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The X-Men have endured their fair share of cinematic struggles over the years. The rights to the titles were coveted by 21st Century Fox in the early 90s and the franchise was one of the first major superhero movie series in the modern era. Being acquired by another studio meant they were isolated from the reaches of Marvel Studios and the growing Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There was the attempt to create an abridged version of a cinematic universe pertaining to the rights that 21st Century Fox had claimed as their own, though the result of trying to carefully avoid triggering a legal battle over character rights and intellectual property was more blunderous than it was supposed to be. Disney’s $71.3 billion bartering price led to the acquisition of 21st Century Fox, turning over the ownership of the X-Men and reuniting them with Marvel Studios. At San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Marvel Studios teased that the team would officially work their way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Update September 16, 2022: This article has been updated with additional information following the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Then audiences got a look at the X-Men a lot sooner than expected in an unlikely way as the Superbowl trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness revealed that Professor Charles Xavier would meet Doctor Strange, with Patrick Stewart confirming his return to the character in the Doctor Strange sequel. However, similar anticipation for the X-Men’s inevitable overlap into the greater scheme of the ongoing film saga was previously met with disappointment after Evan Peters’ return to his Quicksilver role in WandaVision was treated as a punchline. While Professor Xavier is present in the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer and even showed up in Hugh Jackman's Wolverine swan song Logan, many questions are raised about his timeline, the biggest of which is: didn't Professor X die in X-Men: The Last Stand?
How Did Professor X Die?
The X-Men films are known for the unanswered questions that they leave behind, casting confusion in their wake as they attempt to piece themselves together. While the series spanned two decades, a standout question still lingers far after the release of X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006. Professor Xavier (Sir Patrick Stewart) is killed as a consequence of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) fully embracing her power as the Dark Phoenix. Xavier's physical body is disseminated, vaporized by the Dark Phoenix's unhinged abilities that are unleashed in her childhood home.
However, the after-credit scene of X-Men: The Last Stand opened the door for Professor X's return. Doctor Moria McTaggart is seen checking in on a comatose patient seen earlier during one of Professor X's lectures, only for the person to greet her with Xavier's voice. Unnamed in the film, the DVD commentary reveals that the patient was "P. Xavier", Charles Xavier's brain-dead twin brother, a character created for the film to give an explanation for his resurrection.
How Did Professor X Come Back to Life?
The Fox X-Men were reunited with Professor Xavier in the end-credits sequence following Hugh Jackman's The Wolverine in 2013, where Logan "The Wolverine" Howlett confronts Professor Xavier on his ability to defy death. He simply responds with "[You're] not the only one with gifts," which was understood to be the explanation behind his return. The mystery of how Professor Xavier is revived is never exactly elaborated on, and for audiences who did not even know there was an after-credit scene in X-Men: The Last Stand it certainly raises some questions. Stewart returned for X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014 where his return was simply unopposed by characters who should have been more uncertain about Professor Xavier's functionality.
Following the time travel events of X-Men: Days of Future Past, a new timeline is reset and Professor X is alive and well in the current timeline, suggesting the events of X-Men: The Last Stand were wiped away. This new Professor X will be the one that dies in the film Logan. However, in the original timeline, no official explanation is provided for how Professor X returned from the dead.
The non-canonical means of bringing Professor Xavier back through his twin brother were accepted by the fan community after it was understood that there would be no real explanation given to them. The "death" and the eventual return of Professor Xavier contribute to the complexity of the Fox X-Men Universe, and it's a direct reminder that the films should have been given a more explicit direction to head in.
Is it the Same Professor X in Doctor Strange 2?
When Patrick Stewart showed up in the trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, many began speculating on what this meant in terms of connecting the MCU with the Fox X-Men films through the multiverse. If Patrick Stewart was returning as Professor X, would he be the version from the original X-Men timeline or a new one? The casting of Patrick Stewart so close after the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which saw Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprise their roles as their incarnations of Peter Parker, led many to believe that this Professor X had to be one audience had already known.
In the finished film, however, the Professor X that Patrick Stewart plays is not one of the previous incarnations of the Fox X-Men movie. Despite wearing the signature green suit with a yellow hover chair, he is also not the same Professor X seen in the animated series. Instead, this Professor X is a variant, combining the visual look of the animated series version with Patrick Stewart's portrayals from the film. This Professor X is from Earth-838, a dimension in the multiverse where the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Inhumans, and more co-exist among each other.
Just as Professor X did in X-Men: The Last Stand and Logan, this incarnation dies a similarly brutal death, killed by the Scarlet Witch (X can't catch a break). With still no word on when the X-Men will officially make their big debut in the MCU, and some signs indicating that the team will not join the franchise until after the Multiverse Saga, bringing back Patrick Stewart as Professor X was a nice way to acknowledge the franchise's past and the importance Stewart has made on the character.