How big of a jerk is Professor X?

Uncanny X-Men #168 famously opens with a full-page shot of Kitty Pryde looking at the reader and yelling “Professor Xavier is a jerk!” He had kicked the then-teen Kitty off the X-Men and consigned her to the junior New Mutants team, who were closer to her age. Feeling this was a demotion, Kitty protested but by the end of the issue, had proven her worth and was back on the X-Men.

That incidence of jerkishness was minor in the grand scheme of things. Over the years, in an effort to humanize Charles Xavier, often named the savior of mutantkind, many writers have shown a much darker side to the character.

The jerkishness started early. In the late ‘60s, Xavier faked his own death by convincing a shape-shifting mutant known as the Changeling to take his place and die in his stead. Xavier was in seclusion, preparing to thwart the invasion of Earth by the alien race the Z’Nox. The X-Men thought the deception was cruel. Professor X took poor Jean into his confidence but forced her to keep silent.

Something similar happened at the turn of the millennium. A shape-shifting Skrull had taken Wolverine’s place and infiltrated the team. To root out any further Skrulls in their midst, Xavier played mind games with the X-Men, forcing them into various fake scenarios to test their loyalties and getting several X-Men “killed” in the process. Nobody was happy.

There was some general shadiness during the “Onslaught” story in 1996, when the character Onslaught evolved out of the combined dark sides of Xavier and Magneto. The team also discovered the Xavier Protocols, which were Charles’ detailed files on how to defeat any X-Men who became evil and betrayed the team. In fairness, X-Men turn evil a lot, so maybe he was just being cautious.

The revelations of secrecy continued later. The X-Men discovered that their teacher once recruited a team of new X-Men to rescue the original five from the island Krakoa. The rescuers failed and died and Xavier mind-wiped the original team of any memories of the new team’s existence. The second group of rescuers (Storm, Wolverine, etc.) succeeded in rescuing the original team and also never knew they were the second group to try.

The X-Men even discovered there was a nefarious secret behind the Danger Room, which tested their mutant powers. The room supposedly used sophisticated alien Shi’ar technology to replicate any conceivable environment using a mix of reality and illusion. Behind this technology was the mutant Danger, whom Professor X kept prisoner for years, using her powers to train his team. The X-Men cast him out after that but his actions were mitigated by the fact that he had honestly tried to free Danger but could not.

Xavier was also a member of the secret council the Illuminati, basically a team of … well, assholes who are smart enough to know better but don’t. Xavier is no longer a member, on account of being dead and all, but the Illuminati recently decided, in their infinite wisdom, to destroy an alternate Earth and kill billions of people to save their own Earth. Heroes of old would have found another way to save their planet and the comics of old would not have presented them with that dark a scenario.

It was intended to be “for the greater good” stuff that would humanize Charles Xavier, who was once portrayed without many flaws. I think it’s tipped toward villainy in recent years and I liked Xavier better as a man who, at his heart, was a great teacher and mutant leader who occasionally made mistakes that we’re that much worse than any of us make. It’s another example of how comics have just become too dark recently. This is why I prefer to reread the old stuff.