Mutant Name: Professor X
Real Name: Charles Xavier
Notable Aliases: Onslaught, Founder, X, Warlord, Entity
First Appearance: The X-Men #1
Background: Professor Charles Xavier, a powerful mutant psychic, was the founder and headmaster of the Xavier School For Gifted Youngsters, a school for teaching young mutants how to control and use their mutant powers. The Xavier School, however, acted as a front for Professor X’s team of mutant superheroes known as The X-Men. As leader of the newly formed team, Professor X used his mutant abilities to keep the team in constant psychic contact with each other, making him an integral part of the X-Men from its initial stage. Over the years, Professor Xavier’s actions and motives branded him a savior, a pariah, a hero, and a villain, but he was always a father figure to many of the X-Men. When Cyclops and his Uncanny X-Men team were possessed by the cosmic Phoenix Force, Scott Summers, driven mad by the power of the Phoenix, killed his longtime friend Professor X, leading to Cyclops being the most wanted mutant terrorist in history.
Why He Matters Now: Despite being dead for months, Charles Xavier’s impact on the mutants or the Marvel Universe, and the Marvel Universe as a whole, are still being felt. The WWII villain the Red Skull absorbed a deceased Professor X’s brain in the pages of Rick Remender’s Uncanny Avengers, giving the villain the mutant’s powerful psychic abilities, the Red Skull is set to return as the main protagonist in Remender’s upcoming Axis event. While over in Brian Michael Bendis’ Uncanny X-Men #23, the impact of Original Sin are coming to haunt the X-Men when She-Hulk arrives at the Jean Grey School with the last will and testament of the dead headmaster. Even in death, Professor Xavier’s influence on the Marvel U is immense.
