Since the fall of Krakoa, Charles Xavier has been locked up in Graymalkin Prison, formerly the the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, in Westchester, New York.
I confess that I don't know entirely why; I stopped reading the Krakoa books about two years into Jonathan Hickman's epic saga. The reason why is that I had stopped enjoying them. It felt to me, as a reader, that the natural endpoint of the story had been reached, but that the story was being artifically extended. All the major secrets had been revealed, and it was time for the final showdown between X-Men and Orchis. But all the characters kept going on side quests. The "middle part" just kept going on and on, and it was frustrating me.
So I quit.
And missed the ending! All I knew, from reading "Raid on Graymalkin" (X-Men #8-9, Uncanny X-Men #7-8), is that Charles Xavier did something terrible. I wasn't terribly sure what, and when Cyclops' team and Rogue's team came to blows, they were arguing over whether Xavier deserved to be freed. Yes, some X-Men felt Xavier should rot in jail, and one of them was Cyclops! The word "monster" was thrown around.
I've learned more from a recent one-shot, X-Men: Xavier's Secret #1, which serves as a sort of foreword to "X-Manhunt." It's a collection of two stories from the online-only "Infinite" line of Marvel comics. The first story depicts Scott and Jean's last night together before she heads into space in Phoenix #1. If you wondered how the two of them dealt with this (hopefully temporary) separation, here it is.
The second story, though, follows my least favorite Marvel reporter, Sally Floyd, as she tries to write a story about Charles Xavier's life for The Daily Bugle. It's a simple feature, and she only gets the job because Ben Urich feels sorry for her. (She's in a drunken spiral, and "unhirable.") But she gets hold of a mystery, and as the mystery unfolds, it's apparent that she and everybody she talks to (Urich, Warren Worthington, etc.) is having their memories changed by someone. And who might that someone be?
SPOILER ALERT.
Stop now if you don't want to know Xavier's secret. Honestly, as this thread is going to spoil "X-Manhunt" weekly, I expect anybody reading this has to anticipate spoilers. But I feel the need to say something anyway.
So, yes, it's Chuck. We get the story of why everyone believes he's a monster ... and he's using his powers to make sure everyone keeps believing it. Because, as we learn, he faked it all. His reasoning is that someone has to be the scapegoat, so he wants everyone to hate him instead of hating the X-Men.
TBH, I don't really follow this reasoning. In fact, I'd call it a plot device. But, going back to the Silver Age, he's always been as much a plot device as a character. And when you look at his actions at a whole ... well, he doesn't come off very well.
Floyd touches on this briefly, highlighting four Xavier decisions that are hard to defend. The first one, of course, is sending teenagers out to fight Magneto in The X-Men #1. Plus Vanisher, Blob, Unus, Mastermind, Sub-Mariner, Toad, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, The Stranger ... seriously, this is a master class in child endangerment. He was acting in loco parentis, and was building a child army. I can only excuse it as the sort of blithe abuse of power that might well have been normal to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, men who grew up in a conservative era when authority was not to be challenged.
But I grew up in the rebellious '60, and I kept seeing red flags on Xavier throughout the Silver Age. Like keeping Juggernaut locked up extra-judicially in the basement, and not telling the students who were sleeping in the same house. Like mind-wiping people on the regular — he mind-wiped the entire towns Hank and Bobby grew up in — and reading their minds without permission. Like bringing the dangerous Cal Rankin onto the team. Like pretending to lose his powers so the X-Men could go on a mission without his guidance, as a graduation exercise. Like pretending to be dead from The X-Men #42 to #65. (OK, that was obviously a retcon to bring him back to life after they meant for him to be sincerely dead, but the casualness of this revelation in X-Men #65, and the fact that Jean apparently knew the truth but had to lie to her friends, is mind-boggling.) Throughout Marvel history, Xavier has had secrets upon secrets, many of which have blown up in the X-Men's faces.
I don't think any of this was intentional. I think Marvel's writers through the years thought of Xavier as a hero, and he has certainly been treated that way by the other superheroes in-story, from his presence at Reed and Sue's wedding all the way through to the Illuminati. But as a plot device, he was always called upon as the set-up for various dangerous situations. — "Oh no! How did Juggernaut get in our living room?" "The Prof had him sedated in the basement, and he just woke up." — which had the unintended consequence of making him look very much like an unethical narcissist with no regard for the lives of others. And his plot-driven duplicitousness has now, to an extent, become his characterization.
For example, it's fine and dandy to convince the world that he's a monster because (mumble, mumble). Sure, if he thinks that will help. But why keep it a secret from those who, theoretically, love him? Why not tell Scott the truth? Or Jean? Or Ororo? Or Anna Marie? Why does he need for them to hate him too? They could know the truth, and it woudln't affect his goals. But he doesn't tell them his plan. Because since when has Xavier ever told anyone his plan? Lying to everybody is just what he does now.
HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
In "Fall of X," the world was being attacked by an Orchis satellite, and the 12-man crew of a space shuttle sacrificed their lives by flying into the satellite. Only Xavier confessed that he had mentally compelled them to do that, essentially murdering a dozen humans. Xavier's Secret reveals that there were never any people on the shuttle; Xavier had engineered some non-sentient meat puppets using Sinister's clone vats and crewed the shuttle with them. Nobody really died, and Xavier has been using his powers to keep anyone from looking too closely at the "crew" and its non-existence. He confessed to killing these non-existent people, and has been locked up by the feds in Graymalkin Prison ... until now.
That's where we begin "X-Manhunt." It will be a tour of the current X-books — most of them anyway — and it begins with Uncanny X-Men #11, NYX #9 and Storm #6 on March 5.
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