BIOGRAPHY - Page 9
When the world was remade, Charles found that he was able to walk again, but the tradeoff was that now he was one of the many millions of mutants who didn’t have powers. Whilst he was dealing with the loss, the X-Men were dealing with something else entirely. Gabriel Summers, one of the original team of mutants Charles had sent to their deaths to fight Krakoa, reappeared. It turned out he didn’t die but was merely in a coma in the depths of Krakoa, which had been thrown into space. He was woken up by the Witch’s most recent reality warp and was seeking vengeance upon Charles and the X-Men. Gabriel, or Vulcan as he was now called, let the X-Men know he was out for blood. Charles had remained elusive since his depowerment but eventually caught up with Vulcan on Muir Island. In front of Vulcan and the X-Men, he confessed what he had done years ago and the fact that he covered up the deaths of the first team. The X-Men were furious with Charles’ deception and afterwards Cyclops told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t welcome amongst them anymore. A small silver lining was that another of Vulcan’s team, Darwin, had also miraculously survived the Krakoa incident. [X-Men: Deadly Genesis]
Though defeated on Earth, Vulcan had flown off into space to continue his quest for vengeance against the Sh’iar, whom he held accountable for his mother’s death and his traumatic childhood. No longer welcome at the Institute, Xavier decided to follow Vulcan and try and diffuse the situation. He collected together a group of X-Men whom he felt he could trust but also those to whom he needed to prove something. As well as Vulcan’s brother Havok, he also drafted in Darwin, Polaris, Warpath, Nightcrawler and Rachel Summers, the latter being asked along for her telepathy. After obtaining a Sh’iar ship, the team set off into space in pursuit. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #475-476]
Along the way, the team found that Vulcan had destroyed many of the star gates that enabled inter-stellar ships to jump across the galaxy. When they managed to land on a space station to refuel, Charles had to disguise himself, given that he was now a wanted man in Sh’iar space, thanks to Cassandra Nova. Due to the many recent revelations about his past deceptions, Charles was struggling to keep the respect of his team. As he was relying on Rachel more, they began to notice how much he used to push his will on others. After defeating some war-skrulls, the team rescued two Sh’iar soldiers who were survivors of one of Vulcan’s attacks against Sh’iar vessels. The team let the soldiers stay, but they didn’t realize that Charles had now been recognized. After a few weeks of travelling through space, the ship was attacked by a Sh’iar warrior named Korvus. Whilst everyone else was distracted, the two Sh’iar soldiers kidnapped Charles and escaped on Korvus’ ship. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #478-479]
Xavier was soon delivered to the empire’s vice-chancellor and placed in jail. There, he was tortured by the Sh’iar until Darwin managed to set him free. Unfortunately, as the two were escaping, they were captured again and this time they gained the attention of Vulcan, who was now working alongside Emperor D’Ken. Vulcan announced that he was to marry D’Ken’s sister Deathbird and that Xavier was to be executed in a bid to lure Lilandra out of hiding. Fortunately for him, the rest of Xavier’s team had teamed up with Lilandra and the Starjammers and they were working to stop Vulcan’s wedding. The wedding took place in front of the M’Kraan Crystal and, as expected, the X-Men arrived to stop it. In the chaos of the fight, Vulcan got hold of the frail Xavier and hurled him into the crystal, seemingly killing him. Darwin leapt in after him and, after a few tense minutes, emerged with an unconscious Charles. The two men were taken back to the Starjammers ship, which was subsequently sent back to Earth by Lilandra. After arriving back home, Xavier woke up
to reveal the M’Kraan Crystal had restored his telepathy. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #481-482, #484-486]
Charles was pleased to have his powers back but, given that he had been without them for a while, he struggled getting used to blocking out stray thoughts again. When Caliban was attacked by the Morlocks, he came looking to the X-Men for help. Val Cooper and her O*N*E Sentinels had been stationed at the Institute ever since M-Day and Xavier immediately clashed with her about how to proceed. As well as that, he was also trying to track down Magneto, who hadn’t been seen since M-Day. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #487-491]
In the months since Charles had been in space, the Illuminati had met again and had chosen to send the Hulk into space in a bid to rid the Earth of his destructive temper forever. Unfortunately for them, the green goliath found a way back home and his first goal was to seek vengeance on those that had chosen to exile him. Whilst Charles hadn’t been present for the vote, the Hulk sought him out at the Institute regardless. As the X-Men tried and failed to fend off his attacks, the Hulk found Charles and asked him what his vote would have been. Charles admitted he would have also chosen to send him into space, enraging the Hulk even more. It was only when the Hulk saw the X-Men’s graveyard and the numerous gravestones dedicated to the deceased students that he finally calmed down. Seeing how Charles felt about all the deaths, the Hulk decided that living with his guilt for the rest of his life was punishment enough. With that, he left. [World War Hulk: X-Men #1-3]
Another of the Illuminati’s actions came back to haunt them when they discovered that the assassin Elektra had been replaced with a shape-shifting Skrull. Knowing that it meant anyone could also be a Skrull, the team quickly realized that it was the beginning of a war that had started when they invaded the Skrull homeworld. The Skrulls were so well concealed that Xavier was unable to detect that fellow Illuminati member Black Bolt was also one of them. The alien revealed his true form just before trying to kill the rest of the Illuminati. Though the Illuminati prevailed against the Skrull imposter, Xavier realized he could no longer trust anyone around him and so walked away from the group. The Skrulls eventually made their play for Earth but Xavier was not present for the numerous battles. [New Avengers: Illuminati #5, Secret Invasion miniseries]
Since M-Day, the mutant race had been reduced to mere hundreds and Xavier was among those who were worried that their kind faced extinction. However, one day when he was using Cerebro, Xavier was overcome by a powerful new signal that registered as the first mutant birth in months. The X-Men were not the only ones who had detected the baby’s birth and immediately various factions all vied to get to the baby first.
Ever since returning from space, Xavier had tried to fit back into the X-Men but had found it difficult. Cyclops had stepped up as leader of the team and now told Xavier he wasn’t trusted in light of his recent actions. Though Xavier reluctantly bowed out and let Cyclops take control of the hunt for the baby, he found it hard to be excluded from the team he loved so much. Even the younger generation of mutants resented him for not being around for them when they were being hunted and killed. Feeling more unwelcome than ever, Xavier departed the Institute, only to be contacted by Cable, who desperately needed his help. Acting alone so far, Cable had been one of the factions looking for the mutant baby, as he believed it to be the mutant messiah from his own future timeline. After repairing Cable’s bionic components, which had been damaged in his battle with the Marauders, Xavier and Cable set off for Muir Island, where the Marauders were currently holding the baby. The X-Men had also located the Marauders there and, as they fought them upfront, Xavier managed to slip in the compound without being noticed. Finding the baby with Gambit, Xavier took it and handed it to Cable so it could be raised in the future without fear of everyone hunting it. What most people didn’t know was that Bishop was also hunting the baby, because he believed it would grow up to cause a great tragedy that would doom mutants for many years to come. As Cable and the baby teleported to the future, Bishop shot at them but hit Xavier in the head instead. The devastated X-Men could only watch in horror as their mentor was seemingly killed before their eyes. Standing over Xavier’s body, Cyclops declared the X-Men were no more. [Messiah Complex Crossover]