Professor X Hasn't Read A Page

Christopher Abbott, cast as Professor X in Marvel Studios' X-Men movie, told Entertainment Tonight that he "hasn't read anything yet. Nothing," as Deadline reports. He's "not even being coy." He has not read anything, but he "can't wait," because the film isn't scheduled to open until May 2028.

Two months after the casting announcement, the man who will play the one character whose entire job is reading minds has not read a word. That's not a mystery. That's just how Marvel works. You announce, you confirm, you book the premiere for 2028, and the actor practices his "can't wait" soundbite in the meantime.

Abbott keeps calling the whole operation "really, really good," but the most honest sentence in the entire Marvel press tour was "I'm not even being coy." The telepath has been keeping perfect records: zero pages. Meanwhile the rest of that cast is presumably reading stuff. Adam Driver is probably reading his own agent's texts.

The machine gets its free preview of the movie before the movie exists. Two years before opening night, you get a director, a cast, a premiere date, and an actor who is "excited to work with Jake Schreier." Marvel's mind-reading department is the only department that reads anything, and when it reads, it's the room.

YOUR TURN: Should Marvel make reading page one an audition requirement, or is "can't wait" enough credit?