At the basis of it all, the relationship between Charles Xavier and Max Erik Magnus Lensherr Eisenhardt Griffith-Joyner-Kersee Cougar-Mellancamp is a complex and retconny one. (Magneto’s real name is responsible for like half of those retcons, BTW.) But often times, it’s distilled down to “Actions Vs. Words”. Professor X wants mutants to coexist peacefully. Magneto wants them to rule. Choosing between Magneto or Professor X didn’t used to be difficult when one was an “Evil Mutant” and the other was a benevolent baldy, but recent stories have made it clear that Magneto is more noble and Xavier more Machiavellian than we ever thought, leading to today’s BFF query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) isn’t the first person to notice that the X-Men don’t actually get a lot done and die a lot in pyrrhic victories, asking: Whose philosophy seems more attractive: Magneto or Professor X?
2 Comments
Xavier for sure, because I’m not a mutant.
I want to live in a world where Xavier is right, but I fear Magneto is the one who really has the right of it. While individuals are good “people” fear what they don’t understand and what is different, making mutual coexistence between mutants and humans without one having power over the other a pipe dream at best.
It’s what makes their differing worldviews compelling. Xavier is the idealist, and Magneto is the pragmatist.