Charles Xavier
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Charles Francis Xavier Professor X |
| Occupation: | professor, headmaster |
| Relationships: | Brian and Sharon Xavier (parents)
Dr. Kurt Marko (stepfather) Cassandra Nova (twin sister in comicsverse) Unnamed twin brother (XMM) Raven Darkholme (adopted sister in XMFC) Cain Marko (stepbrother) Legion (son) Gabrielle Haller (love interest) Moira MacTaggart (love interest) (ex-fianceé in X-Men comicsverse) Magneto (friend, frenemy, enemy, love interest) |
| Fandom: | X-Men, X-Men Movieverse, X-Men: Evolution, Wolverine and the X-Men, X-Men: First Class, Marvel Comics |
| Other: | Wikipedia |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X is a character in the X-Men franchise. He founded a school for mutants so they could live and get an education safely away from prejudice, the Xavier Institute (originally called Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters).
Canon
Charles Xavier is a mutant born with telepathic powers.
Comics
Charles first appeared in X-Men #1 (September 1963). He was the founder of the X-Men, bringing five young mutants to his "School for Gifted Youngsters" and training them to 'protect a world that hates and fears them'. Charles was one of the earlier examples of a main character with disabilities - he was paralysed from the waist down and relied on a wheelchair for mobility. He was initially portrayed as the benevolent father figure, but over the years his characterisation was expanded to include more of his personal history and give him a role outside of mentor of the X-Men. This included his 'friendship' with Erik Lehnsherr; his relationships with various female characters including Gabrielle Haller, (with whom he had a son, Legion) Moira MacTaggert and space empress Lilandra Neramani; and his enemies, such as Cain Marko and The Shadow King. He also became a more complicated character in canon, moving from "St. Charles" to an idealist willing to do anything in the pursuit of his Dream of co-existence between mutants and humans.
X-Men: Evolution
Charles is voiced by David Kaye, he is a main character due to the series taking place where half the X-Men are teens or younger with a few select adults - Charles being one of them. He maintains the Xavier Institute and helps the students with their abilities. However, he also keeps information hidden from the X-Men - like the principal being Mystique. Like the comics, he is shown to have a frenemy relationship with Magneto. His half-brother, known as the Juggernaut also appears in the series. He becomes one of Apocalypse's Horsemen.
Wolverine and the X-Men
In an explosion that destroys the Xavier Institute, Charles' mind gets sent into his future self while his body remained behind being taken care of by Magneto.
X-Men Movieverse/XMFC
In the X-Men Movieverse series, Charles is portrayed by Patrick Stewart. He owns and maintains the Xavier school to help younger mutants with their powers - giving them a place to prosper without the need to fear for their lives. Charles is also the main leader of the X-Men and recruited Scott Summers, Ororo Monroe, and Jean Grey. In the third film he is killed by Jean Grey who was possessed by her alternate personality, the Phoenix. However, it's later revealed that Charles had managed to switch his mind with his twin brother's body who had been in a coma for years.
In the X-Men: First Class series, he is portrayed by James McAvoy - a younger Charles Xavier. In the first film, he is shown to have adopted Raven as his sister and cares deeply for her. He is recruited by CIA and Moira MacTaggert in order to defeat Sebastian Shaw. He gathers a team consisting of Raven, Hank McCoy, Erik Lensherr, Darwin, Angel Salvadore, Sean Cassidy, and Alex Summers. In the finale battle to defeat Shaw, a bullet fractured his spine causing him to be paralyzed and have to use a wheelchair. In XMDOFP, it's revealed that the Xavier school had failed and Charles had turned to drinking and using a special serum that allows him to walk, but dampens his telepathic abilities. In order to protect/change the future, he has to recruit Erik who was imprisoned to help convince Raven to stop her plans for killing Bolivar Trask. They manage to convince her and it changes the future - Jean and Scott and the rest of the X-Men are alive.
Other Appearances
Charles also appeared in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, The Super Hero Squad Show, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, and Robot Chicken.
Fandom
This article or section needs expansion. |
Prior to the X-Men: First Class films and it's eventual fandom explosion - Charles Xavier was actually a character that was more less liked character than not. He was often portrayed as the villain or hiding things from his team thus causing tensions between them and for him to look like the bad guy. Otherwise the character was often just appeared as a background character where he only appeared briefly.
"Charles Xavier is a character who has serious flaws. He's a good man, but no saint. And in the X-books, he's often presented as a saint. Well, saints are boring. So a lot of fan writers seem to either buy into the St. Charles hype, and ignore Xavier as a character because who wants to write about a saint?, or they recognize that Xavier is not a saint but go to the opposite extreme and demonize him. There are actually more Xavier-as-villain stories out there than Magneto-as-villain, I kid you not. Lately, with Xavier's suffering at the hands of Bastion, there seem to be a lot more people finding the hooks into Xavier the person, rather than Xavier the saint or Xavier the demon. This is a good thing. I think Charles Xavier is an extraordinarily complex and interesting character, and it amazes me that so few people want to tackle him."[1]
Common Tropes & Themes
- Dark!Charles: Often revolving around Charles using his telepathy unethically, as, for example, in Sapphy's "Link by Link".
- Disability: Generally Charles dealing with his canon paralysis, post-XMFC or in an AU (as in Yahtzee's "Appropriate Boundaries").
- Hurt/Comfort: Often revolving around his telepathy, his paralysis, or his childhood abuse at the hands of his step-father and step-brother.
- Kink
- Same Actor Crossover: Generally with the movie Wanted, where Wesley Gibson is Charles' brother, as in helens78's "Coming Home."
- Telepathy: Examining the particular difficulties telepaths might face, as, for example, in aesc's "An absence which could not be more there" and Blind_Author's "Sex and Telepathy".
- Abuse: Many fics draw on comics canon about his contentious or abusive relationship with his mother, stepfather, and/or stepbrother.
Post-XMFC
After the release of X-Men: First Class and the rise of Charles/Erik as the OTP for that fandom (as well as the popularity of actor James McAvoy), there was an increase of interest in Charles as a sympathetic character. Many fanworks began exploring his telepathy and his paralysis in both canon and AU settings.
Some fans have negative feeling about this shift, and believe that XMFC fandom too-often woobifies Charles by reading canon selectively.
FFS, I'm personally offended when people use random comics canon to make Charles the ultimate woobie, who gets to shed a single perfect tear when his sexy boyfriend saves him from his abusive family.[2]
I also don't get why people want to write woobie Charles fic when Charles is so frickin' interesting as a genius arrogant fuck up who gets it really wrong sometimes.[3]
Fandom loves to write Charles Xavier as this soft, gentle woobie who couldn't hurt a fly unless the fly gave explicit permission and then verbally consented a few more times during the act for good measure. I do enjoy a soft-at-heart Charles, but I like it balanced with his terrifying power and capacity for ruthlessness, too.[4]
There are also accusations that he is feminized in depictions of Cherik.
Shipping
The most common ship for Charles is the slash ship of Charles/Erik, most common (but not exclusive to) the XMFC parts of the larger X-Men fandom.[5] However, he is also occasionally shipped in a couple other slash pairings, like Charles/Logan and Charles/Shaw, and he is sometimes shipped in het pairings like Charles/Moira, Charles/Raven, and Charles/Jean Grey.
Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Archives
- Chuck Amuck! - A Charles Xavier fansite and fanfiction archive run by Alara Rogers (1998-2003)
Fanfiction
- X-Manson, a darkfic in an alternative universe where Charles Xavier is not a benevolent leader, but instead manipulates and uses the mutants under his care.
- X Marks the Spot by thehoyden (2011)
- Anarchy in the UK by Yahtzee
- Paralyzer by Yahtzee
Meta
- Status and Influence in Fanfic by Andraste (2002)
- I am (never) a victim: Charles Xavier and Self-Blame by Erik Ojo (2023)
Archives and Communities
- Charles Xavier tagged works on the AO3.
- Charles Xavier tagged works in X-Men: The Movie Fanfiction on FFN.
- Charles Xavier tagged works in X-Men (comics) Fanfiction on FFN.
- Professor X tagged works in X-Men: Evolution Fanfiction on FFN.
- Charles Xavier tagged works in X-Men Crossover Fanfiction on FFN.
- Chuck Amuck!, the Charles fanfic page (defunct, wayback)
Fannish Links
Resources
References
- ^ Chuck Amuck!. Written by Alara. Published sometime around or before May 2000. (Accessed 9 September 2014)
- ^ 2016-06-03 Re: Your Top 5 Unpopular Opinions in Your Fandom on fail_fandomanon
- ^ 2016-05-15 Re: Not the character any more
- ^ 2017-04-18 Re: Fandom writes them this way - I like them THAT way! on fail_fandomanon
- ^ As of 10 September 2014, there are 6.969 works tagged Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier on the AO3; no other pairing tops 100 works.