7 Times Professor X Was Absolutely The Worst

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Professor Charles Xavier is often seen as a guiding mentor and father figure to mutant heroes. However, throughout his career, he’s frequently acted more like a villain, often justifying harmful actions as being for the greater good. He was meant to inspire mutants to be heroes and change how the world views them, overcoming years of prejudice. While a complete shift in public opinion was always unlikely due to humanity’s tendency to fear those who are different, Xavier’s actions often undermined that goal.

This could explain why Professor X acted so recklessly and went further than he should have. He was at his absolute worst during those periods.

7) When He Creeped On A Teenage Jean Grey

Professor X founded the Xavier Institute as both a school and a training center for young mutants, helping them learn to control their abilities. For years, he was the sole instructor, bringing in teenage mutants with the goal of turning them into the X-Men. This created a complicated dynamic, but it was further complicated by the fact that Professor X developed romantic feelings for one of his students, Jean Grey, which were not returned.

Professor X deserves credit for keeping his feelings in check, but writers often explored unsettling thoughts within his character, like his romantic feelings for Jean Grey, a student he was teaching. This was problematic, and it became even more so when Jean read his mind and discovered those feelings, highlighting the uncomfortable nature of the situation.

6) When He Helped Send Hulk To Sakaar

The Illuminati were responsible for some awful acts. Namor wiped out alternate Earths, Iron Man secretly erased Captain America’s memories, and Beast gradually became a villain. Beyond those actions, the group made some really bad choices. Their hasty decision to confront the Skrulls on their home world directly led to the events of the Secret Invasion.

What Professor X and the Illuminati did to Hulk was particularly cruel. They deceived him into believing he was assisting them, then forcibly launched him into space to remove him from Earth. Their intention was to send him to a deserted planet for solitude, but instead, he landed on Sakaar, where he was enslaved and forced to fight as a gladiator. Tragically, he then witnessed the deaths of everyone he had come to care about. Professor X bears significant responsibility for this outcome.

5) When He Faked His Death (More Than Once)

Professor X’s most significant failings stemmed from his pride and his conviction that he always knew best. This led him to repeatedly manipulate the emotions of the X-Men. His worst actions included faking his own death, not just once, but multiple times, demonstrating a disregard for the feelings of others.

In X-Men #42, Professor X appeared to die while battling the villain Grotesk. His team held a funeral, but 23 issues later, he revealed he’d faked his death to secretly prepare for an alien invasion. Later, in Uncanny X-Men #200, he seemingly died again, leaving Magneto to lead the X-Men. But this was another deception – he simply left Earth with Lilandra.

4) When He Shut Down Magneto’s Brain

As a lifelong movie fan, I’ve always admired Professor X’s struggle to use his powers responsibly. He’s constantly walking a tightrope, determined not to become the very thing he fights against. But there’s this one moment that always stuck with me – a time when Xavier really crossed a line. After Magneto brutally removed Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton during a fight, Xavier made a shocking decision. He genuinely believed Magneto was too far gone to be saved, and he acted on it.

Professor X made a terrible decision when he mentally disabled Magneto – an act he would always regret. This action had devastating consequences for the entire Marvel Universe, leading to the birth of Onslaught within Xavier’s own mind. Onslaught was a powerful being formed from Xavier’s hidden rage and Magneto’s violent impulses. Ultimately, Xavier’s choice resulted in the deaths of both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.

3) When He Sent A Team To Their Deaths & Erased Their Existence

For a while, the X-Men disappeared from Marvel Comics, and older stories were re-published instead. When they finally returned in Giant-Sized X-Men #1, Professor X gathered a completely new team of mutants from around the globe. He needed their help to save his original X-Men, who were trapped on the living island of Krakoa, but this wasn’t his first attempt to find rescuers.

Professor X made a deeply insensitive decision when he assembled a team before the X-Men, including Cyclops’s brother Vulcan, Petra, Sway, and Darwin. This first team failed, and all four members seemingly died. Disturbed by the outcome, Professor X then did something even more shocking: he wiped the memories of these mutants from everyone who knew them, effectively pretending they never existed, and started over. It’s difficult to say which was worse – sending them on a deadly mission, or then erasing their lives and the pain of their loss from their friends and family.

2) When He Brainwashed Wolverine

Wolverine, a Canadian mutant and one of the first members of the X-Men, previously worked for the Canadian government on defense initiatives. However, the villain Romulus manipulated him into attempting to kill Professor X. Fortunately, Charles was prepared and defended himself before Wolverine could succeed.

Wolverine didn’t join the X-Men out of a desire to belong. Professor X actually used mind control to recruit him, similar to what Romulus had done previously, though with good intentions. Unfortunately, this process further damaged Logan’s already fragmented memories. While Wolverine eventually forgave Xavier after discovering the truth, it remained a deeply regrettable act on the part of the X-Men’s leader.

1) When He Turned Teenagers Into Soldiers

Professor X wasn‘t a great mentor to his X-Men. While he brought the first group of teenage mutants to his school with the intention of both educating and training them, he prioritized turning them into superheroes above all else. In fact, his main goal was to create a team of mutant soldiers to fight for his beliefs, making him surprisingly similar to Magneto in how he used others.

It became increasingly clear over time that he had a pattern of manipulating young people. He treated Wolverine like a child while demanding more from him as a fighter, and he did the same with the younger members of the New Mutants, claiming they wouldn’t be sent into combat, but secretly planning to use them as soldiers. Professor X was particularly bad at turning teenagers into weapons, and this tendency influenced Cyclops, who took it even further once he was in charge.

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2026-02-16 19:13