New Professor X Actor Was Humbled By His MCU X-Men Casting Reveal for a Surprising Reason

All eyes have been on Marvel Studios’ planned reboot of the X-Men for over a year now, starting when Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier was tapped to helm the first movie starring Marvel’s merry band of mutants for the MCU. Ever since the worst-kept secret of the MCU, Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey, was all fans could talk about, the anticipation of who would join her on the X-Men has been on everyone’s mind. Marvel made things official at D23 this past August, confirming the first wave of actors that would bring a new era of X-Men to life on the big screen, and there’s even more expected soon.

Among the actors confirmed to star in the new X-Men movie were Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Kit Connor as Cyclops, and Maya Boyd as Storm. Set to lead the group is actor Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier, taking on the role previously held by Patrick Stewart and Jame McAvoy. Speaking with New York Magazine about his casting announcement, the Possessor and Wolf Man star revealed the bevy of emotions that overcame him during the experience that he called humbling, revealing: “I think I started walking out pretty enthusiastically, and then I kind of felt like a lot of people there didn’t know who I was, so then my energy shifted within a split second. I was a little bit more humble about it.”

New Professor X Star Reveals His Reaction to Fan Response

Abbott went on to reveal that in his head he thought about doing “a fist pump when I walked” but felt that after he actually made his entrance, the response may not have warranted such a reaction. He adds, “I felt like the applause was muted. So I was like, ‘I’m just going to walk out and nod.’ It feels almost like a video game, or a dream. Not like a good dream. It’s a bit of both — a bit of a dream and a nightmare.”

It’s easy to see not only why Abbott himself would have this kind of reflection about the response to his casting, but also why fans may not have been expecting his presence (partially thanks to rumors of Bill Skarsgård and others being in contention). There’s good news here for Abbott, though, which is that a muted response early to the initial casting means that you can only go up from here; in fact, one might argue that his casting is Marvel getting back to what it did best in the early days of the MCU.

Even though Robert Downey Jr. was arguably a huge star before he signed on to become Iron Man, it was his time in the MCU that propelled his career to new heights. Furthermore, the same can be said for Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth when they were cast as Captain America and Thor, respectively. That said, it’s easy to see the vision of the X-Men cast here, as it’s Marvel taking stars and crafting them for the masses, building them up to take on these iconic roles and become household names. Christopher Abbot may have felt the fans didn’t know who he was at 2026’s D23, but just wait for San Diego Comic-Con in 2028 after the new X-Men movie has already premiered.

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