Charles Xavier

"So many battles waged over the years... and yet, none of them like this. Are we destined to destroy each other, or can we change who we are and unite? Is the future truly set?"

―Charles Xavier ^[src]

Charles Francis Xavier is a mutant who possessed strong telepathy and arguably the most powerful mind on Earth. His abilities allowed him to read the thoughts of others, impose his own will to take over other people's minds or erase their memories and appear as an image in the mind of others. Xavier dedicated his life to fighting for peaceful co-existence between man and mutantkind. To aid in this crusade, he founded a school for gifted youngsters to secretly train young mutants to control their amazing powers. Xavier now uses his special abilities to lead his clandestine team of X-Men into battle against Erik Lehnsherr and his brotherhood of evil mutants.

Biography

X-Men: First Class

"There's so much more to you than you know, not just pain and anger. There's good in you too, and you can harness all that. You have a power that no one can match, not even me."

―Charles Xavier ^[src]

As a child, Charles met a shape-shifting girl named Raven, who had broken into his family's mansion posing as his mother 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, now his foster sister), earning PhD.s in Genetics, Biophysics, and Psychology. After completing his thesis on genetic mutation, he was approached by Agent Moira MacTaggert of the CIA for his help to stop 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 exist and Shaw was a threat. The chief refused to employ the help of the mutants, but the "Man in Black" offered to sponsor them.

Charles accompanied MacTaggert, Man in Black and a US Coast Guard assault team to arrest Shaw on his yacht. During the attack, his 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. There they met young scientist Hank McCoy, a prehensile-footed mutant with 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 Alex Summers; and the young Sean Cassidy. They also approached Canadian mercenary James Howlett, but he immediately rebuffed them.

Lensherr and Xavier left with the CIA to find and capture Shaw, who was supposed to be meeting with a Soviet general. Soon after arrival 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.

After Pres. Kennedy's address announcing the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba, Xavier's new team were soon called to action when Shaw engineered a stand-off between amassed United States and Soviet navel forces, that saw a soviet freighter forcibly commandeered by the Hellfire Club attempting to run the American blockade. Xavier telepathically searched the Soviet fleet in an attempt to locate Shaw, but found himself unable to thanks to a helmet that Shaw had devised to block 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 Sean Cassidy volunteered to employ his sound generation power to act as a sonar, Xavier telepathically monitored the boy's progress and was able to then guide the X-Jet to Shaw's submarine where Lensherr could pull it clear of the water. The submarine and the X-Jet both crashed shortly after, bringing both teams into direct conflict with each other. Xavier stayed with the jet and continued his search for Shaw by linking with Lensherr who ventured into the stricken submarine alone. After 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 him from destroying the ships, but when MacTaggert fired a gun at Lensherr, a deflected bullet hit Xavier in the spine. A remorseful Erik left with Mystique, Angel, and Shaw's enforcers Riptide and Azazel.

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.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

After the deaths of Banshee, Angel, Azazel and Emma Frost, and many of the mutant teachers and students being drafted into the military, Xavier shut down the school with only Hank at his side. Hank created a serum in order to control his beast form while Xavier used it to help him walk again with the side effect of stopping his powers all together.

Original Timeline

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Charles didn't know what Mystique was planning on doing so never intervened, staying a recluse in the X-Mansion with Hank while Mystique killed Trask and spurred the Sentinel Program.

20 Years before X-Men: The Last Stand

Xavier and Magneto traveled together to a young Jean Grey's house and invited her to join Xavier's school.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Xavier guided a group of young mutants including a young Scott Summers from the Weapon X facility at Three Mile Island after being freed by James Howlett. Xavier gave Summers directions telepathically, which led the mutants outside where Xavier waited. He then escorted the mutants back to his school in a helicopter.

X-Men

"Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward."

―Charles Xavier ^[src]

Years later, Xavier successfully created the X-Men. He sent Ororo Munroe and Scott Summers to rescue Wolverine and Rogue from Sabretooth. Xavier believed that the attack had been ordered by Magneto and that Wolverine had been the intended target.

He gave Wolverine and Rogue a home in the institute and promised to help Wolverine remember his past if he was allowed forty-eight hours to discover why Magneto wanted Wolverine.

Xavier used Cerebro to locate Rogue when she ran away, finding her in a train station. Magneto attacked the train station along with his Brotherhood and came after Rogue. When Rogue was captured by Magneto, police came out and pointed guns at him. He lifted up the police cars and pointed all their guns at each of them at the same time. Xavier was able to control both Sabretooth and Toad at the same time and speak through them, in an attempt to talk Magneto out of his plans against humans. Mystique arrived in a helicopter and they escaped along with the girl.

Xavier tried to find Rogue but was poisoned when he used Cerebro (as Mystique had tampered with it) putting Xavier in an unconscious state.

Xavier recovered after Rogue was rescued and advised Wolverine to search Alkali Lake for answers to his past.

Xavier visited Magneto in his plastic prison after he was captured playing chess. Magneto told him that there was a war coming and he intended to fight it. Charles told him that he will always be there to stop him.

X2: X-Men United

"Mutants. Since the discovery of their existence they have been regarded with fear, suspicion, often hatred. Across the planet, debate rages. Are mutants the next link in the evolutionary chain or simply a new species of humanity fighting for their share of the world? Either way it is a historical fact: Sharing the world has never been humanity's defining attribute."

―Charles Xavier ^[src]

Upon learning that the mutant Nightcrawler attacked the President of the United States, Xavier sent Storm and Jean to bring the mutant in for questioning. Xavier and Scott left to visit Magneto as he was suspected to be behind the attack, leaving Wolverine in charge of the school.

In Magneto's cell, Xavier learned that Magneto was brainwashed by William Stryker and forced to tell Stryker all about the institute and Cerebro. Before he could escape, Xavier was knocked out.

Xavier woke up in Stryker's underground test facility in Alkali Lake, tied to a chair and fixed to a device that restricted his mental powers. He was left in the room with Jason Stryker, William's son and a powerful illusionist who Xavier previously taught. Now brainwashed by his father, Jason trapped Xavier into various illusions, keeping him in one where Xavier was back at the institute and Jason was portrayed as a scared little girl. To comfort the "girl" and find his students, Xavier went to use Cerebro. Xavier was really imprisoned so he could power a makeshift Cerebro that Stryker created. When his powers were magnified by Cerebro, Xavier could locate every mutant in the world. If he concentrated hard enough, he could kill all mutants or humans and possibly everyone in the world.

Under Jason's illusion, Xavier was tricked into concentrating on all of the world's mutants, nearly killing them. He then switched to attacking all of the world's humans after Magneto - immune to the assault thanks to his helmet - confronted and threatened Jason. Nightcrawler and Storm rescued Xavier from the illusion and he had them all fly to Washington, to warn the President against the possibility of a mutant/human war.

X-Men: The Last Stand

"Since the dawn of existence, there have always been moments when the course of history shifted. Such a turning point is upon us now. The conflict between the better and worst angels of our very nature, whose outcome will change our world so greatly, there will be no going back. I do not know if victory is possible. I only know that great sacrifice will be required. And because the fate of many will depend on a few, we must make the last stand."

―Charles Xavier ^[src]

Xavier expressed worry over Scott's grief over Jean's death and told Storm that should anything happen to him, she was to replace him as head of the school.

When Jean was discovered alive, Xavier sedated her and told Wolverine that he had kept her powers in check with mental barriers since she was a child, resulting in her developing a second personality known as "The Phoenix". When Jean awakened as The Phoenix and escaped, Xavier tracked her down to her old home and tried to convince her to return.

Rather than starting a fight outside her house, Xavier let Magneto come with him. Xavier tried to calmly talk Jean into returning to the mansion, but Magneto turned the unstable Jean against the Professor. This caused Xavier to panic and speak to Jean in a less calm manner, now flatly telling her that she's a danger to everyone, including herself. He used the fact that Jean killed Scott to try to bring her back to herself, but it had the exact opposite effect he was hoping for, further angering the Phoenix instead of stunning her into realizing her evil potential. After much argument, the Phoenix manifested its great powers as she tried to keep Xavier from re-establishing the psychic blocks to imprison it again. Infuriated both by Xavier's meddling in her head and Magneto, who insinuated that Xavier wished to restrain her and "give her the cure", she used her mind to first lift her house into the air and then caused Xavier to explode into ash. His death caused a great impact on the residents of the institute and it was nearly closed until Storm decided to honor Xavier's wishes and act as its head following the arrival of Warren Worthington.

In an after-credits scene, Xavier spoke to Moira McTaggert through the body of a comatose man, implying that his consciousness survived by transferring itself into the body, an action that Xavier had discussed as part of an ethics class, the question being if it would be ethically right for a mutant like himself to attempt such a transference.

The Wolverine

"As I told you a long time ago, you're not the only one with gifts."

―Charles to Logan^[src]

Some years later, Magneto sought out Logan and explained that something was wrong and that he needed his help, although Logan doesn't believe him. Magneto knew Wolverine wouldn't trust him so brought a friend. Everyone around them froze and Professor Xavier revealed himself; alive and well, and recruited Logan to aid in a threat that required the reformation of the X-Men.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

"I was a very different man. Lead me, guide me, be patient with me."

―Charles Xavier ^[src]

Xavier, teamed up with Magneto, Storm, and Wolverine, met up with their former students Kitty Pryde, Iceman, and Colossus, along with some fellow mutant survivors; Bishop, Blink, Sunspot, and Warpath in China. After seeing mutants all over the world being hunted down, Xavier told Kitty Pryde to send him back in time to 1973 but she told him that his mind would be destroyed so Logan volunteered to be sent back as his mind can heal. Xavier, Magneto and Iceman stayed with Logan as Kitty Pryde sent him into the future. Sometime during this, Logan saw Stryker and, in his rage, accidentally stabbed Kitty. Iceman demanded to let her rest but Magneto said that he needed more time in the future in order to change it so she continued. Professor X then met his younger self and showed him a way to hope as he had a bright future as a professor. After this, the Sentinels attacked. The X-Men tried to hold them off but to little success. The Sentinels broke through and were about to kill Charles when the timeline changed.

New Timeline

X-Men: Days of Future Past

"I don't want your suffering; I don't want your future!"

―Charles Xavier to Logan^[src]

Logan found Xavier in his depressed state and convinced him and Hank of the future. They found Quicksilver and tried to convince him to help them break Magneto out of prison. He accepted in order to say that he was able to break into the Pentagon. During the breakout, Xavier tried to convince guards to let them through as special services, however Logan beat them up instead. They met up with Magneto and Quicksilver and as they were escaping, they were surrounded by guards. Magneto was about to attack but Quicksilver took them all down. Xavier let Quicksilver borrow his car while they go to Paris so long as he "doesn't go too fast."

During the trip, Charles and Erik fought over them abandoning each other. He found out, however, that Erik was trying to save John F. Kennedy as he was a mutant. They arrived in Paris and Charles stopped Raven from killing Trask, however, Magneto tried to kill her. Charles sent Hank to stop him then helped Logan, who suddenly snapped back in time after seeing Stryker again. After the incident, they returned to New York and Xavier finally stopped taking the Serum and used Cerebro. However, he wasn't strong enough and the machine broke. While Hank went to fix it, Xavier used Logan's mind to talk to his future self who gave him hope to retry. On this attempt he found Mystique and communicated with her to try to stop her but to no success. He did find out that she was heading to DC, where the President would unveil the new Sentinels.

Xavier, along with Hank and Wolverine, arrived at the Sentinel unveiling. Charles searched through the minds of everyone as he found Mystique who was disguised as a secret service man. He stopped her just as she was about to pull out a gun. Then Magneto attacked and Mystique went with President Nixon and his men to a bomb shelter in the White House. Charles became trapped in some rubble for most of the battle but once Mystique knocked off Magneto's helmet, Charles controlled him and used him to lift the rubble off of his legs. Charles then convinced Raven not to shoot Trask and they all walked away having changed the future.

X-Men: Apocalypse

"I've never felt power like this before..."

―Charles Xavier^[src]

To be added

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Charles finds Storm, Cyclops, and Jean as he promised to Logan all those years ago. When Logan returns to the future, Charles informed him of what he missed over the past fifty years.

Wolverine

To be added

Character traits

Charles is a moral, selfless and benevolent teacher and a great leader by all accounts. He possessed immense strength of character, and viewed in an almost messaic way by any who knew him well enough.

As a young man, Charles was a fully-fledged genius - he graduated from the most accomplished college in the area and possessed multiple doctorates to such an extent that he achieved the title of professor. He was exceptionally learned in the fields of biology, psychology, chemistry, physics and even the subject of mutation itself. In spite of his idyllic upbringing and alleged genius, Charles was also extremely empathetic and compassionate to a fault - on the very night he first met Mystique, he took her in and treated her as a sister - and, in all honesty, his only friend. He did not see her as a freak of nature, but simply as "special". Charles's compassion made him firmly reluctant to kill another living being if he could possibly avoid it, let alone commit genocide. He was so compassionate that he risked his own life to rescue Erik Lensherr from drowning.

In spite of all his compassion, Charles was capable of being arrogant, callous and very naive in his youth - he modelled most human beings on those he liked, example Moira McTaggert whom he had strong romantic feelings for. He was also not entirely capable of understanding why the likes of Mystique would be uneasy about humans, as his mutation is not physical but rather mental and consequently he has never been considered a freak - in stark contrast to Mystique, who has spent her entire life trying to hide her true physical appearance. He also promised her that he wouldn't read her mind, but later admits to have done so afterwards. However, in spite of his arrogance, he is very aware of his extremes, and because of this he is capable of repenting from this and it even makes him more ethical. He thus understands that Erik wants intensely to kill Sebastian Shaw, but also tries to persuade him that taking revenge will not bring him happiness.

As an older man, Charles was significantly wiser and more benevolent than he was in his youth. He was a famed and prolific teacher and mentor to hundreds of young mutants, to whom he personally approached to bring them to his school. Charles was a very calm and relaxed man, hardly ever known to lose his temper with others, not even his enemies. He was completely willing to help other humans and mutants in finding what they wanted, or to solve their insecurities, as shown prominently with Wolverine. Charles was not at all afraid of admitting his faults, and confessed that he was looking for some form of hope for his species. However, he disliked the idea of the Cure because he was aware humankind, knowing it would end the apparently terrifying existence of mutants, would force it on mutantkind in the end. Charles was also not an undefeatable teacher, as he was unable to sway Jason Stryker from becoming uncontrollable and dangerous, and admitted soon that the boy frightened him. He still maintained his firm personal goal to not kill or cause unnecessary harm in pursuit of his goals, which brought him into conflict with Magneto.

His relationship with Erik Lensherr, aka Magneto, is extremely complicated to such an extent that it is hard to decipher. When they first met, Charles had only just saved his life and reached out to him. He eventually discovered that their philosophical standpoints were incompatible, but that did not stop him from trying to be friends with the mutant. He reacted incredulously or defiantly to Erik's insistences or demonstrations of violence or aggression. Erik believed in decisive and vicious course of action, whilst Charles was more astute and cautious in his actions.

However, their very first chess match together - the first of a great many - became the background of their first disagreement, as they both had conflicting interests and intentions that were in danger of severing their friendship. When the two of them battled Sebastian Shaw and his group of mutants, the climax of the battle was their final disagreement as colleagues. Charles tried to stop him from killing thousands of innocent people because they tried to do so likewise. This progressed into their parting of ways, and Erik went out on his own as part of his Brotherhood of Mutants. That being said, they still remained firm friends - to this day, they referred to each other as "old friend" and "were capable of playing chess together like civilized men".

Charles's greatest strength is his moral compass and indomitable will that would never waver, no matter what obstacles he faced. When Erik predicted that a war between mutants and humans was coming and he intended, by any means necessary, to fight it, Charles calmly promised that "He would always be there to stand in his way".

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Telepathy: Xavier has a wide array of telepathic powers:
Telepathic Cloak: He can make himself invisible 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 a 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.
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 just by telling them to.
Mind Transfer: When his body was destroyed in X-Men: The Last Stand, he transferred his consciousness into a host body; his twin brother P. Xavier.
Paralyzation: He can mentally paralyze others, making it appear as if time has been stopped.
Mental Link: He has the 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.
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 with Moira MacTaggert.

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.
Chess Player: Charles was as good at playing chess as he was at planning out a battle strategy for the X-Men, shown prominently when he frequently plays the game with Magneto, who views him as as deadly on a chessboard as he is in a danger zone.
Master Hand-To-Hand Combatant/Martial Artist: As a young man, Charles was probably a highly skilled fighter before his injuries, even though he preferred to direct his comrades from behind the front line. His disability prevented him from ever fighting an opponent hand-to-hand ever again, but he still managed to teach martial arts to his students.

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.
William Stryker developed a "neural inhibitor" headset that prevented Xavier from using his telepathy; thereby making him vulnerable to the illusions of his son Jason.

Relationships

Jean Grey - Jean was one of Xavier's first students, coming under his tutelage when she was a child. He and Erik Lehnsherr found out about her incredible telepathic and telekinetic abilities, and went to meet her, only to discover that her powers possessed her in rage rather than the other way around. Xavier took Jean to his newly-formed school, teaching her to control this dark side of her personality, which he called Phoenix. He looks on Jean as a daughter, and is crushed by her loss.
Scott Summers - Scott was a teenager when Xavier met him, having been taken prisoner by William Stryker and Sabretooth. Xavier rescued the kidnapped mutants and took them to his school. He noticed a kindred spirit in Scott, full of hope and fiery determination. Over the years, he groomed Scott into a leader, placing him in command of a group of his former students that came to be affectionately called the X-Men.
Moira MacTaggert - Though not detailed in the movies, Xavier has a personal relationship with Dr. MacTaggart, stemming from their work together.
Erik Lehnsherr - Erik is Xavier's oldest friend, a pioneer in his work with mutants. The two met while in college, each realizing the other's special gifts. Together, they built Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, the high-tech base beneath its foundation, and the supercomputer Cerebro. Later in life, Lehnsherr became angry at normal humans for their treatment of mutants, anger eventually descending into vengeful rage. It was then that he took his leave of Xavier and created the Brotherhood of Mutants, populated by mutants of similar mind as he, desiring the destruction of mankind. Both Lehnsherr and Xavier dream of turning their friend away from their "misguided" path, believing it will lead to destruction.
P. Xavier - Upon his disintegration at the hands of Jean Grey, Charles transferred his consciousness into the body of his brain dead twin brother, P. Xavier, who was in the care of his former love, Moira MacTaggert.

Appearances/Actors

Canon (9 films)

- - X-Men: First Class - James McAvoy and Laurence Belcher

- Original timeline (6 films)

- - X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Patrick Stewart
  - X-Men (First appearance) - Patrick Stewart
  - X2: X-Men United - Patrick Stewart
  - X-Men: The Last Stand - Patrick Stewart
  - The Wolverine - Patrick Stewart
  - X-Men: Days of Future Past - Patrick Stewart

- New timeline (3 films)

- - X-Men: Days of Future Past - James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart
  - X-Men: Apocalypse - James McAvoy
  - Wolverine - Patrick Stewart

Behind the scenes

Digital processing was used to make Patrick Stewart look younger in X-Men: The Last Stand when he visits a young Jean Grey and again when he appears in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Patrick Stewart's name was unaccredited in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
James McAvoy never read the comics, but loved the X-Men cartoons.
A Behind-the-scenes clip shows him with a fire sprayer put against the camera, joking.

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.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: The Last Stand show Charles being able to walk in the 1970's, but X-Men: First Class shows that he lost his ability to walk in the 1960's. It is possible he found a way to walk again at some point between the 1960's and 1970's but this is yet to be explored although it could have been a projection much like Emma Frost's telepathic projections seen in First Class.
In X-Men: First Class Henry McCoy asks Xavier if he can shave him, in order to better use 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 that he'll soon become bald.
In the comics, Xavier had blonde hair as a child, but during puberty when his telepathic powers manifested, he lost his hair.
Professor X and Wolverine are the only characters to have appeared in all X-Men movies, though Wolverine is the only one to have been portrayed by the same actor. X-Men First Class is the only movie Patrick Stewart doesn't portray him, not even in cameo.