Professor X (Charles Francis Xavier)

Professor X, born Charles Francis Xavier, is a fictional superhero in the Marvel Comics universe, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. He first appeared in X-Men #1, published by Marvel Comics in September 1963. He is the founder of the superhero team The X-Men in the Marvel Universe and an incredibly powerful mutant hero.
Raised into a wealthy family, Charles Xavier was born a mutant with psychic powers that isolated him from society as a whole. As he grew older, he used his powers to spread understanding and created a school to help teach other mutants and train them to both protect themselves and the humans that hate and fear them.
== Biography ==
=== Childhood ===
Charles Xavier was born to the wealthy Dr. Brian Xavier, a nuclear scientist and Sharon Xavier (later Sharon Xavier-Marko) in New York City. While still in the womb, Charles mutant power activated, sensing Charles twin sister as a dangerous presence and instinctively tried to kill it. The twin was long thought dead and Charles Xavier was not aware of his until some time later.
=== Kurt and Cain Marko ===
As a child, Charles Xavier was a child who grew up with loving parents but was a relatively quiet child who did not have many friends. After Charles' father died in an accident, Charles' mother remarried Dr. Kurt Marko and they moved in to the Xavier Mansion along with Kurt Marko's son Cain. Kurt Marko soon took to Charles, which neglecting and mistreating his own son, which lead to Cain abusing and bullying Charles as a result and Kurt would beat Cain in kind. Sharon eventually married Kurt, unaware that he was marrying her for her money, as Kurt was always jealous of Brian Xavier's wealth.
It was around this time that Charles began to develop strong psychic abilities caused by a then unknown mutation (the psychic energy also caused him to go bald at a young age) and as these powers developed, he unconsciously created a subtle psychic bond with his mother. This sudden change caused him to lose his hair due to the side effects of the psychic energy. This was also when Charles read Kurt Marko's mind and discovered that he didn't love Sharon and married her because he coveted Brian Xavier's fortune. Meanwhile, as time passed, Kurt began neglecting Sharon, which drove her towards alcoholism and later Kurt would become abusive towards her and Cain. Charles tried to use his psychic powers to connect with his mother's mind to help alleviate her suffering brought on by Kurt's abuse of her. He also experienced Cain's physical and emotional abuse psychically but could not control this sensation (Cain was also more aggressive to Xavier at this point as well). Soon after, Sharon died (supposedly of a broken heart), leaving Xavier in the care of the Markos.
During a heated argument between Kurt and Cain, Cain accused Kurt of murdering Brian Xavier. Charles overheard the conversation and confronted the two about the truth, but during the argument, Cain threw a vial of chemicals which caused an explosion. Kurt saved the two children from the catastrophe but was mortally wounded in the process and in his last moments begged Charles for forgiveness (revealing that while he didn't directly kill him, he chose not to save him when he had the chance) and advised Charles not to let Cain know about Charles' powers (which he had been aware of for some time). However, Cain did learn and believed that Charles involuntary use of his powers was a deliberate action and from then on swore vengeance on Charles.
=== Education ===
After he was orphaned, Xavier used the money left to him and put much of it towards his education. Being a particularly gifted child, he entered Bard's College in his teens and graduated from Harvard at age 16. Xavier then went to Oxford's college for his graduate studies and to gain a Ph.D in Genetics where he met and began a romance with a young student named Moira Kinross. Meanwhile, Marko (who was still living in the Xavier mansion) continued to chafe at his jealousy towards Xavier's educational and mutant gifts and after losing a fistfight to him felt even more bitterly towards him. Xavier would also briefly meet mutant soldiers (Logan and Victor Creed) who warned Xavier of mutant imprisonment in America, which he failed to heed. His inaction would be a source of shame later in life.  Xavier and Moira had intended to be married, but Xavier had been drafted into the army, seperating them for a time.
=== The Korean War ===
Xavier went onto fight in the Korean War, alongside Cain (who was in his unit) and was witness to Cain discovering a strange ruby that transformed Cain into a powerful superhuman known as the Juggernaut before seeing him seemingly die.  Xavier also served with fellow soldier Carmen Pryde, who gave him the nickname "the Good Shepard".
=== Interest in Human/Mutant Relations ===
After Moira broke off their relationship for reasons unknown to him, Charles fell into a depression and deciding to use his family wealth to travel abroad.  He travelled to Egypt and there he met a young pickpocket named Ororo Monroe, who he discovered was a mutant with the power to control the weather. While trying to help Ororo, Xavier encountered a dangerous mutant named Amahl Farouk (who was in fact a host for the dangerous entity known as the Shadow King) and the two had a duel that ended in Farouk's apparent death. Deciding that mutants could use their powers for evil if not properly trained, Xavier decided to make it his cause to bring mutants and humans together in harmony.
His travels next took him to Haifa, Israel where psychiatrist Daniel Shomron headed a clinic for people needing help dealing with the trauma of the Holocaust. One of the worst cases was Gabrielle Haller, who was catatonic until Xavier used his power to restore her capabilities. Xavier and Haller became lovers and even co-developed a theory where the right combination of mutant powers could resurrect the dead.
== Overview ==
* Visionary Leader: Professor X is renowned for his idealistic vision of peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans. He believes in the potential for harmony and works tirelessly to promote understanding and cooperation.
* Educational Pioneer: As the headmaster of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, he is dedicated to training young mutants to control their powers and use them for the betterment of society.
* Philosophical and Moral Dilemmas: Professor X's leadership often involves grappling with complex ethical and moral dilemmas, balancing his commitment to peace with the need to defend his students and the world from threats.
Xavier Institute for Higher Learning:
* Purpose: The institute serves as a sanctuary and educational facility for young mutants, providing a safe environment where they can learn to manage their powers and develop their potential.
* Curriculum: In addition to academic subjects, the institute offers specialized training in combat and teamwork for the X-Men, fostering skills necessary for their roles as superheroes.
== Attributes ==
=== Powers ===
Charles Xavier is an Alpha-Level Mutant, said to possess the most powerful brain in existence, and to be the world's greatest telepath possessing vast psionic powers:
Telepathy: Xavier is 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 synced 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 had been previously, thereby making him the world's most powerful telepath once again.
* Telepathic Illusions: Charles has the ability to create realistic telepathic illusions and cause people to experience events which are not actually occurring.
* Telepathic Cloak: He can mask his presence from being detected by others. His abilities could 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: He has the ability to develop a mental link with any person which remains as a connection to that individual.
* Telepathic Camouflage: Charles is capable of masking his and/or other people's presence from those around him. He 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: He has the ability to place large amounts of information in another's mind.
* Mind Control: Xavier possesses the power to control the minds of others upon mere concentration. This power could allow him to completely shut down several people's minds, making it appear as if time has stopped.
* Mind Possession: Xavier can possess the mind of another and use that being's body as his own.
* Mind Alteration: He has the ability to alter the minds of others by force of will.
* Mental Amnesia: Charles can cause loss of particular memories or total amnesia in another person or a group of people, including his own.
* Psychic Wave Manipulation: Xavier's mental talents are such that he can give his psionic power enough physical substance to affect the material world through his telepathy. Having used this faculty of his mutant power to K.O a Sentinel, knocking it a great distance away from himself with the power of his thoughts made real alone.
* Mental Shield: He has the ability to erect a psychic barrier for protection of himself and of other minds, so that he could prevent the free access to the conscious and subconscious mind of anyone.
* Psionic Blasts: Xavier can project psionic force bolts which had no physical effects but can affect a victim's mind so as to cause the victim pain or unconsciousness and could even kill an adversary.
* Mental Detection: He 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: Xavier possesses the ability to transfer both his mind and powers into other host bodies if his own physical body was somehow killed.
* Absorb Information: He has the ability to quickly process and store information, by mental transference.
* Telepathic Learning: He is also able to telepathically teach information to other individuals. For example, when Illyana Rasputin first came to live at the X-Mansion, he telepathically taught the all of the active X-Men Russian, so that they could communicate with her. He later taught the team Japanese prior to their leaving for Tokyo to attend Logan and Mariko's wedding. Xavier was also able to impart months of training into the minds of four young mutants, over the span of a few hours, to insure they were better able to use their powers and work together as a team.
* Omnilingual: As a result of his telepathic abilities, Xavier is able to communicate with any individual, regardless of languages barriers.
* Astral Projection: Charles can use 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 could use his powers to create "ectoplasmic" objects. He could not engage in long range astral projection on the earthly plane.
Telekinesis: Professor X has shown low-level PK abilities. Having been potent enough to disrupt high-end technological equipment with enough effort on his part. Though seemingly no longer existent, they were apparently keyed to his genetics, as Cassandra Nova has the same ability and is basically a clone of Xavier. While in the newer, younger body and empowered by a Cerebro like helmet, Charles would exhibit psionic mind over matter facilities refined enough to beckon a flash drive on Mystique's person into his hand with a gesture.
Although recently, he seemingly fully awakened his genetic potential of his telekinetic ability, as Charles used it to trap Nimrod in place and break him down and separate his individual components.
=== Abilities ===
Genius Intelligence: A natural genius, Xavier is a leading authority on genetics, mutation, and psionics. He 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; he has, on numerous occasions, even fashioned long-term operations as complex as those of adversaries such as Sinister, Magneto, and Apocalypse.
Military Training: Charles served in the United States Military, secretly employing his abilities to specialize in search and rescue missions.
Expert Fighter: In his travels in the East, he became a proficient hand-to-hand combatant and gained knowledge of pressure points.
=== Weaknesses ===
* 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.
* Telepathy: Xavier is vulnerable to disturbing images when using telepathy, even incapacitating or killing him.
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 detailed 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 and carelessly sent them 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.
* Magneto's Helmet: His old friend turned adversary Magneto created a helmet that protects its wearer from telepathic attacks, including those from Charles. Blueprints of the Helmet can be found online and have been used to create copies.
== Key Storylines and Adaptations ==
* Formation of the X-Men: Professor X assembled the original X-Men team to fight against the anti-mutant prejudice and threats posed by villains such as Magneto and the Sentinels.
* House of M: In this storyline, Professor X plays a significant role in the fallout of the reality-altering events caused by Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch).
* X-Men Movies: Professor X has been portrayed by actors such as Patrick Stewart in the X-Men film series (2000–2017) and James McAvoy in the prequel films starting with X-Men: First Class (2011).
Category:Mutants
Category:Comic Book Characters
Category:Movie Characters