Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for X-Men '97.

The Big Picture

• Charles Xavier's survival in X-Men '97 complicates the X-Men's challenges.
• In the animated series' latest episode, Bastion reveals his plan to expose Xavier's survival to undermine the X-Men.
• Xavier's avoidance of contacting the X-Men creates unnecessary drama in the show.

Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men, is initially presented as one of the most pure and altruistic characters in most versions of the Marvel universe he appears in. And his dream of regular humans and superpowered mutants coexisting peacefully is the admirable, socially conscious foundation on which the X-Men franchise is built. But throughout the franchise’s more than 60-year history, Charles himself has often been shown to make morally questionable decisions that contradict many of the optimistic, pacifistic values he preaches. The live-action X-Men film franchise often replicated these hypocritical qualities by highlighting the flaws of both Sir Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy’s versions of the character, but the animated Charles featured in X-Men: The Animated Series was always more firmly righteous. The sequel series, X-Men ’97, has changed that, however, with some of the character’s negative qualities coming out in the most recent episodes, creating opportunities for the X-Men’s enemies to make the team's lives even more difficult.

Charles Xavier's Survival Creates Plot Holes in 'X-Men '97'

In The Animated Series’ finale, Charles Xavier (Cedric Smith) is shot by an anti-mutant bigot. His wounds appear to be fatal until his lover, Empress Lilandra Neramani (Camilla Scott) of the alien Shi’ar Imperium, arrives on Earth. Lilandra explains that Shi’ar technology may be able to heal him but that she would need to bring him back into space with her for the necessary treatment. X-Men ’97 commences about a year after their departure, but its first episodes surprised viewers by making it seem as if Charles (now voiced by Ross Marquand) ultimately did pass away. Last week’s episode confirmed that this was not really the case, with a healthy Charles shown still living among the Shi’ar. But while they’ll certainly be happy to see him when he makes his planned return to Earth, Charles’ survival isn’t the unambiguous win the X-Men need right now. Due partially to some of his own oddly careless, self-centered decision-making, the discovery that he’s alive could present still more challenges to both the team and the wider mutant community, who have already been put through the wringer this season.

The series’ most recent episode, “Bright Eyes,” confirmed that robotic supervillain Bastion (Theo James) was behind the horrific attack on the mutant nation of Genosha, having received assistance from longtime X-Men foe Mister Sinister (Christopher Britton). Bastion shows Sinister a recording he recovered from a damaged Shi’ar communications device that depicts Charles alive and well. He implies that he plans to expose this so that it will seem like the X-Men “have been selling the world a very big lie.” Presumably, this would lead to increased support from bigoted parts of the public for Bastion’s murderous Operation: Zero Tolerance, which appears to already have secret support from world governments. In the wake of the Genosha attack, it’s unclear how the team and their allies can overcome this kind of coordinated misinformation and genocide.

There's No Good Reason Xavier Can't Contact the X-Men

To be fair, Charles does express his desire to return to Earth and see his students in Episode 6, and Lilandra (now voiced by Morlon Gorrondonna) suggests he send them a holographic message, but the fact that he seemingly didn’t do so as soon as he was healthy is wildly out of character. The X-Men have been acting as if Charles is dead, following the wishes expressed in his last will and testament, and Charles’ surrogate son Scott Summers, aka Cyclops (Ray Chase), as well as his old friend and former rival Magneto (Matthew Waterson), have been struggling particularly hard to continue the work of both achieving his dream and mourning his loss. While it's unclear how many members of the team know that Charles is actually alive, they will likely be deeply hurt to learn that he considered remaining in space indefinitely as the new Shi’ar Emperor. After sensing the Genosha attack, Charles does ultimately resolve to go home, but now his return threatens to divide the team with even more interpersonal drama precisely when they need to stand united against Bastion’s threat.

It's understandable why the creators would want to make Charles’ fate a surprise rather than revealing the truth at the start of the season, as doing so added suspense and, again, led to good development for Scott, Erik, and some other characters. But for that aspect of the story to be emotionally believable, it should have been established that the X-Men weren’t able to make contact with the Shi’ar and learn of Charles’ survival. Revealing the fact that Xavier could send a message, but didn’t, renders the usually empathetic character extremely selfish and oblivious to the emotions of his friends and family. Bastion’s recovery of the footage only further highlights the problems with this part of the plot, as Shi’ar communication technology is now being used to add new drama to the story, even though the creators ignored its capacity to resolve a longer-standing issue.

Xavier's New Story Makes Him Look Foolish on 'X-Men '97'

Admittedly, ompared with some of the things other versions of the character have done, Xavier's mistakes in X-Men '97 are pretty tame. His comic book counterpart has had so many skeletons come out of his closet that it’s sometimes hard to really view him as a hero anymore, and even the film versions have done some seriously shady things. Both Stewart and McAvoy’s iterations manipulated the mind of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner and Famke Janssen), contributing to her later rampages as the Phoenix. The versions played by Stewart in X2: X-Men United and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness kept details of Logan's (Hugh Jackman) past from him when he was actively searching for them and participated in the Illuminati’s killing of (an admittedly corrupt) variant of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), respectively.

X-Men ’97 hasn’t had Xavier do anything nearly this malicious, and the poor choices he has made aren’t even instigated by the same kind of understandable but ultimately corrupt motives as some of his doppelgängers. More than anything, Xavier's story in the new animated series mostly calls his self-awareness and emotional intelligence into question. While it probably won’t turn viewers against him to the same extent that other versions have, his portrayal is still a rare example of forced and unconvincing writing from the otherwise strong series. And, in this instance, his blunder may have contributed to the greatest threat mutantkind has ever faced.

X-Men '97 is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.

Watch on Disney+