Professor X, sometimes known as Prof. Charles Francis Xavier, is a fictional character that appears in Marvel Comics’ American comic books. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, and he made his debut in September 1963’s The X-Men #1. The figure is portrayed as the X-Men’s creator and sporadic commander.

Xavier is a member of a subspecies of humans known as mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. He is an exceptionally powerful telepath, who can read and control the minds of others. To both shelter and train mutants from around the world, he runs a private school in the X-Mansion in Salem Center, located in Westchester County, New York. Xavier also strives to serve the greater good by promoting peaceful coexistence and equality between humans and mutants in a world where zealous anti-mutant bigotry is widespread. However, he later abandons his dream in favor of establishing a mutant nation in Krakoa.

Throughout much of the character’s history, Xavier has been depicted with paraplegia and uses a wheelchair. One of the world’s most powerful mutant telepaths, Xavier is a scientific genius and a leading authority in genetics. He has devised Cerebro and other equipment to enhance psionic powers and detect and track people with the mutant gene.

Xavier’s pacifist and assimilationist ideology and actions have often been contrasted with that of Magneto, a mutant leader (initially characterized as a supervillain and later as a complex antihero) with whom Xavier has a complicated relationship. Writer Chris Claremont, who originated Magneto’s backstory, modeled the politics of Xavier on David Ben Gurion and that of Magneto on Menachem Begin.

Patrick Stewart portrayed the character in the first three films in the 20th Century Fox X-Men film series and in various video games, and James McAvoy portrayed a younger version of the character in the 2011 prequel X-Men: First Class. Both actors reprised the role in the film X-Men: Days of Future Past. Stewart would reprise the role in the film Logan (2017), while McAvoy would further appear as his younger iteration of the character in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Dark Phoenix (2019). Harry Lloyd portrayed the character in the third season of the television series Legion. Stewart returned to the role again, portraying an alternate version of the character in the 2022 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.