Professor X

"I just let it know that despite appearances, no species rules the Earth and that there's room for all of us."

-Charles Xavier (Earth-616)

Professor
Character information
Real name	Charles Francis Xavier
Aliases	Charles ChuckThe ProfessorProfessor XWheels
Species	Mutant
Hair color	None
Eye color	Brown
First appearance	The X-Men #1
Versions
Movie	Earth-10005 ?

History

Origin

Charles Francis Xavier was born in New York City to the wealthy Brian Xavier, a well-respected nuclear scientist, and Sharon Xavier. After Brian died in an accident, his science partner Kurt Marko comforts and marries the grieving Sharon. When Xavier's telepathic mutant powers emerge, he discovers Kurt cares only about his mother's money.

After the wedding, Kurt moves in with the [[Xaviers, bringing with him his son Cain. Kurt quickly grows neglectful of Sharon, driving her to alcoholism, and abuses both Charles and Cain. Cain takes out his frustrations and insecurities on his stepbrother. Charles uses his telepathic powers to read Cain's mind and explore the extent of his psychological damage, which only leads to Cain becoming more aggressive toward him and the young Xavier feeling Cain's pain firsthand.

Sharon dies soon after, and a fight erupts between Cain and Charles that causes some of Kurt's lab equipment to explode. Mortally wounded, Kurt drags the two children out before dying, and reveals he was partly responsible for Brian's death.

With help from his powers and his natural genius, Xavier becomes an excellent student and athlete, though he gives up the latter, believing his powers give him an unfair advantage. He graduates with honors at the age of 16 from Harvard University. In graduate studies he receives Ph.D.s in Genetics, Biophysics, and Psychology with a two year residence at Oxford University. He is later appointed Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. At graduate school, he meets a Scottish girl named Moira Kinross, a fellow genetics student with whom he falls in love. The two agree to get married, but soon, Xavier is drafted into the Korean War. He carves himself a niche as a soldier in search and rescue missions alongside Shadowcat father, [Carmen Pryde, and witnesses Cain's transformation into Juggernaut. During the war, he receives a letter from Moira telling him that she is breaking up with him. He later discovers that Moira married her old boyfriend Joseph MacTaggert, who abused her.

Cairo

Deeply depressed when Moira broke off their engagement without explanation, Xavier began traveling around the world as an adventurer after leaving the army. In Cairo, he meets a young girl named Ororo Munroe who is a pickpocket, and the Shadow King, a powerful mutant who is posing as Egyptian crime lord Amahl Farouk. Xavier defeats the Shadow King, barely escaping with his life. This encounter leads to Xavier's decision to devote his life to protecting humanity from evil mutants and safeguarding innocent mutants from human oppression.

Meeting Magneto

Xavier visits his friend Daniel Shomron, who runs a clinic for traumatized Holocaust victims in Haifa, Israel. There, he meets Erik Lehnsherr, a Holocaust survivor who works as a volunteer in the clinic, and Gabrielle Haller, a woman driven into a catatonic coma by the trauma she experienced. Xavier uses his mental powers to break her out of her catatonia and the two fall in love. Xavier and Magneto become good friends, although neither immediately reveals to the other that he is a mutant. The two hold lengthy debates hypothesizing what will happen if humanity is faced with a new super-powered race of humans. While Xavier is optimistic, Magneto's experiences in the Holocaust lead him to believe that humanity will ultimately oppress the new race of humans as they have done with other minorities. The two friends reveal their powers to each other when they fight Nazi Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and his HYDRA agents, who kidnap Gabrielle because she knows the location of their secret cache of gold. Magneto attempts to kill Strucker but Xavier stops him. Realizing that his and Xavier's views on mutant-human relations are incompatible, Magneto leaves with the gold. Charles stays in Israel for some time, but he and Gabrielle separate, neither knowing that she is pregnant with his son, who grows up to become the mutant Legion.

Lucifer/Amelia

In a strange town near the Himalayas, Xavier encounters an alien calling himself Lucifer, the advance scout for an invasion by his race, and foils his plans. In retaliation, Lucifer drops a huge stone block on Xavier, crippling his legs. After Lucifer leaves, a young woman named Sage hears Xavier's telepathic cries for help and rescues him, bringing him to safety, beginning a long alliance between the two. In a hospital in India he is brought to an American nurse, Amelia Voght, who looks after him and, as she sees to his recovery, they fall in love. When he is released from the hospital the two move into an apartment in Bombay together. Amelia is troubled to find Charles studying mutation, as she is a mutant and unsettled by it, though she calms when he reveals himself to be a mutant as well. They eventually move to the United States, living on Xavier's family estate. But the night Scott Summers moves into Xavier's mansion, Amelia leaves him, believing Charles would have changed his view and that mutants should lay low. Yet he is recruiting them to what she believes is a lost cause. Charles tries to force her to stay with his mental powers, but immediately ashamed by this, lets her go. She later becomes a disciple of Magneto.

The X-Men

Over the years, Charles makes a name for himself as geneticist and psychologist, apparently renowned enough that the Greys were referred to him when no other expert could help their catatonic daughter, Jean. Xavier trains her in the use of her telekinesis, while inhibiting her telepathic abilities until she matures. Around this time, he also starts working with fellow mutation expert, Karl Lykos, as well as Moira MacTaggert again, who built a mutant research station on Muir Island. Apparently, Charles had gotten over Moira in his travels to the Greek island of Kirinos. Xavier discusses his candidates for recruitment to his personal strike force, the X-Men, with Moira, including those he passes over, which are Kurt Wagner, Piotr Rasputin, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, and Ororo Munroe. Xavier also trains Tessa in order to spy on Sebastian Shaw. Xavier founds Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, which provides a safe haven for mutants and teaches them to master their abilities. In addition, he seeks to foster mutant-human relations by providing his superhero team, the X-Men, as an example of mutants acting in good faith, as he told FBI agent Fred Duncan. With his inherited fortune, he uses his ancestral mansion at 1407 Graymalkin Lane in Salem Center, Westchester County, New York as a base of operations with technologically advanced facilities, including the Danger Room. Presenting the image of a stern teacher, Xavier makes his students endure a rigorous training regime. Xavier's first five students are Jean, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, and Angel, who become the original X-Men. After he completes recruiting the original team of X-Men, he sends them into battle with Magneto. Throughout most of his time with the team, Xavier uses his telepathic powers to keep in constant contact with his students and provides instructions and advice when needed.

In addition, he uses a special machine called Cerebro, which enhances his ability to detect mutants and to allow the team to find new students in need of the school. Among the obstacles Xavier faces is his old friend, Magneto, who has grown into an advocate of mutant superiority since their last encounter and who believes the only solution to mutant persecution is domination over humanity. When anthropologist Bolivar Trask resurfaces the "mutant problem", Xavier counters him in a televised debate, however, he appears arrogant and Trask sends his mutant-hunting robot Sentinels to terrorize mutants. The X-Men dispatch them, but Trask sees the error in his ways too late as he is killed by his creations. At one point, Xavier seemingly dies during the X-Men's battle with the sub-human Grotesk, but it is later revealed that Xavier arranged for a reformed former villain named Changeling to impersonate him while he went into hiding to plan a defense against an invasion by the extraterrestrial Z'Nox, imparting a portion of his telepathic abilities to the Changeling to complete the disguise.

Shi'ar Empire

When the X-Men are captured by the sentient island Krakoa, Xavier assembles a new team to rescue them, including Banshee, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, Wolverine, and Thunderbird. After the mission, the older team of X-Men, except for Cyclops, leave the school, believing they no longer belong there, and Xavier mentors the new X-Men. Xavier forms a psychic bond across galaxies with Princess Lilandra from the Shi'ar Empire. When they finally meet, it is love at first sight. She implores the professor to stop her mad brother, Shi'ar Emperor D'Ken, and he instantly aids her by deploying his X-Men. When Jean Grey returns from the Savage Land to tell him that all the X-Men are dead, he shuts down the school and travels with Lilandra to her kingdom, where she is crowned Empress and he is treated like a trophy husband. Xavier senses the changes taking place in Jean Grey, and returns to Earth to help and resume leadership of the X-Men. Shortly thereafter he battles his pupil after she becomes Dark Phoenix and destroys a populated planet in the Shi'ar Empire. It hurts Xavier to be on the opposite side of Lilandra, but he has no other choice but to challenge the Shi'ar Imperial Guard to a duel over the fate of the Phoenix. Xavier would have lost against the greater power of the Dark Phoenix, but thanks to the help Jean Grey gives him (fighting her Phoenix persona), Xavier emerges victorious; she later commits suicide in order to prevent herself from endangering more innocent lives.

The Brood

When the X-Men fight members of the extraterrestrial race known as the Brood, Xavier is captured by them, and implanted with a Brood egg, which places Xavier under the Brood's control. During this time, Xavier assembles a team of younger mutants called the New Mutants, secretly intended to be prime hosts for reproduction of the aliens. The X-Men discover this and return to free Xavier, but they are too late to prevent his body from being destroyed with a Brood Queen in its place; however, his soul remains intact. The X-Men and Starjammers subdue this monstrous creature containing Xavier's essence, but the only way to restore him is to clone a new body using tissue samples he donated to the Starjammers and transfer his consciousness into the clone body. This new body possesses functional legs, though the psychosomatic pain Xavier experienced after living so long as a paraplegic takes some time to subside. Subsequently, he even joins the X-Men in the field, but later decides not to continue this practice after realizing that his place is at the school, as the teacher of the New Mutants.

Morlocks

After taking a teaching position at Columbia University in Uncanny X-Men #192, Xavier is severely injured and left for dead as the victim of a hate crime. Callisto and her Morlocks, a group of underground-dwelling mutants, get him to safety. One of the Morlocks partially restores Xavier's health, but Callisto warns Xavier that he isn't fully healed and that he must spend more time recuperating and restrain himself from exerting his full strength or powers, or his health might fail again. Xavier hides his injuries from the others and resumes his life.

Legion

Charles meets with former lover Gabrielle Haller on Muir Isle and discovers that they had a child. The boy, David, is autistic and suffers from multiple personality disorder and has vast psionic powers like his father. After helping him and his team to escape from David's mind, Xavier promises he will always be there for him.

Starjammers

A reformed Magneto is arrested and put on trial. Xavier attends the trial to defend his friend. Andrea and Andreas Strucker, the children of presumed dead Baron von Strucker, crash the courtroom to attack Magneto and Xavier. Xavier is seriously injured. Dying, he asks a shocked Magneto to look after the X-Men for him. Lilandra, who has a psychic bond with Xavier, feels that he is in great danger and heads to Earth. There, she and Corsair take Xavier with them so Shi'ar advanced technology can heal him. Xavier leaves Magneto in charge of the school, but some of the X-Men are unwilling to forgive their former enemy. Cyclops loses a duel for the leadership of the X-Men against Storm, then leaves them and joins the original five X-Men to form a new team called X-Factor. In the meantime, Charles becomes stranded in space with the Starjammers, but he is reunited with his lover Lilandra and relishes his carefree lifestyle. He serves as a member of the Starjammers aboard the starship Starjammer, mobile in the Shi'ar Galaxy. He becomes consort to the Princess-Magestrix Lilandra while in exile, and when she later resumes her throne he takes up residence with her in the Imperial palace on the Shi'ar homeworld. Xavier joins Lilandra in her cause to overthrow her sister Deathbird, taking on the powers of Phoenix temporarily wherein he is named Bald Phoenix, but sees that he must return to help the X-Men.

X-Cutioner's Song

Xavier then becomes imprisoned by the Skrulls during their attempted invasion of the Shi'ar Empire. Xavier breaks free from imprisonment by Warskrull Prime, and is reunited with the X-Men. A healthy Xavier returns from the Shi'ar Empire and is reunited with both the current and original X-Men teams. He resumes his leadership responsibilities of the united teams. In a battle with his old foe, the Shadow King, in the "Muir Island Saga", Xavier's spine is shattered, returning him to his former paraplegic state, while his son David is seemingly killed. In the following months, Xavier rebuilds the mansion, which previously was rebuilt with Shi'ar technology, and restructures the X-Men into two teams. While holding a mutant rights speech, Xavier is nearly assassinated by Stryfe in the guise of Cable, being infected with the Legacy Virus. For reasons of his own, the villain Apocalypse saves him. As a temporary side-effect he gains full use of his legs and devotes his precious time to the youngest recruit on his team, Jubilee.

Xavier Institute For Higher Learning

With all his students now highly trained adults, Professor Xavier renames his school the Xavier Institute For Higher Learning. Also, he assumes control of a private institution, the Massachusetts Academy, making it a new School for Gifted Youngsters. Another group of young mutants is trained here, Generation X, with Banshee and Emma Frost as headmaster and headmistress, respectively.

Onslaught

Professor X is for a time the unknowing host of the evil psionic entity Onslaught, the result of a previous battle with Magneto. In that battle, Magneto uses his powers to rip out the adamantium bonded to Wolverine's skeleton, and a furious Xavier wipes Magneto's mind, leaving him in a coma. From the psychic trauma of Xavier using his powers so violently and the mixing of Magneto's and Xavier's repressed anger, Onslaught is born. Onslaught wreaks havoc, destroying much of Manhattan, until many of Marvel's superheroes—including the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk—destroy him. Xavier is left without his telepathy and, overcome with guilt, leaves the X-Men and is incarcerated for his actions. He later returns to the X-Men after Operation: Zero Tolerance, in which he is shocked by the cruel act of being turned over to the mutant-hating Bastion, following a clash with the sentient Cerebro and a team of impostor X-Men.

Genosha

Xavier questions his dream again and Magneto shortly thereafter is confronted by the X-Men. After the battle, the UN concedes Genosha to Magnus, and Wolverine is angered by Xavier stopping him from getting his revenge on Magneto. Charles and Logan are later trapped in a dimension with different laws of physics, wherein they have to coordinate their moves together and, in the process, gain a better understanding of the other's views.

The Twelve and Cadre K

Apocalypse kidnaps the fabled "Twelve" special mutants (Xavier included) whose combined energies would grant him omnipotence. After Apocalypse's defeat with the help of Skrull mutants, Xavier goes with the young Skrulls known as Cadre K to train them and free them from their oppressors, and eventually returns to aid in Legacy Virus research.

Moira's death

Mystique and her Brotherhood start a deadly assault on Muir Isle by releasing an altered form of the Legacy Virus, all in retaliation against the election campaign of Robert Kelly, a seeming mutant-hater. Mystique blows up Moira MacTaggert's laboratory complex, fatally wounding her. Charles goes to the astral plane to meet with her and retrieve information on the cure to the Legacy Virus, but after gathering the information does not want to leave her alone. If not for Jean pulling him back, the professor would have died with his first love, who states she has no regrets.

Crucifixion

As the Legacy Virus is cured, many infected Genoshan mutants recover overnight, providing Magneto, ruler of Genosha, with an army to start the third World War. He demands Earth's governments to accept him as their leader, and abducts and crucifies Xavier in Magda Square for all to see. Though a loyal member of Magneto's Acolytes, Amelia Voght can't stand to see her former lover punished in such a manner and sets him free. Jean Grey and rather untrained newcomers, as most of the team are elsewhere, distract Magneto and Wolverine guts him. Xavier is too late to intervene.

Cassandra Nova

Xavier's evil twin Cassandra Nova, whom Xavier attempted to kill while they were both in their mother's womb, orders a group of rogue Sentinels to destroy the independent mutant nation of Genosha. Magneto, who is Genosha's leader, appears to die along with the vast majority of the nation's inhabitants. Nova then takes over Xavier's body. Posing as Xavier, she reveals his mutation to the world, something he needed to do but did not want to sully his reputation over, before going into space and crippling the Shi'ar Empire. The X-Men restore Xavier, but Lilandra, believing that too much disaster has come from the Shi'ar's involvement with the X-Men, annuls her marriage to Xavier. Lilandra previously had gone insane and tried to assassinate Charles on a trip to Mumbai. During this period, a mutant named Xorn joins the X-Men. Xorn uses his healing power to restore Xavier's use of his legs.

Juggernaut reformed

When the X-Men receive a distress call from a Scottish island, they are surprised to find Juggernaut with nowhere to go, as the island was destroyed by his further-mutated partner in crime, Black Tom Cassidy, who died. Xavier reaches out to his stepbrother and offers him a place in his mansion, with Cain reluctantly accepting. The Juggernaut redeems himself over the next few weeks and joins the X-Men. Xavier finds out that Cain's father preferred him to his own flesh and blood and that they both thought they deserved the abuse they incurred by Kurt; Cain believed this because his father loved someone else's child more than him, and Charles felt guilty about getting in the way. That it is why neither of them stopped Kurt Marko with their powers.

X-Corporation and "Xorn's" Betrayal

Now outed as a mutant, Xavier makes speeches to the public about mutant tolerance. He also founds the X-Corporation, or X-Corp (not to be confused with the X-Corps), with offices all over the world. The purpose of the X-Corp is to watch over mutant rights and help mutants in need. As a result of being outed, the school no longer hides the fact that it is a school for mutants and it opens its doors for more mutant (and even human) students to come in. A student named Quentin Quire and members of his gang start a riot at the Xavier Institute during an open house at the school. As a result, Quire and two other students are killed. Uncertain about his dream's validity, Xavier announces that he will step down as headmaster and be succeeded by Jean Grey. Afterwards, Xorn reveals himself to be Magneto, having apparently not died in the Sentinel raid on Genosha. "Magneto" re-paralyzes Xavier, kidnaps him, and destroys the X-Mansion (killing several of the students). Then Xorn/Magneto assaults New York, where Cyclops, Fantomex and a few students confront him. After the rest of the X-Men arrive, Wolverine decapitates Xorn/Magneto, who shortly before killed Jean with an electromagnetically induced stroke. With Jean dead, Xavier leaves the school to Cyclops and Emma Frost, to bury Xorn/Magneto in Genosha. There he meets the real Magneto, who mysteriously survived Cassandra Nova's assault. The two resolve their differences and attempt to restore their friendship, leading a team of mutants, "The Genoshan Excalibur," to rebuild and restore order to the destroyed island nation.

Danger

At the mansion, the Danger Room, the X-Men’s simulated reality training chamber, gains sentience, christens itself "Danger", assumes a humanoid form, and attacks the X-Men before leaving to kill Xavier. With Magneto's help, Xavier holds off Danger until the X-Men arrive. Danger flees, but not before revealing to Colossus that Xavier has known it to be sentient ever since he upgraded it. Colossus is especially offended by this because he had been held captive and experimented upon by Danger's ally, Ord of the Breakworld. Ashamed, Xavier tries to explain to them that by the time he realized what was happening, he could see no other course. The disgusted X-Men leave.

House of M

Magneto's daughter, the Scarlet Witch, suffers a mental breakdown and causes the death of several Avengers. Magneto brings her to Xavier and asks him to use his mental powers to help her. Although aided by Dr. Strange and the appearance of Cassandra Nova, Xavier is unsuccessful. Xavier orders a meeting of the X-Men and Avengers to decide Wanda's fate. Her brother Quicksilver, believing the heroes plan to kill her, speeds off to Genosha and convinces Wanda that she could right the wrongs she inflicted by using her powers to alter reality. Quicksilver somehow forces a tearful Wanda to reveal to him her heart's desires of Magneto, the assembled New Avengers, and the X-Men, and then uses her powers to make them all real. Thanks to Magneto, though, this re-imagined world is a place where a much more numerous mutant-kind are the dominant species, humans a disenfranchised and oppressed 'silent majority', and Magneto himself rules supreme. In this reality, the only proof that Charles Xavier ever existed is a secret monument in Magneto's palace garden. After mutant Layla Miller restores the memories of some of the X-Men and Avengers, they head to Genosha where they discover that Magneto has erected a memorial garden for Xavier commemorating his death. They are horrified until Cloak fades into the grave and discovers there is no body inside. After a battle, Scarlet Witch again uses her powers to restore reality and, as a slight against her father, causes 91.4 percent of mutants to lose their powers, leaving the mutant race on the brink of extinction and causing the lost powers to become an energy mass, the Collective. With reality restored, Xavier is still missing and the X-Men are unable to detect him with Cerebro.

Vulcan

It is revealed that prior to sending the new team of X-Men to rescue the others on Krakoa, he had sent another team composed of Moira's students, one of whom was Cyclops' and Havok's long-lost brother Vulcan. After the team freed Cyclops and Vulcan revealed their connection, the team was killed. Cyclops escaped, but when he made it back to Xavier, Xavier wiped the traumatizing knowledge that his newfound brother had died saving him from Cyclops' brain. He then assembled another new team of X-Men to rescue the others on Krakoa, and no one else knew anything about Moira's students. Later, when the Collective energy mass revives Vulcan, the enraged youth attacks the X-Men, causing Xavier to come out of hiding. He has had the use of his legs restored to him after the "House of M" reality was undone, presumably by Wanda, although he is no longer a mutant and has lost his mental powers. Vulcan gets Xavier to tell the X-Men what he had done. After Vulcan is defeated and flies off into space, Cyclops tells Xavier that he is no longer wanted at the X-Mansion for what he did, though some of the other students are more forgiving. In spite of Cyclops' feelings, Xavier nevertheless forms a new team consisting of Havok, Nightcrawler, Marvel Girl, Polaris, Warpath, and Darwin to confront Vulcan before he can enact his vengeance against the Shi'ar empire. While en route to the Shi'ar home world, he is abducted by agents of the Shi'ar Vice Chancellor K'Tor. He is later thrown into the M'Kraan Crystal by Vulcan after Vulcan's marriage to Deathbird on the World With No Name. Darwin follows Charles into the crystal and pulls him out. This somehow restores his lost telepathy, and then he, Nightcrawler, Warpath, Darwin and Hepzibah escape to Earth, with help from his lover, Lilandra. This leaves Havok, Polaris and Rachel behind but they form a new Starjammers with Ch'od, Raza and Korvus.

Return To Earth

Upon returning, he begins a search for his missing associate Magneto, hoping to find him before the US government does. He is still team leader and his team now consists of Nightcrawler, Warpath, Storm, Hepzibah and Caliban. Xavier talks to Val Cooper about what has happened to Caliban and how the O*N*E wants him. Later while the rest of the team begin looking for the Morlocks, who have been taken control of by Masque, who is also looking for Magneto, Charles and Nightcrawler leave in a X-Jet to find Magneto. They are unnoticed by the Sentinels as Xavier places some sort of cloaking device on the plane. Charles and Kurt travel to where someone claimed to see Erik. They arrive at a graveyard in Germany and they find out that Erik was looking at the headstone of one of his former loyal henchmen who had died since M-Day. Their search is cut short once they find out the Morlocks plan to blow up a church. The team stops the Morlocks and returns to the mansion.

World War Hulk

Charles' search for more mutants is interrupted by the Hulk, who wishes to see him. Those who need it are re-directed to the subbasement for protection. The X-Men on hand are defeated. Before a back-up team arrives, Xavier confronts the Hulk. He looks into Hulk's mind and sees what happened to him and is shocked. The Hulk asks him what would he have said if he had been there, referring to the Illuminati's decision on his own fate during a meeting. The Professor then admits to the Hulk and to the X-Men that he would have banished the Hulk for some extended time for the Illuminati to find a cure, but would not have agreed to permanent exile. He confesses to them that he made some mistakes that harmed his students, so he is willing to give himself up. However the X-Men, now seeing their mentor conceding his mistake, are not willing to give up the Professor without a fight. While the Hulk is winning, the escaping students telepathically call for X-Factor, Uncanny X-Men, and Excalibur. Excalibur member Cain Marko—the former Juggernaut—teleports into battle. He and Wolverine are swiftly defeated. The Hulk tries to fight off the extended X-family, as Jamie Madrox and his duplicates gather up the X-Men. Various attempts are made to slow the Hulk down, from implanting him with knives to crashing the Blackbird into him. Cain makes a last plea with the Cyttorak gem to re-power him, but it is unable to do so until Cain embraces his former identity. After he does so the Juggernaut returns to full power and both entities stall each other.

The Juggernaut is momentarily distracted by Xavier and since the Hulk is short on time before the countdown, the latter simply decides to use the Juggernaut's nearly unstoppable momentum against him by stepping out of the way in combination with an additional push, letting him walk deep into the nearby lake. With his opponent temporarily disposed of, the Hulk heads towards Xavier, who once again surrenders. The X-Men rally again. The New X-Men member Mercury attacks, and the brief battle leads them towards the graveyard housing all mutants died since M-day. With Mercury's words The Hulk reaches the conclusion that both Xavier and the X-Men have suffered enough, and leaves the mansion in peace. During the aftermath, the Juggernaut warns Xavier not to follow him, as he isn't going to like what he sees. The mini-series ends with Cyclops overseeing the care of the wounded, dealing with the injuries without Xavier's help. However, Cyclops is also seen reaching out to comfort Xavier as well.

Messiah Complex

While using Cerebro and talking to Beast, Charles detects a new mutant so powerful it fries Cerebro's system. He asks Cyclops to send out a team to find out about the mutant. Once the team have come back empty handed, he argues with Scott for not telling him about the team he deployed to find former Acolytes. Scott tells him outright that he doesn't need him to run the X-Men anymore. This upsets Charles and annoys him later on when he overhears Cyclops briefing X-Factor on the situation. He also approaches the New X-Men in an attempt to help them figure out a non-violent way to help against the Purifiers, but is quickly rebuked by Surge, who questions where he was when they were getting attacked the first time, and that they didn't need to learn from him. Charles questions Cyclops' decision to send X-Force to hunt down his own son, Cable, in front of the students. Cyclops then tells Xavier that he is a distraction that will keep getting in the way and that he must leave the mansion. Xavier is contacted by Cable, who lost the mutant newborn to the traitorous actions of Bishop, who in turn lost the child to the Marauders, and tells him that he is the only one who can help Cable save the future. In the final fight, Xavier is accidentally shot in the head by Bishop. Immediately afterward Xavier's body disappears and Cyclops declares that there are no more X-Men.

X-Men: Legacy

It is revealed that Professor Xavier survived the gunshot inflicted by Bishop but he is in a coma. He is kidnapped by Exodus with the help of Tempo and a now unpossessed Karima Shapandar. Exodus tries to heal Xavier but while in the coma, Xavier fights Exodus. In the end, Exodus approaches Magneto himself, who is apparently still depowered. Magneto and Karima Shapandar are able to stir out Xavier's memories, coaxing him out of his coma, but slightly confused and partly amnesiac. Later, as Exodus confronts Magneto about Joanna Cargill's fate (previously Magneto was forced to fire a surgical laser beam in her eye, brain damaging her, to thwart her attempted killing of Xavier), and he is about to kill him, Xavier drags him on the Astral Plane, putting his own restored mind at stake. After a harrowing psionic battle between the two, Xavier defeats Exodus, who reveals to him that the reason he abducted and restored his mind is that he wanted Xavier to lead the Acolytes and find the mutant messiah child (now under the guardianship of Cable) in order to indoctrinate her into their cause. Xavier, disgusted with Exodus' words, calls him a fool and refuses to help him. During the battle between him and Exodus, Emma's telepathy picks up on the fight, she realizes that Xavier is alive and tells Cyclops.

After Xavier, Magneto and Karima depart from the Acolytes' base, he leaves them both in order to try and regain his lost memories by visiting people from his past. The first person Charles visits is Carter Ryking, who had gone insane after losing his powers. Charles reads Carter's memories and discovers that when the two were children they were used as test subjects by one Nathan Milbury, with the approval of Charles' father, Doctor Brian Xavier, also a member of the Black Womb Project. During Carter's memory, Mister Sinister's energy diamond is seen on Milbury's forehead which, along with the name, indicates that Milbury is Mister Sinister and he has been manipulating Charles' life as well. Afterwards, he discovers he's been targeted by assassins. Charles eventually discovers Mister Sinister had set up Charles, Sebastian Shaw, Juggernaut, and Ryking as potential new hosts for Sinister's mind. Bleeding slowly to death, he apparently gives in to Sinister becoming the new Mister Sinister. But in reality, Xavier is still battling Sinister for control of his body. As Sebastian Shaw and Gambit destroy Sinister's Cronus Machine, the device that he used to transfer his consciousness into new hosts, Xavier drives Sinister out of his body permanently. Xavier thanks Shaw and Gambit for their help and declares he must go and see Cyclops immediately. Professor X returns to the X-Mansion to find it destroyed after recent events. Afterwards, Xavier leaves the ruins of the X-Mansion to secretly meet up Cyclops by psychically coercing his former student for the visit. Xavier explains to Cyclops about the recent events with Mr. Sinister and tries to explain to Cyclops how Sinister has been manipulating Scott's and Jean's lives since when they were children. Xavier attempts to have Scott give him permission to scan Scott's mind for traces of Sinister's influences, but instead Scott turns the tables on Xavier by revealing that he has secretly invited Emma Frost into their entire meeting and also into Xavier's mind. While in his mind, Emma forces Xavier to relive each of his morally ambiguous decisions under altruistic pretenses.

As the issue continues, Charles realizes his human arrogance and that while some of his decisions were morally wrong, he must move forward with his life and deal with the consequences. Emma ends her incursion into Xavier's mind by reminding him of Moira MacTaggert's last words. As he reflects on Moira's words, Xavier gives Cyclops his blessing to lead the X-Men and leaves to find his own path. Following his encounter with Wolverine (in the "Original Sin" Arc) Professor Xavier seeks out his step brother, the unstoppable Juggernaut in an attempt to reform him. After a conversation about the meaning of the word "Juggernaut" and a review of Juggernaut and Xavier's shared history Xavier offers Cain an empty box as a gift. Confused by Xavier's gift Cain attempts to kill the Professor bringing an entire sports bar down over their heads in the process. Later Cain battles the X-Men in his full Juggernaut armor and conquers the planet. Just as everything appears to be under the Juggernaut's control Xavier reappears and informs him that everything that has just taken place except for Juggernaut destroying the bar took place in Cain's mind. A baffled Cain demands to know how Xavier managed to overcome his psychically shielded helmet to which the Professor replies that he decided to visit Cain in his sleep. Professor Xavier then informs him that he now understands Cain as a person and that he will not attempt to get in his way or reform him again. But Xavier also warns Cain that if he gets in the way of the Professor's path to redemption Xavier will stop him permanently. Following his encounter with Cain it has been revealed that Xavier is now searching for Rogue. After his bruising encounter with Cyclops and Emma Frost, Professor X is forced to revisit the biggest challenge and the biggest failure of his career, Wolverine, when the feral mutant asks for Charles' help in freeing his son from the clutches of the Hellfire Club. As the two search for Daken, Wolverine reveals that when he first joined the X-Men he attempted to assassinate Xavier due to some unknown programming. In response, the Professor broke Logan's mind and rebuilt it so that any and all programming he received was forgotten. Logan also revealed that the real reason Xavier asked him to join the X-Men was that Charles "needed a weapon".

Eventually Professor Xavier and Wolverine locate Sebastian Shaw's mansion and attack his minions, just as they are about to enter a bomb explodes from within catching them both off guard. From the wreckage emerges an angry Sebastian who immobilizes Wolverine. Meanwhile, Miss Sinister knocks Daken unconscious and has him taken to the medlab in the mansion's basement. As Shaw prepares to deliver a killing blow to Xavier, Wolverine recovers and stops him telling Xavier to rescue his son. Professor Xavier locates the medlab and after a quick psychic battle with Miss Sinister enters Daken's fractured mind. While in Daken's mind Xavier discover Romulus's psychic tampering and comments that Daken's mind is even more broken than Wolverine's was. Before Xavier can heal Daken a psychic bomb explodes causing Xavier to become comatose and Daken to wake up. Miss Sinister arrives and attempts to manipulate Daken who reveals that the psychic bomb in his head restored his memories and stabs Miss Sinister in the chest. Meanwhile Wolverine defeats Shaw and enters the mansion to find Daken standing over an unconscious Xavier preparing to kill him. Wolverine tells Daken that he won't let him hurt Xavier and the two fight, overcome with guilt over what happened to Daken and Itsu, Wolverine allows himself to be beaten. Just as Daken appears to have won Xavier pulls both of them onto the astral plane revealing that the psychic bomb had little effect on him because his psyche was already shattered. Xavier then explains to Wolverine and Daken that Romulus is solely responsible for Itsu's death and that he lied to Daken about everything because he wanted Wolverine to become his weapon. As the three converse Daken returns to the physical plane and prevents Shaw from killing Xavier. With the truth revealed Wolverine and Daken decide to kill Romulus. As the two depart Wolverine tells Xavier that he forgives him for all of the dark moments in their history and tells the Professor that he allowed Wolverine to become a hero. Wolverine then tells the Professor that he hopes he will one day be able to forgive him for choosing to kill Romulus. Professor Xavier recruits Gambit to go with him to Australia to find and help Rogue who is currently staying at the X-Men's old base in the outback; unaware Danger is using Rogue as a conduit for her revenge against him.

Secret Invasion

Professor X was at the meeting of the Illuminati when it came to the discussion about the Skrulls planning an invasion by taking out Earth's heroes and posing as them. He claims he was unable to distinguish that Black Bolt had been replaced by a Skrull, and his powers were bested quickly by the Black Bolt Skrull. Professor X leaves after learning even he can no longer trust the others, yet appears to have severely restricted the number of people he informs of the forthcoming alien invasion, as the X-Men were not prepared for the Skrulls, at least at first. Xavier is not seen again during the events of Secret Invasion, though his X-Men in San Francisco are successful at repelling the invaders there through the use of the modified Legacy Virus.

Dark Reign

After convincing Exodus to disband the Acolytes, a H.A.M.M.E.R. helicopter arrives and from inside appears Norman Osborn, who wants to talk to him. During the Dark Avengers' arrival in San Francisco to enforce martial law and squelch the anti-mutant riots occurring in the city, Xavier appears (back in his wheelchair) in the company of Norman Osborn and publicly denounces Cyclops' actions and urges him to turn himself in. However, this Xavier was revealed to be Mystique who Osborn recruited to impersonate Xavier in public. The real Xavier is shown in prison on Alcatraz and slowly being stripped of his telepathic powers while in psionic contact with Beast, who was arrested earlier for his part in the anti-mutant riots. It was also revealed by Emma Frost that she and Professor X are both Omega Class Telepaths when she manages to detect the real Professor X. Professor X helps Emma Frost enter Sentry's mind. However, as Emma frees him of the Void's influence, a minute sliver of the entity itself remains in her mind. Xavier quickly tells her to remain in her diamond armor state to prevent the Void from gaining access to her psi-powers. Professor X is later seen with Emma Frost where Beast is recuperating.

Nation X

After the events of Utopia, Xavier has come to live on the risen Asteroid M, rechristened Utopia, along with the rest of the X-Men, X-Club, and mutant refugees. Xavier had wanted to return to the mainland in order to clear his name, but Cyclops refused to let him leave, stating that it would be a tactical advantage to have him on Utopia instead in case the need arose. While attending the funeral of Yuriko Takiguchi, Magneto arrives at Utopia, apparently under peaceful motives. Xavier does not believe it, and attacks Magneto telepathically, causing Cyclops to force him to stand down. He later apologizes to Magneto for acting out of his old passions from their complicated relationship, which Magneto accepts.

Second Coming

Professor Xavier is next seen on Utopia delivering a eulogy at Nightcrawler's funeral. Like the other X-Men he is deeply saddened by Kurt's death and anxious about the arrival of Cable and Hope.

Avengers vs X-Men

Professor Xavier did not initially participate in the fighting between the Avengers and X-Men. When the Phoneix arrived on the Moon to claim Hope as its host, Xavier and many other telepathic individuals collapsed in pain. After the Phoenix was split by Tony Stark and claimed Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Colossus and Magik as its hosts, they used their new powers to end hunger, famine and war all across the world to create a global utopia.

Xavier visited Scott in the new Utopia which hovered in the air to both tell him how proud he was of Scott and also to express his concerns that perhpas Scott was overusing the power of the Phoenix. The Avengers continued to oppose the Phoenixes however, believing that they would eventually lose control. They managed to defeat Namor, Colossus and Magik resulting in their portions of the Phoenix ending up with Cyclops and Emma. The added strain of more power to control led to them gradually losing control.

Xavier was contacted by Magneto who told him that Scott and Emma could no longer control the Phoenix and had to be stopped. Xavier and the other X-Men and Avengers launched a final attack on the two. Xavier attempted to shut down their brains long enough for the Avengers to defeat them but was eventually killed by Cyclops who lost control and became Dark Phoenix. Cyclops was eventually freed of the Phoenix by Hope Summers and the Scarlet Witch who dispersed it and used it to once again re-ignite mutations.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Professor Charles Xavier was an Alpha-Level Mutant, an Omega Class Telepath, was said to possess the most powerful brain in existence, to be the world's greatest telepath, and possesses vast psionic powers.

Telepathy: Able to read minds and project his own thoughts into the minds of others within a radius of 250 miles (on Earth). With extreme effort he can greatly extend that radius. When synched with Cerebro or Cerebra, he can connect to every mind on a planet. After he was thrown into the M'Kraan Crystal, it not only restored his mutation, but made his telepathy more powerful than it has been previously, thereby making him the world's most powerful telepath once again.

Telepathic Illusions: ability to create realistic telepathic illusions and cause people to experience events which are not actually occurring.

Telepathic Cloak: can mask his presence from being detected by others. His abilities can at times go undetected or be counteracted by other more powerful telepaths depending on their level of skill in using their own psi abilities. He can extend these defenses to others around him as well.

Mind Link: ability to develop a mental link with any person which remains as a connection to that individual.

Telepathic Camouflage: ability to mask himself, and other peoples' presence from those around him. Can telepathically disguise himself, making his appearance to those around him quite different (changing the appearance of clothing, as well as more involved disguising).

Mind Blast: ability to place large amounts of information in another's mind.

Mind Control: ability to control the minds of others upon mere concentration. This power can allow him to completely shut down several people's minds, making it appear as if time has stopped.

Mind Possession: ability to possess the mind of another, and use that being's body as his own.

Mind Alteration: ability to alter the minds of others by force of will.

Mental Amnesia: ability to cause loss of particular memories or total amnesia in another person or group of people.

Psionic Shield: ability to erect a psychic shield for protection of himself and of other minds, so that he can prevent the free access to the conscious and subconscious mind of anyone.

Psionic Blasts: can project psionic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind so as to cause the victim pain or unconsciousness and can even kill an adversary.

Astral Projection: ability to Astral Travel and communicate with others astrally through his own will, or through contact with the thoughts and memories of others. In the astral realm, he can use his powers to create "ectoplasmic" objects. He cannot engage in long range astral projection on the earthly plane.

Mental Detection: can sense the presence of another superhuman mutant within a small but as yet undefined radius of himself by perceiving the distinctive mental radiations emitted by such a being.

Mind Transferal: able to transfer both his mind and powers into other host bodies if his own physical body could be somehow killed.

Absorb Information: ability to quickly process and store information, by mental transference.

Professor X formerly also possessed low-level telekinetic abilities, though these seem to no longer exist. They seem to be part of his genes however, as Cassandra Nova has telekinetic abilities and is basically a clone of Xavier.

Weaknesses

Paraplegic (Formerly): Professor X has been normally unable to walk due to spinal damage, originally suffered while combating Lucifer.

Dark Side: Xavier was shown to have a dark side, a part of himself that he struggles to suppress. Perhaps the most notable appearance of this was the entity Onslaught, which was a physical manifestation of that dark side. Also, Onslaught was created in the most violent act Xavier claimed to have done: Erasing the mind of Magneto. Once the X-Men fought images of the original team, which had been created by what Xavier said was his "evil self ... who would use his powers for personal gain and conquest," which he said he was normally able to keep in check.

In other instances, Xavier was shown to be secretive and manipulative. During the battle against Onslaught, the X-Men found Xavier's files, the "Xavier Protocols", which detail how to kill many of the characters should the need ever arise, such as if they went rogue. Also it was revealed that when Xavier realized that the Danger Room had become sentient, he kept it trapped and experimented on it for years, an act that Cyclops called "the oppression of a new life" and equated to humanity's treatment of mutants. Later still, a de-powered Xavier was forced to admit that he had sent a group of hastily trained young mutants to Krakoa to save the original X-Men, resulting in their deaths. Because one of the mutants was Cyclops' brother Vulcan, Xavier erased Cyclops' memory of the event. He further manipulated the rescue team of new X-Men by making them think the meaningless noises the island made were intelligible speech—evidence that the island was alive—to match the new memories he had given Cyclops.

Xavier had multiple secrets that he hid from the X-Men beyond the Xavier files, Krakoa and Danger incidents. Since the inception of the X-Men, he created and maintained a network of mutant espionage agents to work in dealings that were too dubious for the public eye of the X-Men, even entrapping Mystique into helping him (even though she killed his dear friend, Moira McTaggert). He had also been part of the secret Illuminati society responsible for shooting Bruce Banner into space. There is also the issue that plagues only the longest of long-time X-Men readers. Throughout the years it had been implied that Xavier had always known about mutants beyond those he chose to be his X-Men. He had admittedly hand-crafted who he picked to be his core team members. This has serious implications however. For instance, it can be implied that Xavier must have always known about "Morlock" mutants, those with severe physical mutations, yet out of the utility of public appeal chose young mutants that he gave a life of privilege (though accompanied with life-threatening missions). Xavier intentionally let some mutants be his vision in Westchester, while others lived lives of horror and daily prejudice on the streets of Manhattan and around the world. Additionally, after the events of M-Day, Xavier was nowhere to be found. Even though he knew that the X-Men were looking for him, that his ancestral home was invaded by Sentinels, and that his school and the mutant community at large were in a state of crisis. He explained that he hid in England during this time out of embarrassment over losing his abilities and his role he played in the House of M saga.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Hoverchair, Cerebro.

Transportation

Blackbird

Trivia

• Xavier's favourite book is known from the X-Tinction Agenda storyline to be T.H. White's The Once and Future King. Magneto (who apparently shares Xavier's passion for the novel) can be seen reading it at the beginning of X2 while in prison, and also paraphrased White's famous lines about territory and war, saying, "When will these people learn to fly?" Also, at the close of the film, Xavier asked his students if they were familiar with the work.
• In New X-Men #129, Fantomex mentioned that Xavier is a billionaire with a net worth of 3.5 billion dollars.
• Niles Caulder is the paraplegic leader of the DC comics' original Doom Patrol. Like Professor X, Caulder recruits a group of reluctant outcasts to fight crime. Much has been made in the striking similarities between these two characters. They both share a dark side; Caulder, however, surrenders to his dark side while Professor X tries to suppress his. Their respective enemies are also similarly named: the X-Men fight the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, while the Doom Patrol fight the Brotherhood of Evil. However, because of their close proximity to release (roughly a month), there is little merit to the argument that one is a copy of the other, and can be marked up as a coincidence.
• According to BusinessWeek, Charles Xavier is listed as one of the top ten most intelligent fictional characters in American comics.