Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X (born 1932) is the secondary protagonist of 20th Century Fox and Marvel's X-Men film series.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
As a child, 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.
A natural genius, Charles completed high school at sixteen. He attended Oxford University accompanied by Raven. He earned Ph.D.s in Genetics, Biophysics, and Psychology.
Meeting Erik Lehnsherr[]
After completing his thesis on genetic mutation, he was approached by Agent Moira MacTaggert of the CIA for his help in stopping a mutant named Sebastian Shaw, who was working with the Soviet Union. MacTaggert introduced him and Raven to the CIA, where they proved to her chief that mutants existed and Shaw was a threat. The chief refused to employ the help of the mutants, but a "Man in Black" offered to sponsor them.
Charles accompanied MacTaggert, MIB and a US Coast Guard assault team to arrest Shaw on his yacht. During the attack, Charles' telepathy was blocked by Emma Frost. They also encountered Erik Lehnsherr, who was launching his own solo attack on Shaw at the time. When Shaw escaped in a submarine, Xavier prevented Lensherr from killing himself in an attempt to stop it and brought him to the CIA's secret "Division X" facility.
Forming The X-Men[]
There they met young scientist Hank McCoy, a mutant with prehensile feet and enhanced intelligence, whom Xavier identified as a mutant. He then used a mutant-locating device designed by McCoy called Cerebro to find and recruit mutants for training to stop Shaw. Refusing CIA help, he and Lensherr traveled the world discovering various mutants: exotic dancer Angel Salvadore; taxi driver Armando Muñoz; Army prisoner Alexander Summers; and the young Sean Cassidy. They also approached Canadian mercenary James Howlett, but he immediately rebuffed them.
Lensherr and Xavier tried once again to find and capture Shaw, who was supposed to be meeting with a Soviet general. They discovered that Frost had attended the meeting in his place, and Xavier and Lensherr captured her instead. Interrogating her led to the revelation that Shaw intended to spark a third world war to wipe out humanity, leaving mutants as the dominant species. Meanwhile, the other Hellfire Club mutants attacked Division X, turning Angel to their cause and killing Armando in the process. With the facility destroyed, Xavier relocated the mutants to train at his family mansion. During their stay there, Xavier applied his telepathy to help Lensherr reach new heights of his magnetic ability.
Cuban Missile Crisis[]
Xavier's new team was soon called to action during the Cuban Missile Crisis when Shaw engineered a stand-off between amassed United States and Soviet navel forces. A Soviet freighter had been forcibly commandeered by the Hellfire Club who were attempting to run the American blockade. Xavier took mental control of a Soviet officer and had the man destroy the freighter, thus averting a nuclear catastrophe. Lensherr pulled Shaw's submarine from the water. The submarine and the X-Jet both crashed shortly after, bringing both teams into direct conflict with each other. Lensherr found and killed Shaw.
Xavier found his attention turned to the new threat of the two navel fleets with crews who were rapidly becoming fearful of the mutants. The ships launched a combined missile strike against the mutants, which Lensherr quickly turned back on them. Xavier kept Lensherr from destroying the ships, but when MacTaggert fired a gun at Lensherr, a deflected bullet hit Xavier in the spine, crippling him from ever walking again. A remorseful Erik left with Mystique, Angel, and Shaw's enforcers Riptide and Azazel.
Professor X[]
Later, a wheelchair-bound Xavier returned to the mansion where MacTaggert promised never to reveal his location. They kissed, whereupon Xavier wiped her memory of the events. He soon after founded Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and ran from his family's Westchester mansion, which had been converted into a base of operations at which he trained mutants for his personal strike force known as the X-Men. The base included subterranean medical labs, a training facility called "The Danger Room," an aircraft hanger, and Cerebro.
William Stryker sent his son Jason to Xavier's school in hopes of ridding his mutation, regarding it as a disease that he believed needed be cured. Xavier had no interest or belief in 'curing' mutants, which angered Stryker. Later, Xavier helped liberate the mutant children held prisoner by Stryker at Three Mile Island. He took them in an flew off in his helicopter with Scott Summers and the sister of Kayla Silverfox. Summers would go on to lead the X-Men.
After finding Jean Grey during a brief reunion with Magneto, Xavier began controlling her with mind blocks because he believed her class 5 powers were too much for her to handle.
Battles With The Brotherhood[]
Xavier helped Wolverine try to put together his past. Mystique infiltrated the school and sabotaged Cerebro. When Xavier used Cerebro he fell into a coma. Despite his absence Wolverine and the X-Men prevented Magneto from mutating the leaders at the World Summit on Liberty Island. He later fully recovered from the coma.
Later, Xavier visited Magneto in his plastic prison cell, and the two played chess. Magneto warned his friend that he would continue his fight, to which Xavier promised that he and the X-Men would always be there to stop him.
Mutants United[]
Stryker captured Xavier and had Jason trick Xavier into using Cerebro II, a reproduction of Cerebro, to kill all mutants. Magneto, wearing a helmet designed to shield against telepathic attacks, was able to reach Xavier while the X-Men were incapacitated by the psychic assault, but then had Jason make Xavier use Cerebro II to kill ordinary humans. At his direction, Mystique impersonated Stryker and instructed Jason of a change in plans, which Jason then communicated to the brainwashed Xavier. Magneto and Mystique escaped, and soon thereafter Storm and Nightcrawler entered Cerebro II and disrupted Jason's illusion, allowing Xavier to break from his control before any humans and mutants could be killed. They took the weakened Professor to safety, and Jean later used him to telekinetically talk to Scott in her final moments.
The Phoenix[]
With Cyclops becoming depressed over Jean's death, Xavier made Storm his successor to headmaster, despite her surprise. Like most other X-Men, he was neutral to the idea of the Mutant Cure. Wolverine and Storm later found Jean Grey alive, with her mind blocks removed. Xavier immediately kept her in a coma so he could put them back, but a horrified Wolverine released Jean; she subsequently knocked him unconscious and escaped.
Xavier, Storm, and Wolverine went to Jean in her house, only to run into Magneto and the Brotherhood, who wanted to recruit Jean. The old frenemies argued for control over Jean's fate. When Jean Grey learned of Xavier's mind blocks from Magneto, she and the Professor telekinetically fought and she destroyed his body.
Xavier was buried on the campus grounds, with Scott to his right and Jean to Scott's right.
However, to escape death, Xavier transferred his mind to the body of his brain-dead twin brother, P. Xavier, who was under the care of Dr. Moira MacTaggert at Muir Island.
Return[]
Shortly after returning from Japan, Logan is greeted by a restored Charles Xavier and repowered Magneto, who inform him that a darkness is coming that could destroy their kind and that he is needed. Wolverine asked how it was possible that he came back, and he said that he merely used his gifts.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Professor Charles Xavier is an Omega Class 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, he can connect to every mind on a planet.
- Telepathic Illusion: 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.
- Psi 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 and amnesia in another person or even in a group of people.
- Psionic Shield: ability to erect a psychic shield for protection of himself and of other minds.
- 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 Transferral: 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.