Charles Xavier is a mutant gifted with vast telepathic powers, a specialist in mutant biology and sociology and the founder of the Uncanny X-Men as Professor X. As a young man, he traveled around the world to better comprehend mutantkind, meeting a dear friend and ruthless rival, the man who would become known as Magneto.

After becoming paraplegic following a conflict against the villain Lucifer in the Himalayas, Xavier transformed his family's ancestral home into the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, a sanctuary for mutants to train and learn about their abilities. Under his supervision, Professor X's students formed the first X-Men, a super hero group who fight for a world that hates and fears them, guided by Xavier's dream. Through the years, Xavier and his X-Men found themselves at odds with both humans and mutants with diverging ideologies, especially Magneto, who believed in mutant supremacy.

In order to ensure the survival of mutantkind, Xavier eventually assumed a harsher stance on the mutant-human conflict. Influenced by Moira and assisted by Magneto, Professor X established a mutant nation on the living island of Krakoa, granting citizenship to all mutantkind. As a head of state of the mutant nation, Professor X is currently responsible for a much larger community than solely the X-Men, which comprises thousands of mutants.

Charles Xavier is an Alpha-Level Mutant, said to possess the most powerful brain in existence, and to be the world's greatest telepath possessing vast psionic powers.