Professor X: Charles Xavier, His Actors, Powers and Fate

Professor X is the code name of Charles Xavier, a powerful telepath who founds a school for young mutants and leads the X-Men, so the two names describe one character. The credits shift between them from film to film: Xavier, Professor X, Professor Charles Xavier, Charles Xavier / Professor X, and simply Charles, with age labels such as Charles Xavier (24 Years) on x men first class.

Two actors carry the role. Patrick Stewart plays the older Xavier in x men 2000, x2 x men united, x men the last stand, x men days of future past and logan 2017. James McAvoy plays the younger Xavier in First Class, Days of Future Past, x men apocalypse and dark phoenix. Days of Future Past is the only film where both appear together, with Stewart billed as Professor X and McAvoy as Charles Xavier.

That makes eleven credited films in all. The two the leads above leave out are x men origins wolverine and deadpool 2, where Xavier sits further down the cast list. He also turns up in the mid credits scene of the wolverine 2013.

What is Professor X's power, and why is he so powerful? His gift is telepathy, the ability to read and reach other minds. In the films he uses Cerebro to extend that reach, and in Apocalypse the villain En Sabah Nur uses Cerebro to speak to minds across the planet and tries to move his own mind into Xavier's body, which says plenty about how valuable that power is. The films also show its limits: in Days of Future Past a drug that lets him walk takes his telepathy away, and in Logan his failing mind makes the same power dangerous to everyone near him. For more on abilities across the franchise, see x men powers.

The most important person in Xavier's life is Magneto, Erik Lehnsherr, whom he meets in First Class and who becomes his closest friend and his main opponent. They disagree over whether mutants should live peacefully with humans, and that argument drives every film they share. They are allies again in the bleak future of Days of Future Past, and in Dark Phoenix they reconcile over a game of chess in Paris. See the full profile of magneto.

Raven, later mystique x men, is the nearest thing he has to family. He welcomes her into his home as a child, and in Days of Future Past he persuades her not to kill Bolivar Trask, a choice that erases the Sentinel future. In Dark Phoenix she is accidentally killed by Jean.

Moira MacTaggert, the CIA agent from First Class, is the person whose memory of him he chooses to erase to protect the mutant cause, and whose memories he restores in Apocalypse. Beyond them, Xavier is a teacher and mentor to the X-Men. wolverine x men is the student who stays closest to him through the original films and Logan, and jean gray is the student he fails most painfully. He also trains or leads cyclops x men, storm x men, rogue x men and beast x men, whom the films show in both eras.

In my opinion, the best Professor X scene is the last one in X-Men (2000), when Stewart visits Magneto in his plastic cell and says he will be there to stop him. It could be argued that this is the whole saga in one exchange: two old friends, one promise each, and no raised voices. Few superhero films let two actors carry the stakes that quietly.

The Cuba finale in First Class comes next. McAvoy has spent the film as the optimist who believes he can talk Erik into peace, and when the stray bullet hits his spine while he tries to stop Erik turning missiles back on the ships, the cost of that optimism lands in one shot. Perhaps it is the franchise's most effective origin for a wheelchair user, because it ties the injury to his ideals rather than to a villain.

Third is Days of Future Past, where Xavier talks Mystique out of the shot at Trask. After two films of arguing with Magneto, it is the one time words beat force, and it is the choice that wipes out the Sentinel future. Last is the Munson house in Logan, which I find hard to rewatch, because the film lets Stewart play a man whose greatest strength has become a danger to the people he loves. If you want to see these films ranked, head to x men movies ranked, and to begin the saga, start with x men movies in order.