Professor Charles Xavier is supposed to be the person that all hero mutants look up to as a mentor and father figure. However, Professor X has often been much less of a hero and more of a villain at several times in his career, and the worst part is that he often does bad things while claiming it is all for the greater good. Xavier was supposed to be the man who showed mutants how to be heroes, so he could help change the world’s mind about them, erasing years of prejudice and hate. This was never going to completely happen because humans are almost predisposed to hate and fear anyone different.
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This might be part of the reason that Professor X has pushed things too far and crossed lines he never should have approached. It was in these times that Professor X was absolutely the worst.
7) When He Creeped On A Teenage Jean Grey
Professor X started the Xavier Institute to help teach and train young mutants, both as a school and as a training facility to help them learn how to use their powers. He was the only professor for years, and he brought in teenage mutants to turn them into heroes in the X-Men. That is a problem in itself, but there is another problem with the situation. One of these students was a young Jean Grey, and Professor X had unrequited feelings for her.
If anything, Professor X should be commended for not acting on his emotions, but that didn’t stop creative teams from writing some very disturbing thoughts into Charles’s mind, including him admitting he was in love with Jean, a teenager whom he was tasked with teaching in his school. This was bad, but Marvel finally admitted the creep factor when Jean used her telepathy and heard his thoughts about her, making things even worse.
6) When He Helped Send Hulk To Sakaar
The members of the Illuminati were all guilty of terrible things. Namor destroyed other Eraths. Iron Man ordered Captain America’s mind to be wiped. Beast turned into a straight-up villain over time. However, the group also made some very questionable decisions. They jumped the gun and went to the Skrull home world to threaten that entire race, which caused the Secret Invasion to happen.
Even worse was what Professor X and his fellow Illuminati members did to Hulk. They tricked him into thinking he was helping them and then shot him into space, eliminating him from Earth once and for all. They reasoned they were sending him to an abandoned planet where he could finally be left alone. However, he ended up on Sakaar, was enslaved as a gladiator, and eventually watched all his new friends and family die. Professor X was as much to blame as anyone.
5) When He Faked His Death (More Than Once)
Professor X’s biggest sins of his entire career were caused by his arrogance and belief that he knows what is best for everyone. As a result, he has emotionally manipulated every member of the X-Men more times than anyone can count. The biggest sin he committed was when Professor X faked his own death. Even worse, he did it more than once, showing his lack of concern for anyone’s feelings.
In X-Men Vol. 1 #42, Professor X seemingly died trying to stop a villain known as Grotesk. The X-Men were at his funeral, and then 23 issues later, he returned and said he faked his death, knowing he needed to prepare for an alien invasion. In Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #200, he left Magneto in charge of the X-Men and died again. However, it was once again a lie as he just left Earth with Lilandra.
4) When He Shut Down Magneto’s Brain
Professor X has always tried to be morally right when it comes to using his psychic powers. He knows there are lines not to cross to keep from becoming a villain and abusing his powers. However, there was one moment where Xavier didn’t hold back, and he did something unconscionable. After Magneto ripped out Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton in battle, Xavier decided his old friend was beyond redemption.
Professor X shut down Magneto’s brain. This was one of the worst things that Professor X ever used his powers for, and it was unforgivable. However, the punishment came to the entire Marvel Universe. This created the being of Onslaught deep inside Xavier. This was a creature that combined Xavier’s suppressed anger and frustration with Magneto’s dark thoughts and violent emotions. Xavier’s actions resulted in the death of the Avengers and Fantastic Four.
3) When He Sent A Team To Their Deaths & Erased Their Existence
The X-Men were missing from Marvel Comics for several years, with their main series replaced with reprints of the team’s early adventures. However, when the team returned, it was brand-new in Giant-Sized X-Men #1, where Professor X recruited new mutants from all over the world to help rescue his original team from the sentient island of Krakoa. However, these mutants were not his first try.
In one of his most uncaring actions, Professor X put together a different team first, comprised of Cyclops’s brother Vulcan, Petra, Sway, and Darwin. They failed in their mission, seemingly killing all four of the mutants. Horrified by the failure, Professor X erased the existence of all four mutants from the minds of anyone who knew them and just tried again. It isn’t really clear which action was worse: sending them to their deaths or erasing their sacrifice and existence from their loved ones.
2) When He Brainwashed Wolverine
One of the members of the brand-new X-Men was the Canadian Wolverine. The mutant worked for the Canadian government as part of their defense program, but at one point, the villain Romulus brainwashed Wolverine and sent him to assassinate Professor X. Charles was ready for him, though, and protected himself from the attack before he did the unthinkable.
Wolverine never joined the X-Men because he wanted to or because he felt he fit in with the team. He joined because Professor X brainwashed him, doing the same thing Romulus did, but with better intentions. However, by messing with Logan’s brain again, it created more holes in his memories and made memories of his past even more scrambled. Wolverine forgave Xavier when he learned the truth, but it was still one of the worst things the X-Men’s leader ever did.
1) When He Turned Teenagers Into Soldiers
Professor X is a terrible mentor for his X-Men. He brought the original teens to his institute and planned to teach them at school and also train them to become superheroes. That second item is what he always considered more important. Professor X, first and foremost, created the X-Men to become mutant soldiers to fight for his cause. He was really no different from Magneto in his manipulation of other mutants.
Over the years, it seemed to get worse. He treated an adult Wolverine like a child when he was pushing him to become a more dependable soldier for his cause. He brought in even younger teens in the New Mutants, and while he claimed they were not to fight, he always planned to use them in battles. Professor X was the absolute worst when it came to how he morphed teenagers into soldiers, and it rubbed off on Cyclops, who took things one step further when he became the leader.
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