X-Men: 10 Things Only Comic Book Fans Know About Professor X

Professor X has been at the core of the X-Men ever since the beginning, bringing together a diverse band of mutants in his fight for mutant equality. He’s been at the forefront of the franchise in the movies, but as well-known as the character is, there are still many things about Charles Xavier that only die-hard comic book readers know.

Professor X has had a long, strange journey through the comics since his debut in X-Men #1 in 1963. Along the way, he has had many adventures and been involved in complex relationships that so far have only been part of the comics. With the MCU debut of the X-Men on the horizon, some may finally make it to the big screen.

10 Inspired By Yul Brenner

Professor Charles Francis Xavier was co-created by the iconic comic book team of writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. Though Kirby designed all of the X-Men costumes for the comic, Stan Lee thought of Professor X as legendary actor Yul Brenner.

He starred in many classic Hollywood movies including The Ten Commandments and The King And I. The bald actor played numerous parts over the years, including in the original movie version of Westworld.

9 His Mind Once Joined With Magneto’s To Form Onslaught

Some X-Men villains are legends while others are lame. Onslaught is on the lame side, but he’s the product of an interesting idea. He’s the amalgamation of the psyches of both Professor X and his longtime friend and sometimes enemy Magneto.

Their two minds became twisted together after Xavier mind-wiped Magneto in the ’90s for his villainous actions, including ripping all the adamantium out of Wolverine’s body. Onslaught was the villain beyond the Onslaught Saga, a major comic book crossover.

8 The Xavier Protocols

A product of the Onslaught situation was the Xavier Protocols. Like Batman developing a way to take down every member of the Justice League, Professor X designed a way to stop all of the most powerful mutants, including himself. The protocols are fully revealed in Excalibur #100 in the lab of Moira MacTaggert.

MacTaggert is Xavier’s longtime friend and ally and now the architect of the Dawn Of X era in X-Men comics. The protocols are used against Onslaught but ultimately fail. This leads to the intervention of the Avengers and Fantastic Four and another major ’90s comic event, Heroes Reborn.

7 He Married Mystique

In the movies, at least the prequel era ones beginning with X-Men: First Class, Professor X and Mystique are friends, or even family. In the comics, they’re traditionally bitter enemies. But in a shocking revelation, the X-Men found out they had been married.

In Uncanny X-Men #24, the X-Men gather for the reading of Professor X’s will after one of his deaths in the comics. During the reading, they discover that he and Mystique had been married in the past, making for one of the strangest X-Men romances. It was later undone with a little time travel.

6 Cyclops Once Killed Him

Professor X has died a few times in the comics, but one of his most shocking deaths came at the hands of one of his most trusted pupils, Cyclops. The act came at the end of the cataclysmic Avengers vs. X-Men comic book event that saw the two teams fighting over the fate of Hope Summers.

Cyclops bonded with a fragment of the Phoenix Force and in a confrontation that in some ways had been brewing for decades, lashed out and killed his mentor. It was one of the most shocking deaths in Marvel Comics.

5 His Son Is One Of The Most Dangerous Mutants Alive

Professor X’s relationship with his figurative children among the X-Men is often fraught, but his relationship with his biological son, David Haller, is downright disastrous. David is better known as Legion, one of the most powerful and dangerous mutants alive.

The two have next to no relationship, and what interaction they have had is generally bad. The worst encounter between the two might have been when David went back in time to kill Magneto but accidentally killed his father, leading to one of the darkest alternate timelines in Marvel Comics, Age Of Apocalypse.

4 His Step-Brother Is Juggernaut

In the X-Men movies, Professor X and the Juggernaut have no real relationship, but in the comic books, they’re step-brothers. Kurt Marko married Xavier’s mother Sharon after his father passed away.

Marko’s son Cain was never high on Charles and the two were contentious long before Cain discovered the Gem of Cyttorak and became the Juggernaut. The two would clash several times over the years, and their relationship remains rooted in the pain and bitterness of the past.

3 His Partner Is The Empress Of The Shi’ar Empire

An aspect of Professor X’s life the movies definitely haven’t explored is his relationship with Empress Lilandra, the crown ruler of the intergalactic Shi’Ar Empire. Comic fans know this romance is one of the most important, if not the most important, of his life.

Lilandra has played a key role in many major X-Men events, not least of which is The Dark Phoenix Saga. She sought the death of the Phoenix for the destruction of a solar system in Shi’Ar space, leading to a confrontation between the X-Men and the empire.

2 He Once Had The Power Of The Phoenix

Only comics fans likely know Professor X once possessed the power of the Phoenix Force himself. In New Mutants #50-51, Professor X helps Lilandra take back the throne of the Shi’Ar Empire after she’s been sent into exile by her sister, Deathbird.

In the course of doing so, he briefly takes on the powers of the Phoenix. He uses the powers in the fight against Deathbird and her forces, but the Phoenix, one of the most powerful cosmic beings in Marvel Comics, leaves him before long.

1 He Has An Evil Twin Sister

Another complicated member of Professor X’s family is his twin sister, Cassandra Nova. First introduced in the pages of New X-Men #114 in July 2001, she’s actually a parasitic entity from the astral plane who latched onto Xavier.

Cassandra Nova has become an integral part of the comics in the last twenty years, with major engagements against her brother and the X-Men. Her whereabouts in the current run of the comics are unknown, but in the alternate reality of 2021’s Heroes Reborn comic event, she’s up to no good.

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