Minnie

The user from the tags above is not alone in blaming Charles' downfall on ableism, but the destruction of the character of Xavier came about for (unfortunately) a clusterfuck of reasons.

Ableism is often brought up first by many because isn't it so very convenient that the one most known disabled comic characters has been treated this way? Magneto, who murdered a LOT of people is welcomed as a hero, but Xavier's sins are unforgiven. (How sad, given that he himself is canonically forgiving to a fault?) And while I don't think it's THE reason, I think of it as a foundational reason for his downfall.

Many writers just didn't know wtf to do with a disabled character past their disability. Plots with Charles often either revolved around his disability or they found (not so) clever ways to remove it temporarily. The infamous Jean Grey panel was written not to introduce a plot line of a love triangle, but rather was solely to show that Charles was a pathetic cripple that no woman would ever love. When he did get to be in a relationship, artists would find clever ways to minimize his disability. And he's bald, which authors often use to point out that women would never want him, while artists rarely make any attempts to make him attractive. They even erased his baldness in the Fox movies before making it an injury rather than his natural mutation. Another way to make him a victim.

The second foundational reason is The Xavier Problem, as coined by Marvel execs. Put simply, "We gave the team this great, wise leader who is a stupidly powerful telepath. How are they ever going to have scary enough challenges?" The Xavier Problem is why they invented sentinels (what can a wheelchair bound telepath do against giant robots?) as an example. They also liked to kill him off a lot and send him off world for this reason. Basically, Xavier was viewed by writers as a hurdle, not an asset. This, I think, created resentment especially in writers after Claremont who wanted ACTION and DRAMA!

And these two base aspects made him easy prey for the next factors.

Amongst many younger people in minorities there's an angry "I shouldn't have to minimize myself to make you comfortable!" sentiment. They rage at any concessions because "I should be able to just LIVE!" and I'm not saying they're wrong. As a minority myself, I GET IT. No, you SHOULDN'T have to make yourself small for anyone. No you SHOULDN'T need to not hold your date's hand because it upsets someone. It fucking sucks! But getting a full beer can thrown at your head from a moving car sucks more. Dying is the suckiest of all, in fact.

Concessions and pandering to the majority can keep minority people alive. Point blank. But the current combination of social awareness and instant gratification seeking makes people react to anyone suggesting any concessions as weakness and betrayal.

I, a trans man, was in a support group for trans people and said that after a lot of thought, I had decided to continue to present as female to my grandparents for my wellbeing (and detailed exactly why). The THERAPIST running the group turned to the others and said "What are some other things we tell ourselves to convince us not live our truths?" I was shamed and belittled for choosing safety. If you're not loud and proud 100% of the time, risking your safety for "truth", you're the problem.

*nods to Xavier* Sound familiar?

People will post pictures of the Morlocks and say "Oh look, Xavier only picked the pretty mutants for his team. He didn't want the ugly ones. Hypocrite!" And yes, he DID pick the pretty ones. Of course he did. Do you think Rosa Parks just HAPPENED to be wearing her Sunday best, looking pretty and demure and oh-so photogenic? Do you think it's a coincidence that the black people who sat at diner counters and refused to move were dressed nicely, clean, pressed clothes, button up shirts, ladies with their gloves on, and all of them young, nice looking and harmless? Those people were chosen for those actions, they trained for them, so that the photos in the paper would show the right story. There would be NO room for the reporters to spin them as hoodlums and trouble makers. (Look at how they vilify every black person gunned down for no fucking reason and know it takes so little for a minority person to be turned into the enemy.)

Now look at the first X-Men team: 5 white, attractive teenagers, only one of which wasn't fully human passing, and that one looked like a fucking angel. And those fine young people where being heroes. It was very intentional. He was playing the same game as the irl civil rights leaders. The X-Men were a PR campaign to get humans used to the idea of mutants in a comfortable way. His next team he widened that, brought in other races, and even had a very non-human passing member (but still attractive and damn charming).

But young people can't see this method as anything but weakness and betrayal. This is the exact reason Magneto is beloved now. He screams for immediate change and zero concessions, and that appeals. That's "living your truth".

This pairs nicely with another habit with millennials and below: Watsonian judgement of "problematic" characters. In the age of digging up old tweets and uncovering of past legit crimes, people have gotten used to looking at a person's past and (rightfully) "cancelling" them for their actions. *points at Neil Gaiman* This is a great trend to drive out harmful people from places of acclaim, but it just doesn't work with comic book characters because A they're not real people and thus CANNOT be held accountable by the irl world, and B they are written by dozens and dozens of writers in their "lifetime".

They have no freewill, they're not choosing anything, and consistency in comic writing is a fucking joke. The infamous Jean Grey panel is no more damning than the Superman kiss with a 15 y/o Lana, but Xavier haters will hold that up as PROOF that he's a pedo. And no. You have to look at the full picture of a character to make those judgements.

And now we come to my last piece of the puzzle: modern writers hate mentor characters. Really, it's across the board. Every key mentor character I can think of has been retconned to having some dark secret. They retconned Reed as having a cure for Grimm all along but not using it. Yinsin's (of Ironman) memory was tainted by a murderous son and his death rewritten. Superman's bio-dad has gotten the "plotting earth conquest" revamp a few times. They even tried to blacken Alfred's eye by giving him a daughter he'd abandoned to take care of Bruce. (When this didn't turn fans against him, they just killed him off.)

Any character a writer can project his daddy issues onto is immediately on the chopping block. Take a look at most comic lines and watch for the mentor who was secretly shitty all along. It's sad how often it crops up.

And my, oh my, does it all add up for Xavier.

One by one the writing trends of the last 20 years aligned like the astrological chart from hell to damn Charles into oblivion. The kind, careful man in the wheelchair who just wanted hope and acceptance didn't stand a chance. And, even worse, I don't think we'll see his character recover until these trends change.

The hate for him is real. Whole tiktok accounts farm it for views. The retcons are extensive and corrode every inch of his character. Every flaw has been cranked to 11 and every good trait has been made a lie. Old fans like me and fans who came in from the Fox movies can hold onto who he was, but Marvel leadership has made that past into something closer to fannon than anything else.

Xavier is still heavily in denial about his mother not being a perfect victim. even putting himself as the one responsible for taking care of her. “I.. should have been able to do something…anything…to help her.” Xavier clearly thinks himself as responsible for his mothers abuse despite being the one that needed to be protected. It’s no secret that many people who were abused by a parent as a child either become an abuser or date someone like their abuser. Many people date their parents.. “Erik” asks him if there is something that he is ashamed of from his past Charles states “India” after being disabled while trying to stop the villain known as Lucifer he ended up in a hospital in India. This is where he’d meet Amelia. As his nurse. TW for suicidal ideation. Talked about in Panel.

you probably see where this is going.. and while I get creepy old “romance” tropes. Amelia and Xavier’s interaction are not only sinister in a real life sense but I believe it was written to be problematic as well. Carrying on. Xavier states that he desperately wished to “simply cease to exist” he’s the most mentally unwell he’s ever been and Amelia has a very unprofessional attitude joking about being American and even being snarky with her patient “the name is voght. Amelia C. Thanks for asking” she would later make her move on Xavier while he was still her patient and so depressed he was non verbal.

While trying to regain the use of his legs Amelia states that she sees “precious little evidence that any of his smile muscles are working” again, grossly unprofessional. Xavier of course was confused and wondered what he, stranded in India alone. And without the use of his legs can possibly be smiling about? Amelia helps him into his wheelchair and hugs his back and before he can fully get his sentence out she covers the both of them and has some form of s*xual relations with him. TW for SA/Coercion/power imbalance shown below.

Xavier is her patient. there is no way to paint this as a positive start to a relationship he’s alone in a foreign country he’s somewhat suicidal and he’s being pursued by someone who is supposed be taking care of him physically. This can’t be consensual. Xavier is not in the position to be able to consent properly.

“Amelia. Every other woman I’d known it seemed-“needed” me. But she..? She wanted me.” THIS is a big reason as to why Xavier felt so strongly for her because of his before stated possible oedipus complex made him want to “take care” of his partners the way he felt he should have taken care of his mother. But this time he can be taken care of. Amelia didn’t need to be cared for she wanted Xavier. Her patient. and Xavier romanticized this dynamic in his head. they would move in together shortly after Xavier recovered. They wouldn’t know that each other were mutants for a while until Amelia found his notes containing info about cerebro and mutants and.. TW for domestic abuse shown in both images.

Amelia is naturally scared and outraged by her discovery. To her she’s the only mutant she knows about and her boyfriend in her perspective is a human looking for her kind. BUT she is drawn to be very threatening she throws papers at him and hovers over her disabled boyfriend while screaming at him she’s also illogical stating “is this how you “found” me?? How you managed to bump into me in the middle of some foreign country?!” He couldn’t possibly have been looking for her when he was the patient in a recent accident being cared for and of course romantically pursued by her. Again, I know why she’s frightened but she attacks him again. domestic abuse TW (image below)

By the looks of it she even punched him all while he tries to talk her down. Is her fear justified? Absolutely. But it’s not right to literally beat your partner out of that fear and anger without giving him the chance to explain himself. That’s abuse. I ask. Would anyone let Charles or any other male character live this down? Or would they be forever labeled as an abuser? Eventually with his telepathy he tells her that he does love her (he’s reassuring her while being attacked) and that he’s a mutant too finally calming her down and what does she say?

She doesn’t apologize for jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst out of him she doesn’t apologize for her physical attack she tells him to hold her. She unjustly put Charles, The man that she’s supposed to love. through something extremely physically and mentally traumatizing and she doesn’t even muster up a “sorry” instead telling him to shut up and letting him apologize as if he was at fault..

In uncanny X-men -1 we see that they continued to live together after that incident at his estate now and the dynamic is…off. She tries to use humor to lighten the mood but instead minimizes his emotions. and he continues not to get her humor.

She openly states that shes a bit fearful of him because of his abilities and that she left her job as a nurse in india to live with him partly because she loves him Partly because she’s fearful and so she can convince him out of his dream for mutant-human peace calling it “nonsense and insane”

They clearly don’t agree with each other and even if they met in a good circumstance it wouldn’t work because she wants him to give up on his dreams and even tells him that. (and of course her tendency to use physical violence before talking) I don’t blame her for her beliefs that mutants should hide but it would be better to not date someone who thinks otherwise. He later had her teleport them to auschwitz Under the correct belief that Erik will show up. She is of course, disgusted by the place. and before getting cut off states she’d understand “going bad” if you went through something like that (I don’t have that panel for some reason)

She briefly tries to reason with Erik but of course it doesn’t work Erik calls her by her name revealing he’s been keeping track of Charles and his relationships which might be mutual because Charles wasn’t shocked by this like Amelia was.

Back to uncanny X-men #309 “Erik” tries to ask Charles what’s really bugging him about his previous relationship with Amelia and how they broke up. Xavier retells the event twice it shows Amelia leaving him because she doesn’t believe in his dream and it’s obvious she’s not going to let it go or be convinced out of it. She leaves peacefully.

Except xavier is lying. He tells it again.

and he lies again. “Erik” asks him what really happened before she left and Xavier tells him that in a moment of panic.. TW for domestic abuse below.

Xavier almost forces her to see his side of things in fear of losing her. this is the only part of the story people tend to show and a lot of people act like this is why she left but in reality it’s much more complicated then that. she was already leaving him. And no, I’m not justifying what Xavier almost did here it’s horrible and thankfully he stopped. but I’m going to get back to it in a minute. (notice her resorting to physical violence again) Charles and “Erik” speak on this more.

It’s obviously something Charles is deeply ashamed of and regrets a great amount and obviously for a good reason. it’s a violation of her rights to her own thoughts. Charles compares it to his step-fathers actions “My actions made me no better then my step-father..using my power to lash out at someone weaker- to take for myself that which someone was unwilling to give.” I’ll get back to this too. Notice how he clearly remembers the slap and still thinks about it. He’s holding his face. He’s able to move on and own up to what happened and he wakes up and supports Jean in her marriage with Scott.

Now. What do I think about the breakup between Charles and Amelia? Well, like I said Charles was a bit of an unreliable narrator obviously everything shown was true but it’s only about his guilt in it. he only acknowledged the things he did that were wrong. He states he’s like his step-father because he was “using his power against someone weaker then him” she was weaker in THAT one specific incident but he fails to acknowledge that Amelia also did the same thing but much more then he ever did and throughout the relationship. She pursued her disabled patient. Someone that is the definition of weaker than her and took what she wanted from him. She seemingly had intercourse with him WHILE in the hospital. There was a power imbalance with her being his nurse. she was the only “good” thing in his life and she used that for her interests.

do i believe that Charles was like his step-father in the instance he used his powers? No. And here’s why. To paint Charles as the aggressor in this relationship is wildly dishonest I’ve already talked about the imbalance and the incident where she literally beat him after finding his notes but let’s talk about why he reacted the way he did because this sorta reaction isn’t really in-character for what we know about him. Xavier stated he fell into a deep depression when Moira left him to the point of having to be brought back to health

So why did he react with such hostility when Amelia tried to leave? Well, Xavier was passively suicidal when Amelia took advantage of him. He was stranded alone no Erik no gabby or Moira and now not even the ability to walk. To him she not only healed him physically but gave him a reason to live and continue pursuing his dreams. She was the only person he had. i believe he had trauma bonded with her. Seeing her leave was like seeing the only person he had abandon him his actions weren’t right but that’s why. He stopped immediately and it wasn’t out of a place of malice or control but fear. It’s not comparable to his step-father taking advantage of a widow for her money beating her. his kid. and Charles. (even experimenting on him but that’s a whole other post) he was evil. He took advantage of a young sad widow that’s being an abuser. Who fits the description of that more than Charles?

oh right.. Amelia does. And I believe it was intentional. Xavier failing to see being assaulted and taken advantage of comes from his need to overcompensate for the fact that his power can easily make him like his step-father. He has to be perfect or he’s his step-father. But he didn’t notice that he was his mother. Look below at this parallel that I think couldn’t have been an accident because it’s by the same artist in the very same issue. Ofc TW for domestic abuse shown in both panels.

The framing is almost exact and guess who’s in his mothers position? Charles. Amelia is drawn as threatening the same way his father is. I’ll go further to say while, yes. Xavier is bald now. he was blonde so even the hair colors match up! Xavier is a blonde like his mother and Amelia is ginger like his step-father she’s by a door frame slapping the person she took advantage of. Just like Xavier’s step-father Kurt marko. Massive TW for most of the rest of this post will speak on ableism. domestic and sexual abuse in Relationships. and there be descriptions (not detailed)

Another thing that can’t be ignored is that Charles is a disabled man and yes. That plays into him being taken advantage of and abused. Don’t believe me? Well. According to an article titled “The links between disability and domestic violence” by Sanctuaryforfamilies.Org “70% percent of disabled people experience abuse and are three times more likely to be sexually assaulted.”

It also details other forms of abuse disabled people go through. Such as:

read the highlighted ones again and think about everything I mentioned about these two.. being SA’d while his disability made it difficult to consent. having a small circle of people to support him after being disabled. He literally only had Amelia with him. Being heavily dependent on her and of course most cases a disabled person is abused by someone they trust like a partner. family member. Or caregiver. In this case it’s a partner and caregiver. The last image is from the article “disability and domestic violence” by safelives.Org.Uk

It’s impossible to ignore how Charles not only being a disabled man. but a recently disabled man that has no one else but his nurse/girlfriend while he was passively suicidal plays into not only the domestic violence he endured but why he acted the way he did when she attempted to leave. She took advantage of him. made him dependent on her. hit him. and then left suddenly. Was Charles really so awful or was it just reactive abuse? Google definition of reactive abuse: “Reactive abuse happens when a victim of abuse reacts to that abuse in a way which could include physical violence or shouting of their own. This isn't because the victim is an abuser, rather that they have been a victim of abuse for such a period that they have themselves lashed out.” Those are my reasons I think they go way beyond bad romance tropes and dated writing.

It’s almost the exact same. Charles hides his face when he feels threatened/is reliving a traumatic memory. I want to also point out that Charles had spent a majority of his life being abused by people who tower over him. (cain especially) since he was a kid, (TW abuse shown and talked about in the rest of this post)

a young adult,

and as an older adult.

And yes I think the abuse ties into his internalized ableism. Think about it, Charles was always physically vulnerable as he was the smaller and more petite man compared to his step father and brother. He didn’t want to use his telepathy against them unless he was pushed to. And now that he’s in a wheelchair he’ll always feel like the smaller and more vulnerable person. The person that gets abused. It doesn’t help that he was abused as soon as he was disabled too.

she is standing over him, she is enraged, She is physically threatening. And after this she hurts him.

she yells over him while he attempts to explain himself. Very similar to Cain.

Living through that abuse in his childhood and then being abused by his nurse/girlfriend right as he was disabled I think screwed up his perception of his disability. He always tied it to being less capable and vulnerable. Despite it being shown not to be the case many times. Another detail I noticed is his aversion to touch. Particularly by his abusers.

He’s pulling Amelia’s hand away from him in the last image. Which makes sense because when he talks about amelia her touch seems to be the first thing he remembers. In a bad way.

She also tried grabbing him before this too.

I think a lot of Charles reactions to Cain specifically can be looked at in a “fight flight freeze or fawn” context. With Charles usually freezing or fawning.