry drama Empire.  She also appeared as Kate in the 2018 movie Bent.

Created in 1994 by Ian Edginton and Gene Ha, Reeva Payge first appeared in X-Men (vol.2) Annual #3 as a mutant with the ability to generate a high note from her vocal cords that directly affects the brain's neurochemistry, painfully distorting perceptions of reality, causing them to experience dizziness and hallucinations.  The note is beyond a normal human's ability to detect sound.

When Shinobi Shaw, son of Hellfire Club founding member Sebastian Shaw, took over the New York chapter of The Hellfire Club, he formed his own Inner Circle after Archangel and Sunspot declined.  Reeva was designated as the Inner Circle's Black Queen, along with Shaw as Black King, Benazir Kaur as White Queen, and Benedict Kine as White King.

This Inner Circle was presented to Ororo Monroe, better known as Storm, when Shinobi Shaw attempted to recruit her as well.  When Storm tried to resist Shaw, she was drugged and kidnapped.  The X-Men arrived as Shaw attempted to inject her with more drugs, and fought Reeva and the new Hellfire Club until Storm cornered Shaw.  She asked him if he was willing to die for his beliefs, but he wasn't and let her leave.  Shinobi Shaw's actions as Black King were limited to failed attempts at extending his influence and monitoring the London branch of the Club, leading to Sebastian Shaw retaking control.

The Gifted is expected to return to Fox for Season 2 sometime in Fall 2018.