Do you prefer Charles Xavier or Prof. X?

When Sir Patrick Stewart was cast to play Prof. X in the first X-Men trilogy, there could have been no other perfect actor to bring him to life. Stewart had given us the Charles Xavier who was almost Dalai Lama-like. Prof. X was selfless and idealistic with a vision to a greater humanity. Prof. X is the character who is the higher consciousness of all the X-Men mutants. In the first three films we saw the mutants struggle with accepting themselves under the mentorship of Prof. X. One thing that seemed to be evident in the theme of all three films was how much Prof. X wanted them to be responsible with their gifts. Stewart did such a good job as Prof. X that it was hard to consider that he was once himself a young man.

When X-Men: First Class was released in June 2011, the fans of the series got to see the young Charles Xavier. James McAvoy’s version of Charles Xavier was the pre-doctorate student and man about town. Young Charles liked his gift and in fact liked to use it to get his own way. Before becoming Prof. X, Charles was an Oxford student who loved the pubs and the ladies. Part of the young Charles felt that he was special and almost wanted to be a bit of a mutant superstar himself.

McAvoy still showed how Charles had a sense of vision that his privilege afforded him. Young Charles does not quite have the empathy of the older Prof. X but his faith in humanity was evident in his younger days. McAvoy gave us a much more fun and fancy free Charles. He shared Stewart's version of wanting to bring out the best in others but the sense of adventure was more evident in young Charles.

The elder statesman image that was crafted so well by Stewart made the older Prof. X the mutant wise man. Young Charles does not yet have the years to contemplate his ideology but his thinking is a product of his times. The introduction of the young Magneto shows how much of Charles is a reaction to Erik and vice versa. The best thing about having McAvoy as the younger Charles Xavier was to show how Prof. X eventually developed a kind of foresight and insight into the struggle that mutants must face alone.