Christopher Abbott has leveled up considerably in the superhero sphere since his appearance in Sony’s widely derided Spider-Man spin-off, Kraven The Hunter. He’s set to star in X-Men, Marvel Studios’ huge post-Secret Wars MCU entry, as Professor Charles Xavier, a dream and/or nightmare scenario that finds the actor taking on the role embodied by genre heavyweights Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy. Abbott’s doing just fine at the moment. In fact, he seemed pretty laid-back on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast on Thursday—comfortable enough, even, to confront the last time he appeared in a superhero-ish movie. Asked by Horowitz whether Abbott owes Kraven director and “good buddy” J.C. Chandor for his role in the film, or if Chandor owes Abbott, the actor smiled and rubbed his eyes. “He owes me big time,” he deadpanned. “I feel like I can safely… y’know, I can shit-talk myself. I didn’t know what I was doing in that thing.”


