Marvel’s new Professor X says you shouldn’t expect him in this December’s Avengers: Doomsday. IGN reports that Christopher Abbott, who plays Charles Xavier in the studio’s 2028 X-Men reboot, told Rolling Stone he has to finish his own film before any crossover appearances.
Rolling Stone’s interviewer asked whether fans should expect his “shiny head” in any cameos before X-Men, and Abbott first sounded baffled. As Rolling Stone’s post on X shows, he said he isn’t in Doomsday once the question narrowed to that film, and that he has to do the X-Men movie “before any of that stuff”.
The interviewer pushed back that launching characters without a cameo is “famously not how Marvel works”. Abbott laughed and answered, “Look, no coyness: I’m not in that movie.” Screen Rant’s transcript of the exchange shows the question named Doomsday only, so his denial covers that film directly.
Secret Wars is a different matter. IGN’s headline lumps both films together, but Abbott’s “before any of that stuff” line is general rather than a direct answer about the 17 December 2027 sequel. Doomsday opens on 18 December 2026, less than two months away, while Secret Wars sits more than a year out with no trailers yet. That leaves a gap between the two films for Marvel to fill, if it wants to.
Marvel’s own track record explains the interviewer’s scepticism. Screen Rant notes that actors have a long history of denying a part in a Marvel film and then appearing in it. The cast is also being pitched as a fresh start: Marvel Studios confirmed Abbott at D23 with a May 2028 release date, and you can see the rest of the line-up in our D23 cast round-up. IGN lists Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Maya Boyd as Storm and Asa Germann as Angel among the team, with the film due on 5 May 2028.
There’s a precedent for studio-managed timing. Samuel L. Jackson confirmed that Nick Fury returns in Secret Wars rather than Doomsday, a reminder that Marvel often staggers who turns up in which film. How the two finales are structured is also settled: the Russo brothers have confirmed there’s no third film.
Older X-Men faces are already part of the Doomsday marketing. IGN says Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier has appeared in a few of its trailers, which fuelled speculation that the new cast might get an early look too. Abbott’s answer doesn’t rule out his castmates, but it removes the most obvious candidate. For now, Marvel’s reboot Xavier stays off the board until 2028.
Is Christopher Abbott in Avengers: Doomsday?
He says no. Abbott told Rolling Stone, “I’m not in that movie,” when asked about Doomsday, which is due on 18 December 2026.
What about Avengers: Secret Wars?
The Rolling Stone clip doesn’t address it by name. Abbott said he has to do X-Men first “before any of that stuff”, but nobody asked him about Secret Wars directly, and it arrives on 17 December 2027.
When does Marvel’s X-Men reboot come out?
IGN gives a release date of 5 May 2028, with Abbott as Professor X. We haven’t found UAE dates yet.
