Is professor x a villain now?

[marhawkman]

prof-x-is-a-villain-now-always-has-been-4782-1.jpg
yeah...prettymuch

I was gonna post that!

[Galen Nycroft]

Professor X is not a villain, he is however a complicated figure that has had to shoulder great responsibilities for a decade (in the comics) and also make some very tough decisions. Many of those decisions earn him hatred, ridicule, and most recently, disrespect, but that is par for the course when you are a leader of large groups. He is only a villain to villains, or to folks who never had to have any responsibility for anything before.

In terms of this tired trope in the comics, it's easier for lazy or untalented writers to fall back on it than write Xavier as the foundational character he was meant to be. He is like Reed Richards, in that he is a father who has to take care of his family, but on a much grander scale, and with bigger stakes and penalties if he fails. Until the editors at Marvel do right by Xavier, the X-Men will continue to fail.

One cool thing about Xavier being always taken off the map, is that mutants usually crash and burn the hardest and learn the hardest lessons. We see that every time they try to strike out without his guidance or presence, that hit the ground HARD!

[Til]

No, Xavier is not a villain. He "joined" Orchis to buy time for the Phoenix to be resurrected and kill Enigma. It's abundantly clear that he hates everything he's doing in the meantime. This was pretty obvious in Gillen's books, so I'm not sure why people are saying he's just a straight up supervillain trying to wipe out humanity. That's simply not true.

[Whim]

Onslaught actually being Xavier would have been better than it was. Current Xavier hasn't got there but honestly taking away the choice to fight vs Orchis has him on that path.

[From The Shadows]

No, Xavier is not a villain. He "joined" Orchis to buy time for the Phoenix to be resurrected and kill Enigma. It's abundantly clear that he hates everything he's doing in the meantime. This was pretty obvious in Gillen's books, so I'm not sure why people are saying he's just a straight up supervillain trying to wipe out humanity. That's simply not true.

I don't think it is so much that he is villain is that the fans got what they wanted - a villain. They will never accept him as a hero. People started disliking Xavier as far back as the 90's for supposedly holding back the X-Men before he became a villain. Many people will not accept him no matter what he does. Maybe it's just a hatred of authority. I don't know but his character assassination has been sickening and any writers telling him off through characters during some eras obviously did not read those comics and most likely just came from word of mouth of the haters. I already pointed out in another thread what the writers got wrong so I won't here.

They should have thrown out the Professor from his own home and took it over long ago. Kidding aside, lets be honest, if it wasn't for him some mutants would be dead. No matter what he's doing now.

[Criticalfan]

I was mostly s***posting & being contrarian with my astronaut meme but the "Xavier as villain the whole time" theory (which has actual adherents) seems to bring up at least three points each time it resurfaces:
1) Xavier was gathering & exploiting child soldiers
2) Xavier was working with the FBI and thus was self-hating, and basically Samuel L. Jackson in "Django: Unchained"
3) Xavier's powers are just always going to be violating, so his villainy is his fate due to bad luck in the powers lottery

Which has tiny bits of truth but is mostly a lot of hyperfocus on the bad while leaving out any good.

[Will Evans]

I was mostly s***posting & being contrarian with my astronaut meme but the "Xavier as villain the whole time" theory (which has actual adherents) seems to bring up at least three points each time it resurfaces:
1) Xavier was gathering & exploiting child soldiers
2) Xavier was working with the FBI and thus was self-hating, and basically Samuel L. Jackson in "Django: Unchained"
3) Xavier's powers are just always going to be violating, so his villainy is his fate due to bad luck in the powers lottery

Which has tiny bits of truth but is mostly a lot of hyperfocus on the bad while leaving out any good.

He groomed Gabrielle Haller. Add that one.
Lol.

[Zelena]

No, Xavier is not a villain. He "joined" Orchis to buy time for the Phoenix to be resurrected and kill Enigma. It's abundantly clear that he hates everything he's doing in the meantime. This was pretty obvious in Gillen's books, so I'm not sure why people are saying he's just a straight up supervillain trying to wipe out humanity. That's simply not true.

It is a pity there weren’t “thought bubbles” anymore as it is easier to see if there is a difference between the intentions of a characters and his/her actions…

[Nicoclaws]

It is a pity there weren’t “thought bubbles” anymore as it is easier to see if there is a difference between the intentions of a characters and his/her actions…

When Gillen did that, it was still ambiguous and much debated on this board, so...

[Sandy Hausler]

Professor X is not a villain, he is however a complicated figure that has had to shoulder great responsibilities for a decade (in the comics) and also make some very tough decisions. Many of those decisions earn him hatred, ridicule, and most recently, disrespect, but that is par for the course when you are a leader of large groups. He is only a villain to villains, or to folks who never had to have any responsibility for anything before.

In terms of this tired trope in the comics, it's easier for lazy or untalented writers to fall back on it than write Xavier as the foundational character he was meant to be. He is like Reed Richards, in that he is a father who has to take care of his family, but on a much grander scale, and with bigger stakes and penalties if he fails. Until the editors at Marvel do right by Xavier, the X-Men will continue to fail.

One cool thing about Xavier being always taken off the map, is that mutants usually crash and burn the hardest and learn the hardest lessons. We see that every time they try to strike out without his guidance or presence, that hit the ground HARD!

I don't think I've understood anything about Professor X since the Red Skull stole his brain. (Of course, I haven't read any of the X-books on a regular basis for years.) Is the current Professor X really Professor X?

[jwatson]

No he is not.

[Darth_Caedus]

I don't think I've understood anything about Professor X since the Red Skull stole his brain. (Of course, I haven't read any of the X-books on a regular basis for years.) Is the current Professor X really Professor X?

The current professor X was actually introduced in the fourth volume of Astonishing X-Men, he cloned a younger body for himself and took on the nickname of X, declaring that he has a new vision now.

[Sandy Hausler]

The current professor X was actually introduced in the fourth volume of Astonishing X-Men, he cloned a younger body for himself and took on the nickname of X, declaring that he has a new vision now.

So he's a clone of a clone (because, as I recall, Professor X was cloned by Lilandra's people back in the 80s (or late 70s) -- I can't tell you why.)

[Gray Lensman]

So he's a clone of a clone (because, as I recall, Professor X was cloned by Lilandra's people back in the 80s (or late 70s) -- I can't tell you why.)

Is clone degradation a thing in Marvel? You know, make a copy of a copy of a copy, and it doesn't match the original quite as much anymore.

[ARkadelphia]

He’s like a 64 Kbps MP3