Marvel Better Not Make Me Watch Patrick Stewart Die as Professor X for the Fourth Time

Marvel Studios’ recent cast announcement for Avengers: Doomsday confirms Sir Patrick Stewart will reprise his role as Professor Charles Xavier, joining fellow Fox-era X-Men actors, including Ian McKellen, Kelsey Grammer, and James Marsden. For longtime fans, this crossover between the Fox mutants and the MCU represents both an exciting possibility and a concerning threat. Stewart’s Professor X has already been killed on-screen three times since 2006, with each death more graphic than the last. As Marvel prepares to introduce its own MCU X-Men with younger actors, Doomsday clearly serves as a transition point between franchises. The studio now faces a critical creative choice: deliver another predictable Xavier death to establish Doctor Doom’s (Robert Downey Jr.) threat level or craft a more innovative conclusion worthy of Stewart’s iconic 24-year portrayal.

Stewart’s dignified performance as Xavier helped legitimize superhero films as serious cinema years before the MCU existed. His character brought philosophical depth and moral authority to a genre often dismissed as childish entertainment. This gravitas made Xavier’s deaths particularly impactful. Fox’s X-Men: The Last Stand set the template when Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) disintegrated Xavier at the molecular level while he attempted to calm her Phoenix powers. Director Brett Ratner framed this as the ultimate demonstration of Phoenix’s uncontrollable abilities. After all, if she could kill the world’s most powerful telepath, no one was safe.

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James Mangold’s Logan elevated Xavier’s death to genuine emotional devastation by anchoring it in human vulnerability rather than supernatural spectacle. Set in a bleak future where mutants face extinction, the film presents a 90-year-old Xavier suffering from a neurodegenerative disease that transformed his telepathic gifts into an uncontrollable weapon. X-24, a perfect clone of Logan (Hugh Jackman), brutally murders Xavier while the professor believes he’s confessing his darkest secrets to his old friend. This death carried profound tragedy through its intimate setting and Xavier’s mistaken belief about his killer’s identity, marking a permanent end for that timeline’s version of the character.

After Disney acquired Fox, Marvel Studios incorporated Xavier into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Director Sam Raimi introduced an alternate-universe Xavier (modeled after the 1990s animated series) as part of Earth-838’s Illuminati, only to have the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) tear his psychic form apart inside Wanda’s mindscape. This scene recycled the “powerful woman in red kills Xavier” formula from The Last Stand while adding graphic violence, demonstrating how the pattern of Xavier’s deaths had devolved from meaningful character moments to routine villain establishment.

Avengers: Doomsday Shouldn’t Kill Professor X

With Robert Downey Jr. joining the MCU as Doctor Doom, Marvel faces intense pressure to establish his villainous credentials quickly. The easiest path would be to follow the established playbook: have Doom brutally dispatch Xavier early in Doomsday to demonstrate his power. However, this approach would disrespect the character’s legacy and the audience’s intelligence. Instead, Marvel can subvert expectations by finding a more meaningful conclusion for one of superhero cinema’s most enduring figures.

Marvel has established through Loki and previous multiverse films that Incursions occur when boundaries between universes are breached, potentially destroying entire realities. This framework creates the perfect narrative opportunity to showcase Xavier’s leadership. Instead of dying, Xavier could coordinate a psychic network across the multiverse, guiding both heroes and civilians through the crisis. This would demonstrate his powers at their peak while honoring his lifelong commitment to protection and education.

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The most satisfying resolution would acknowledge the meta-narrative at play, with the Fox X-Men actors concluding their cinematic journey as Marvel introduces new iterations. Xavier could recognize the necessity of universe transition without becoming its victim, perhaps facilitating the transfer of knowledge and experience to his MCU counterpart. This approach would respect the character’s agency while acknowledging both the ending of one era and the beginning of another, providing emotional catharsis for longtime fans.

Kevin Feige has stated that the Mutant era is coming into the MCU, signaling a significant transition in portraying X-Men characters. How Marvel handles legacy characters will reveal whether it truly understands what made the X-Men resonate with audiences for over two decades. Audiences have watched Patrick Stewart’s Professor Xavier die three times already. Surely Marvel’s supposedly boundless creativity can conceive a more fitting conclusion for the character.

Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on May 1, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars following on May 7, 2027.

What do you think will happen with Professor X in Avengers: Doomsday? Share your theories in the comments!