X-Men '97: What Happened to Professor X - Animated Series Ending Explained

X-Men '97 is now streaming on Disney+, and unless you went back and re-watched the original X-Men: The Animated Series show, watching '97 may have left you asking one big question: 

What happened to Professor Charles Xavier? 

The premise of X-Men '97 sees Xavier's students, the X-Men, running the Xavier Institute For Gifted Youngsters with Magneto in their company. Again, unless you really recall the final events of X-Men: TAS, that's a pretty weird place to start a new X-Men cartoon series, so here's a quick recap of how we got there... 

Xavier's Status In X-Men '97 Explained

The final episode of X-Men: The Animated Series was titled "Graduation Day" and the storyline saw Charles Xavier outed as a mutant by Henry Peter Gyrich during a world summit about mutant and human relations. Gyrich attacked Xavier with a weapon that made Xavier's psyche powers spiral out of control in front the public, leaving Xavier himself in a coma. The X-Men got the Professor out of harm's way safely, but could not heal him from the dire condition. 

After seeing Xavier shot down on live TV, Magneto rallies angry mutants to his new homeland in Genosha, creating a retaliatory army. X-Men member Morph tries to imitate Xavier and quell tensions, but cannot, so the X-Men send Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Wolverine on a high-stakes mission to infiltrate Genosha and stop Magnet before a war starts,

In Genosha, the X-Men battle Magneto, who ultimately stops his attack when he realizes that Xavier is dying. Magneto agrees to leave his army and war effort and to help Charles. With Magneto boosting Xavier's psychic range, Charles can finally call out to his alien love Lilandra, whose medical care can save him. In the end of the episode, it was revealed that Xavier would have to stay in Lilandra's Shi'ar Empire home for quite a while. Magneto is seen standing with the X-Men as Xavier and Lilandra depart Earth, implying he would help them achieve Xavier's dream. 

How X-Men '97 Continues the Story... Without Xavier

X-Men '97 picks up with how the X-Men and Magneto all adjust to their new circumstances on Earth, immediately after Xavier's departure. As the start of the series, it's clear that the cover story on Earth is that Xavier died from Gyrich's attack – a falsehood that helped put Gyrich behind bars, and erode at least some of humanity's anit-mutant sentiment. From that small bridge the X-Men got new support from the UN; Genosha was officially recognized as a mutant homeland, and Magnet stepped up to fill Xavier's shoes as leader of the X-Men. 

In X-Men '97 Episode 6 we catch up with Xavier's story in the Shi'ar Empire, and it raises some big (exciting) concerns about what will happen when he inevitably returns to Earth. 

X-Men '97 is now streaming on Disney+