Cerebro Files

I was born the son of nuclear researcher Brian Xavier and his wife, Sharon. Following her husband's accidental death, Sharon married Brian's colleague, Kurt Marko. Cain, Kurt's son by a previous marriage, came to live at the Xavier Westchester mansion shortly thereafter. A cruel and spiteful boy, he bullied me. As punishment, his father secretly beat him - and I felt my sibling's pain firsthand thanks to the emergence of my mutant telepathic powers. Following our mother’s death, a fire in the family home took Kurt’s life, leaving us alone. By the time I graduated high school, I was completely bald as a side effect of my mutant nature. I entered Bard College in New York at age 16 and earned my bachelor's degree in biology within two years. I was then accepted into the graduate-studies program at England's prestigious Oxford University, where I earned degrees in genetics and biophysics.

There, I met and fell in love with a young Scotswoman named Moira Kinross. Our passionate discussions on the subject of genetic mutation gave way to romance, and we planned to marry. Our only obstacle was Moira's former boyfriend, Joe MacTaggert, a lance corporal in the Royal Marines and a bully, just like Cain. In Joe's eyes, I was a good-for-nothing intellectual, so I enlisted in the military after completing my studies at Oxford to validate myself in terms my rival would understand. I quickly became something of a legend in the area of search and rescue thanks to my mutant abilities. Attached to the same unit as my stepbrother, I was present when Cain deserted under fire during a mission in Asia. Following him in the hope of convincing him to return to their unit, I witnessed Cain's discovery of the mystical Ruby of Cyttorak and his transformation into the superhuman Juggernaut. I escaped the subsequent cave-in, mistakenly believing my stepbrother was dead. Later, I was devastated when Moira broke off their engagement without explanation. I left the Army and began traveling the world.

In Cairo, Egypt, I encountered Amahl Farouk, a mutant capable of summoning forth the darkness in the souls of others. This confrontation led to my decision to devote my life to protecting humanity from evil mutants and saving innocent mutants from human oppression. I next traveled to Israel, where I fell in love with Israeli diplomat Gabrielle Haller. I also befriended a fellow drifter named Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, a fellow mutant who would become my greatest enemy: Magneto, self-styled master of magnetism. Whilst I optimistically believed that humans and mutants could coexist, the Jewish Magnus foresaw mutants as the new minority to be persecuted and hunted because of their differences. Together, we prevented the nefarious Baron Von Strucker from launching his terrorist group Hydra on an unsuspecting world. Magnus departed with Strucker's gold, and upon departing Israel himself, I was unaware that Haller was pregnant with my son, David.

En route to the United States, I encountered the alien scout Lucifer in the Himalayas. To prevent any interference in his race’s planned invasion of Earth, Lucifer dropped a massive stone block on me, crippling my legs. In desperation, I called out with my mental powers and touched the mind of a young mutant named Tessa who was operating as a mercenary in the neighboring Hindu Kush mountains. Tessa came to my aid and I was airlifted to safety. During my convalescence in an Indian hospital, I met Amelia Voght, a young nurse who fell in love with me and renewed my will to live. I resumed graduate work at Columbia University in New York, and after receiving a Ph.D. in anthropology I spent several years in London earning a M.D. in psychiatry. There, I renewed my friendship with Moira, who had married Joe MacTaggert and was now a renowned geneticist. We began discussing the idea of founding a school for mutants. I returned to America and resumed my studies of mutation, working alongside Doctor Karl Lykos, a mutant whom would one day become the creature named Sauron. During this time, Professor John Grey, a friend of mine from Bard College, brought his young daughter Jean to me for help.

Jean had been traumatized when she telepathically experienced the death of a friend. I aided in her recovery, and in the ensuing years trained her to use her mental powers. I later met with Fred Duncan, an F.B.I. agent investigating the growing number of mutants. I told Duncan of my plan to locate young mutants and enroll them in a school using my ancestral mansion home as a base to train them to use their powers for humanity's benefit. Amelia remained with me until the young mutant Scott Summers joined the school. She left, fearing an escalating genetic arms race between me and Magnus. Over the following months, I used the mutant-locating computer Cerebro to assemble my original group of students: Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Beast, and Jean, who took the name Marvel Girl. I dubbed his students the "X-Men," because each possessed an "extra" ability that normal humans lacked. I also recruited Tessa at this time, but kept her presence at the mansion a secret from my other students as I planned to use her talents as a spy.