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Jonathan Hickman , mastermind of theX - Menrelaunch , has just bring home the bacon an important clue to understanding Charles Xavier ’s current portrayal . The X - Men franchise had been struggle for years , but in July last class superstar comic book writer Jonathan Hickman start out a gamy - visibility relaunch of the entire enfranchisement .
At the fondness of this relaunch was Charles Francis Xavier , who appear to have moved on from the traditional interpretation of Xavier ’s Dream in favor of a new vision . Xavier had establish a mutant nation on the living island of Krakoa , welcoming hero and villain likewise to live there in peace . While many readers were thrilled at this fresh translation of Xavier , others were disturb , and wondered what had happen to make himabandon Xavier ’s Dreamlike this . Adding to the puzzle , Xavier avoided ever removing his Cerebro helmet , leading many to speculate he ’d been replace by an impostor of some kind .
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Speaking toAiPT ! , Hickman has just provided an important - albeit , at first read , pretty cryptic - cue . In reaction to a lector question about Xavier ’s backstory , Hickman noted that " the Xavier we saw in [ House of X / Powers of X ] and up to ex - Force # 1 was the Astonishing Xavier . " This is a credit to Charles Soule’sAstonishing X - Menrun , which launched in 2017 , just under two year before Hickman have charge of the 10 - Men dealership . significantly , it offers a crucial narrative key to understanding who Charles Xavier is - and render Hickman ’s entire story .
The Death and Resurrection of Charles Xavier
The write up begins back in 2012 , when Marvel decided to kill Charles Xavier off in the coming of theAvengers Vs X - Menevent . At the time , author Brian Bendis allow there was a simple ground for their determination ; none of the writers knew what to do with Xavier , and when they come up with the idea of killing him off , they earn there was terrific level potential difference in exploring the repercussions . Xavier ’s death was a tragical one , murdered at the hands of Cyclops , who had absorb the Phoenix Force and gone Dark Phoenix . It lead to a schism among the rank of the X - Men , one that endure years .
These are comic books , and dying is something of a revolving threshold . For all that ’s the case , though , Xavier ’s death stay put until 2017 , when Charles Souleresurrected Xavier in a uncanny homage toX - valet : The Last Stand . It seems Xavier ’s mind had survived decease , pin down on the Astral Plane and wag an aeonian war against the Shadow King ; in the remainder , the Professor came back by striking a deal with Fantomex , allowing him to psychically swap places with the mutant stoolpigeon - stealer and take self-control of Fantomex ’s eubstance . The experience of dying , and indeed the perceptual experience of a millenary or more spent on the Astral Plane , changed Xavier . He became cold , more abrupt , more willing to impose his will upon others ; he perceived masses as little more than pawns in the biz he had been playing in ordering to beat the Shadow King and stave off Revelation . In one scene , Xavier designate an unusual focus on the difference between mutants and humans ; when three Adam - valet fight alongside him , he reflected,“We are mutantkind . Look how beautiful we are . “Whenthe Shadow King was at long last defeated , Xavier was give up , and he began to build a new sprightliness for himself . He make up one’s mind he should be know by a unexampled name ; " X. "
Xavier claimed to have abandoned his erstwhile dream ; in one cardinal vista inAstonishing X - Men#12 , he tell Psylocke he had a unexampled ambition now . Whatever that dream was , it was pursued in secret , with Xavier erasing the knowledge of his Resurrection of Christ from the minds of all but one X - Man ; he allowed Psylocke to retain that noesis , because he saw her as a defense against the Shadow King ’s return , fearful the monstrous psychical being had some sort of foothold in his own psyche . TheAstonishing X - Menannual divulge Xavier had tapped into antecedently - hidden funds , I that had n’t even been recounted in his will , and that he was mobilizing these in pastime of his novel aspiration . It further suggested he was psychically manipulating his former bookman , ensuring they would comply with his wishes ; he had a illustrious influence on Jean Grey .
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Astonishing X-Men Directly Sets Up House of X
It ’s important to localize this story in context . Writer Cullen Bunn has recently unveil that , back in 2017,the X - Men comics were operating under certain constraints . " We had kind of been given abut orders that we could n’t convert anything with the go - military personnel , " he excuse . " The plan for House of X - those were already in play . " Marvel already knew Jonathan Hickman was coming on board , and in general the enfranchisement was just spinning wheels until he took over . But that makesAstonishing hug drug - Menparticularly interesting , because it instituted a tangible change - the Resurrection of Christ of Charles Xavier as X - at a clip when the hug drug - books wereavoidingreal variety . The clear conditional relation is that this was essential apparatus , andAstonishing X - Menshould really be seen as something of a prelude toHouse of X.
And it makes common sense ; if Xavier ’s School for Gifted Youngsters was the house that Xavier built , then Krakoa is literally the House of X - the mutant nation build by the resurrected Xavier , aka " X. " It ’s potential the links were earlier intended to be a lot more explicit , with Xavier ’s death and return serving as the motif for his changed outlook rather than the memory of the Genoshan racial extermination as perHouse of X#6 ; but Hickman realized he had to pivot because it took him longer to get ready for the relaunch than he ’d intended , andAstonishing X - Menwas bit by bit being block . Genosha was already an of import part of his story - Xavier was literally resurrecting the dead of Genosha - so it made signified to create another link .
Rereading Soule’sAstonishing X - Mennow , the portrayal ofCharles Xavierdovetails absolutely with the piece seen inHouse of XandPowers of X.House of X#1 confirm that , in the run - up to the establishment of Krakoa , Xavier reached out to various financial interests he ’d antecedently kept secret ; a development powerfully implied in theAstonishing X - Menannual . Meanwhile , many of the X - valet have seemed a little out of reference , most notably Jean Grey , who ’s even take over her oldMarvel Girlpersona ; theAstonishing X - Menannual already prove X is willing to conform his former students ' minds in ordering to ensure their compliance . InAstonishing X - Men , Xavier showed a focal point on mutant as a typical slipstream , and he has that same attitude in the Hickman era . Finally , all this explain why Xavier never took the Cerebro helmet off in the first wave of the X - Men relaunch ; he did n’t need anybody to realize he was still wearing Fantomex ’s face . Xavier carefully organise his own death inX - Force#1 , awarethe X - Men could uprise him themselvesthis time , and now his judgement is in his own body again . note that , within just a few day of his Christ’s Resurrection , Xavier was unmask inX - Men#4 . He has his own nerve back , and while he still fall apart Cerebro for functional intellect , he no longer has to hide his appearance .
It ’s unfeigned thatHouse of Xhas avoided hit its connectedness toAstonishing X - Menexplicit , but honestly that make water perfect gumption . The raw Xavier - X - was presented as an unbelievably secretive gentleman , who even erased all knowledge of his existence from the mind of his go - Men so he could act in secret . Xavier had always been something of a " shades of hoar " fictional character , but the Astonishing Xavier took that to a new level . And that is the Xavier readers are follow in the strange new world of Marvel’sX - man .
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