X-Men: The 20 best characters of the last decade

3. Professor Xavier

Professor Charles Xavier spent a good portion of this decade dead. He was killed by Cyclops during Avengers Vs. X-Men while possessed by the Phoenix Force. Years later, he came back in the body of Fantomex. If he was dead for so long, how could his contributions be so significant? His importance came during and after House of X and Power of X.

As it was mentioned earlier, Moira MacTaggert helped usher in a new era for mutants. While she was crucial in making the future happen (as was Magneto), it couldn’t have been done without Xavier’s cooperation. Charles Xavier had to be the one. But he had to be molded as well. After a few deaths, Moira explained that he needed to change his ways. Thankfully, for once in his life, he wasn’t stubborn – because of this, we have the mutant nation Krakoa.

That’s not all. Xavier has another heavy responsibility literally on his head. He is charged with keeping the memories of all the mutants in a smaller version of Cerebro. The Resurrection protocols don’t work if Xavier is dead. He constantly records the memories of the X-Men. Without him, the mutants would come back to life essentially being empty husks. We saw the fear when Xavier was killed in X-Force No. 1 (Though thankfully, Jean Grey was able to work Cerebro).

Xavier’s going to continue being major going forward… especially when this all comes crashing down. And it will.