X-Men Movies Wiki
Register
Advertisement

For other uses of Professor X, see Professor X (disambiguation)


"Just because someone stumbles and loses their way, it doesn't mean they're lost forever. Sometimes we all need a little help."
―Charles Xavier[src]

Charles Xavier known as Professor X is the leader and creator of the X-Men and founder of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. His dream of peaceful coexistence between mutants and humanity has long been the driving force for the X-Men. An immensely powerful telepath and scientific genius, Professor X has been known as the heart and soul of the X-Men having first formed the team of mutants in 1962.

Biography

X-Men: First Class

As a child at the age of 12 in 1944, Charles met a shape-shifting girl named Raven, who had broken into his family's mansion and was scrounging for food. Overjoyed to meet someone else "different" like him, he invited her to live with his family. Raven and Charles soon become best friends.

A natural genius, Charles attended Oxford University (accompanied by Raven, now his foster sister), earning a Ph.D in Genetics. After completing his thesis on genetic mutation at age 30, he is approached by Agent Moira MacTaggert of the CIA for his help to stop a mutant named Sebastian Shaw, who is working with the Soviet Union. MacTaggert introduces him and Raven to the CIA, where they prove to her chief, John McCone, that mutants exist and that Shaw is a threat. McCone refuses to employ them, but The Man in Black offers to be their sponsor.

Charles accompanies MacTaggert, MiB and a US Coast Guard assault team to arrest Shaw on his yacht. During the attack, his telepathy is blocked by Emma Frost. They also encounter Erik Lehnsherr, who was launching his own solo attack against Shaw at the time. When Shaw escapes in a submarine, Xavier prevents Lehnsherr from killing himself in an attempt to stop it and brings him to the CIA's secret Division X facility. There they meet a young scientist named Hank McCoy, a prehensile-footed mutant with enhanced intelligence, who Xavier identifies as a mutant. He then uses a mutant-locating device designed by Hank called Cerebro to find and recruit mutants to stop Shaw. Refusing CIA help, he and Lehnsherr travel the world, discovering and recruiting various mutants: exotic dancer Angel Salvadore (Tempest); taxi driver Armando Muñoz (Darwin); Army prisoner Alex Summers (Havok); and Sean Cassidy (Banshee). They also approach Canadian mercenary Wolverine (then known as James "Jimmy" Howlett or Logan), but he immediately rebuffs them.

Lehnsherr and Xavier collaborate with the CIA to find and capture Shaw, who was supposed to be meeting with a high-ranking Soviet general. Soon after their arrival they discover that Frost has attended the meeting in his place, and capture her instead. Interrogating her leads to the revelation that Shaw intends to spark a third world war to wipe out humanity, leaving mutants as the dominant species. Meanwhile, the other Hellfire Club mutants attack Division X, converting Tempest to their cause and killing Darwin in the process.

With the facility destroyed, Xavier relocates the mutants to his family mansion. During their stay there, Xavier applies his telepathy to help Erik reach new heights of his magnetic ability. He also trains the other mutants to control their powers.

Xavier's new team is soon called into action when Shaw engineers a stand-off between amassed United States and Soviet naval forces.  When a Soviet freighter is forcibly commandeered by the Hellfire Club and attempts to run the American blockade, Xavier telepathically searches the Soviet fleet in an attempt to locate Shaw, but finds himself unable to do so because of a helmet Shaw possess that blocks all telepathic contact. Xavier then took mental control of a Soviet officer and had the man destroy the freighter, thus averting a nuclear catastrophe.

When Banshee volunteers to employ his sound generation power as a sonar, Xavier telepathically monitors his progress and is able to then guide the Blackbird to Shaw's submarine, where Lehnsherr magnetically extracts it from the water. The submarine and the Blackbird both crash shortly after, bringing both teams into direct conflict. Xavier stays with the jet and continues his search for Shaw by linking with Lehnsherr, who ventures into the stricken submarine alone. While Lehnsherr finds and kills Shaw, Xavier's attention is now turned to the new threat of the two naval fleets with crews who are rapidly becoming fearful of the mutants. The ships launch a combined missile/artillery strike against the mutants, which Lehnsherr quickly turns back on them. Xavier fights with Lehnsherr to prevent him from destroying the ships, but when MacTaggert fires a gun at Lehnsherr, a deflected bullet hits Xavier in the spine, rendering him unable to stand. A remorseful Erik leaves with Raven, Angel, and Shaw's enforcers Riptide and Azazel.

Later, a wheelchair-bound Xavier returns to the mansion where MacTaggert promises never to reveal his location. They kiss, whereupon Xavier wipes her memory of the events. He soon intends to establish a school for mutants at his family's Westchester mansion, which will also serve as a base of operations where he trains mutants for his personal team:  the X-Men.

Between X-Men: First Class & X-Men: Days of Future Past

In 1965, Professor Xavier officially opened the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. During that year, however, America assumed a direct military role in the Vietnam War. As the war escalated throughout the mid-late 1960s, many students and staff at the school were drafted into the military, and ultimately, the school was unable to function. By the early 1970s, Xavier's school was defunct, and he reverted his mansion to a private residence once again. His estate had also fallen into considerable neglect and disrepair.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Xavier himself had become somewhat of a recluse, living a mainly solitary life in his mansion - save for McCoy, who helped Xavier tend to the affairs of his estate. He had become embittered by both Erik Lehnsherr's alleged involvement in the Kennedy Assassination and by Raven's abandonment of him after years of being his foster-sister. Furthermore, during this time, McCoy developed a serum that not only regulated his own mutation, but enabled Xavier to walk again. However, it also weakened his telepathic abilities.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Xavier guides a group of young mutants, including a young Scott Summers and Emma from the Weapon X facility on Three Mile Island after being freed by Wolverine. Xavier gives Summers directions telepathically, which leads the mutants outside where Xavier waits. He then escorts them back to his school in a helicopter.

20 years before X-Men: The Last Stand

In 1986, Xavier and Magneto travel together to visit a young Jean Grey and invite her to join Xavier's school.

X-Men

Xavier sends Storm and Cyclops to rescue Wolverine and Rogue from Sabretooth. Xavier believes that the attack had been ordered by Magneto and that Wolverine had been the intended target. He gives Wolverine and Rogue rooms in the School and promises to help Wolverine remember his past if he is allowed 48 hours to discover why Magneto wants Wolverine.

Xavier uses Cerebro to locate Rogue after she runs away, but is poisoned when he used it later (after Mystique had tampered with it) putting Xavier into a coma. In the end, he recovers and advises Wolverine to search Alkali Lake for answers to his past.

X2: X-Men United

Upon learning that the mutant Nightcrawler attacked the President of the United States, Xavier sends Storm and Jean Grey to bring him in for questioning. He and Cyclops leave to visit Magneto (as he is suspected behind the attack), leaving Wolverine in charge of the school. Xavier learns that Magneto was brainwashed by William Stryker and was forced to tell him all about the School and Cerebro. Soon after, Xavier is sedated with poisoned gas.

He wakes up in Stryker's underground test facility, tied to a chair and fixed to a neural inhibitor that restricts his mental powers. He is left in the room with Mastermind - William's son Jason and a powerful illusionist who Xavier had previously taught. Now brainwashed by his father, Jason traps Xavier in various illusions, keeping him in one where Xavier is back in the School (which is empty) and Jason impersonates a scared little girl. To comfort the "girl" and find his students, Xavier goes to use Cerebro. It is discovered that Xavier was captured to power a makeshift Cerebro Stryker created. Under Jason's illusion, Xavier is tricked into concentrating on all of the world's mutants, nearly killing them. He then switches to attacking all of the world's humans after Magneto and Mystique interfere.

Nightcrawler and Storm rescue Xavier from the illusion and eventually board the X-Jet. Just before Jean sacrifices her life, she uses Xavier to telepathically communicate with the others regarding her intentions.  Afterward, Xavier and the others fly to Washington, D.C. to warn the president against the possibility of a mutant/human war. 

X-Men: The Last Stand

Xavier expresses concern regarding Scott's grief over Jean's death and tells Storm that should anything happen to him, she was to replace him as head of the school. When Jean is discovered alive, Xavier sedates her and informs Wolverine that he had kept her powers in check with psychic barriers since she was a child, resulting in her developing a second personality known as "The Phoenix". When Jean awakens as the Phoenix and escapes, Xavier tracks her down to her old family home and tries to convince her to return.

Infuriated by Xavier's meddling in her head and influenced by Magneto (who insinuates that Xavier wishes to restrain her and "give her the cure"), she uses her mind to levitate her house and then cause Xavier's body to completely disintegrate. His death has a profound impact on both the students and faculty of the School, and it is nearly closed until Storm decides to honor Xavier's wishes and act as its head.

In an after-credits scene, Xavier speaks to Moira MacTaggert through the body of a comatose man, implying that his consciousness survived.

The Wolverine

In a mid-credits scene - years after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand - Xavier returns in his twin brothers body, somehow still needing a wheelchair to move around. Along with Magneto, he solicits Logan's help against dark forces seeking to destroy mutant-kind. When Logan questions Xavier about how he's returned, Xavier reminds him "you're not the only one with gifts."

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Charles Xavier, Magneto, Wolverine, and Storm arrive to meet the mutants hiding in China, where they plan to send Professor X back to 1973 to stop Mystique from killing Bolivar Trask, which triggered the Sentinel Program. However, they learn that while Shadowcat has the power to project someone's mind that far, the process is too damaging to be used sending someone more than a month into the past and not even Professor X could survive the trip. Realizing that with his healing powers he could make the trip, Wolverine volunteers in Professor X's place. As the X-Men hide themselves in a monastery, Wolverine is sent back to the past by Shadowcat but not before being asked by Professor X and Magneto to unite them together in 1973 to stop Mystique. Professor X warns Wolverine that he will be going back to a time where the Professor is unsure of himself and Wolverine must be the mentor to him that he was to Wolverine. After his past self tells Wolverine that he is the wrong man for the job, Wolverine explains how he was the only one who could do it and has Past Professor X enter his mind to communicate with Future Professor X. Future Professor X is able to convince his past self not to give up hope on peace between mutants and humans and inspires his past self to reembrace his powers and use Cerebro to locate Mystique.

Storm, Bishop, Colossus, Warpath, Sunspot, Iceman and Blink are killed protecting the monastery. As the Sentinels enter, they fire at Shadowcat, Wolverine, Magneto and Professor X. Shadowcat lets go and the future is changed.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

As Wolverine wakes up in 1973, he encounters a young McCoy and Xavier and tells them that he was sent from the future; asking for his help to stop the war in the future. Professor X initially refuses to help, but then agrees, only for Raven. The three go to Peter Maximoff's house where they ask for his help to free Magneto. 

Onboard a plane, Professor X and Magneto argue on how they abandoned each other and their kind. Wolverine, Charles, Erik and Hank arrive, where Erik plans to kill Mystique to prevent the program. She is shot in the leg before escaping through the window. Erik chases after her and pulls the bullet out of her leg and plans to kill her with that bullet, but Beast attacks Erik while Mystique escapes. After seeing Stryker, Wolverine briefly does not know why he’s there and who young Charles is.

Back at the mansion, Charles eventually refuses to take a serum, which allows him to walk again but lose his powers, and uses Cerebro to find Mystique. His mind is not focused and telepathically talks to the older Professor X where he is asked to hope again. As Wolverine, Professor X and Hank go to the unveiling of the Sentinels to find Mystique, the Sentinels begin attacking the public, where President Nixon and Bolivar Trask are taken to a safe room, followed by Mystique in disguise. Mystique slightly grazes Magneto's neck with a plastic gun before being convinced by Professor X via telepathy to not kill Trask. Mystique agrees and as Magneto would be executed for his actions, Charles lets both go. At the same time, as a mutant was seen to save the President, the Sentinel program is decommissioned and Bolivar Trask arrested for trying to sell American military secrets, meaning Charles effectively finished what Wolverine started and changed the future.

X-Men: Apocalypse

To Be Added

X-Men: Days of Future Past

At the changed future, Logan wakes back up and sees that Storm, Kitty, Peter, Bobby, Hank, Rogue, Jean Grey and Cyclops all have survived. Logan then finds Charles, who told him he has a history class to teach. Upon telling Charles he needs to brush up on everything that happens after 1973, Charles realized this was the moment in the apcolapytic future Wolverine went back in time and the Wolvervine he met in 1973 was finally back. Charles then tells Logan they have a lot of catching up to do and helps him brush up on everything that happened following his drowning by Magneto.

Personality

"Just because someone stumbles, loses their path, doesn't mean they're lost forever" - Charles Xavier

Xavier has built a lifetime reputation on being caring and compassionate to his fellow mutants. Even as a child, he helped a young Mystique find her place in the world. He refuses to give up on people, always believing they can be saved, as seen in Mystique, Jean Grey and even his "arch rival" Magneto. His greatest attribute is his ability to believe in hope and to never give up no matter the odds.

Throughout his adult life Xavier has taught and trained mutants, to not only deal with their abilities, but more importantly how to live in and cope in a world that fears them. He became a mentor and father figure to many mutants, giving them a home when many were lost. Even Lehnsherr, his long-time rival, holds Xavier in very high regard, knowing everything he's done for mutants.

However, Xavier was not always so hopeful and heroic. During the late 1960s and early 1970s the loss of Raven, his legs, his students and his friend Erik was too much for him, and he hid away from the world in the mansion. Xavier had lost hope, and became addicted to Hank McCoy's serum that returned him his legs, refusing to let his powers return and overwhelm him. It took the combined efforts of Wolverine and the future Xavier to return him to his usual heroic personality by showing him all the good he will do, and all the suffering that could be prevented.

Unlike most mutants, Xavier does not hate humans, believing that mutants and humans can find a way to coexist, and he will not risk human lives anymore than he would a mutant's. While preferring more diplomatic solutions, Xavier isn't afraid to be forceful, but only if it is the last resort.

Xavier has deep and complex relationships with many of the main X-Men characters. Both he and Erik Lehnsherr have a very complicated history, fighting each other over several decades, and yet there is still an almost brotherly connection between them. The two have spent many hours playing chess together and debating Mutant affairs. Xavier and Raven Darkholme also have a complicated relationship, with Raven being almost like a sister for Xavier, despite her troubled past. Hank McCoy is Charles' greatest ally, as he refused to give up on him, even when Charles had given up on himself. Logan's angry and self-centered attitude, contrasts with Charles, but the two worked together to unlocked the secrets of the former's mind, and eventually, Logan grew to see Xavier as a mentor-like figure and became one of his most loyal X-Men.

Powers, Abilities, & Weaknesses

Powers

  • Telepathy - Xavier has a wide array of telepathic powers. An example would be when Charles scan a persons brain and find any information he needs including memories. He used this power to help Logan unlock his memories, and in the 70's when he used this ability to search the mind of a woman, so he could see what flight Raven was going to take.
    • Telepathic Cloak - He can make himself and others invisible or completely imperceptible by manipulating the minds of others. He used this to hide himself, Magneto, and all the assault troops while en route to the dacha of the Russian general without being detected while in the back of the caravan.
    • Telepathic Communication - He is able to telepathically communicate with others. He demonstrated this at the end of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and in X-Men: First Class when he communicated with Moira and Erik
    • Mental Detection - He is able to sense where nearby mutants are. He demonstrated this when he sensed that Rogue had left the mansion and was at the train station. This ability is enhanced when he uses Cerebro. He was also able to find out that Jean Grey had left the X-mansion in X3. 
    • Mind Control - He is able to manipulate the minds of others to get them to do what he wants them to do. He does not like using this ability to make people do what he wants them to do all the time as he said when talking to Magneto while going to Jean Grey's house when she was a child.
    • Mental Possession - He is able to enter the mind of another to control their body and see from their perspective. He demonstrated this at the dacha of a Russian general and possessed the mind of a guard.
    • Mental Sedation - He can make others fall asleep simply by telling them to.
    • Mnemokinesis - He can erase and even implant fake memories into peoples minds. He once threatened Wolverine, that he could make him believe he was a six year old girl.
    • Mind Transferal - When his body was destroyed in X-Men: The Last Stand, he transferred his consciousness into a host body. Although this is never explained or made clear. It is believed that the body he possessed was that of his brain dead twin brother, who Miora was seen looking after, which could explain how he looks the same as he did in his other body. He reanimated this body, but he seemed to be unable to restore his ability to walk, as he still needed a wheelchair even after his transference. It is possible that his brothers condition may have also made him paraplegic like Charles.
    • Paralyzation - He can mentally paralyze others, making it appear as if time has been stopped. He first shows this at the beginning of X Men 2. 
    • Mental Link - He has ability to develop a mental link with any person which remains as a connection to that individual. This was shown when Jean Grey linked with him to communicate with the others in the X-Jet before perishing. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Charles uses this power to project his mind into the future by linking the future Wolverine's mind and use them as a bridge to it where he is able to connect to and converse with his future self.
    • Mental Amnesia - He has the ability to cause loss of particular memories and amnesia in another person or group of people. This was demonstrated at the end of X-Men: First Class. Here, he used this power while kissing Moira MacTaggert and makes her forget all the time that she spent with Xavier and the mutants (although she recalls fragments, including the kiss). This might have been used to save himself and made it look like Jean killed him in X-Men 3.
    • Telepathic Illusion - Charles is able to generate realistic illusions. In X-Men: Days of Future Past the Professor X uses this power to convince Mystique to not kill Bolivar Trask.
    • Psychic Barriers - Charles was able to put mental blocks in Jean Grey's mind so she couldn't unlock the her full power.
    • Psionic Blasts - When his powers were boosted by Cerebro, Charles had enough power to cause every mutant in the world to experience excruciating pain that would eventually kill them. He was also able to make every human experience the same fatal pain when Magneto reversed Cerebro.

Abilities

  • Genius-Level Intellect - A natural genius, Xavier is a leading authority on genetics, mutation, and psionics. He also possesses considerable expertise in other life sciences. He is highly talented in devising equipment for utilizing and enhancing psionic powers. Xavier is also quite the masterful tactician and strategist, effectively evaluating situations and devising swift responses.
    • Skilled Strategist
  • Skilled Leader

Weaknesses

  • Paraplegic - Xavier has been unable to walk due to spinal damage, suffered when one of the bullets Magneto bounced off using his magnetic powers hit him in 1962. Despite transfering his consciousness to his brain dead brother and using his body as his own, he still is unable to walk, either by the body he uses already having this handicap or by his consciousness actually affecting and altering the body he uses, which could explain his appearance being that of his former body.
  • Neural Inhibitor Helmet - In X2 Stryker built a special helmet that blocked Charles' abilities.
  • Hank McCoy's Serum - Beast's serum gives Charles the ability to walk, but it blocks his abilities.
  • Magneto's Helmet - Magneto possess a specially designed helmet that can block Charles's powers.

Relationships

Friends and Family

Enemies

Trivia

  • In the comics, Xavier is on a wheel chair because he had his legs crippled by Lucifer, while in the movie he is paralyzed by a bullet deflected by Magneto. This is similar to how Ultimate Universe Professor X paralyzing Xavier with a metal spear through the back, due to the fact that Professor X wanted to break away from Magneto as we wanted to create a more mutant dominant society and becoming increasingly hateful toward mankind.
  • X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: The Last Stand show Charles being able to walk in the 1980s, but X-Men: First Class shows that he lost his ability to walk in the 1960s. This is explained in X-Men: Days of Future Past as Xavier has been taking drugs administered by Beast. The drugs allow Charles to walk, but it also inhibits his telepathic abilities. Beast had also been taking the drugs to stay in his "human form".
  • In X-Men: First Class, Beast asks Xavier if he can shave him, in order to better use the Cerebro, but Xavier replies "Don't touch my hair.", thus making a joke about his elder appearance. He does it again at the end of the movie, complaining about getting old and saying to Moira MacTaggert that he'll soon become bald.
  • In X-Men, Professor X told Wolverine that he met Magneto when he was 17. However, in X-Men: First Class, he meets him at the age of 30.
  • For an unknown reason, even while in P. Xavier's body, Professor X still requires a wheelchair to move around despite not having spine damage in that body.
  • By 2023, Professor X has transitioned from a wheelchair to a hoverchair that allows him greater mobility.
  • Despite his vast mental powers and strong mind, even he is not able to survive being projected more than a month into the past by Shadowcat's powers, a weakness which nearly doomed his plan to change history to stop the Sentinels until Wolverine took his place. This proved problematic at times because as Xavier's 1973 self pointed out, Wolverine was "the wrong man for the job", but they had no choice as he was the only one capable of it. However, it was Professor X's 1973 self and not Wolverine who ultimately succeeded in changing the future for the better by convincing Mystique to stop while Wolverine was incapacitated.
  • In the new timeline, a despondent Professor X in 1973 had Wolverine take on a mentor role to him in a role reversal from when they first met with Wolverine pushing him to not give up on his goals and helping him find himself again.
  • While time traveling, Wolverine never encountered his past self, possessing his body instead of coming in his own, but Professor X was able to use his powers to project himself into the future through Wolverine's mind to speak to his future self. Professor X's own future self ended up giving him the hope to continue fighting for mutant/human peace when he had given up completely.

External links

Advertisement