One of the reasons Fox's X-Men: The Last Stand landed with such a thud upon release in 2006 was the way it handled the fates of so many iconic characters. After their prominence in Fox's first two X-Men movies, the underrated Rogue and Mystique were written out of the action in ham-handed ways. Even worse, Cyclops' death capped off a disappointing cinematic career for the X-Men's seminal leader.

While not as disrespectful, Professor Xavier's apparent death at the hands of Dark Phoenix Jean Grey was another sour note. A post-credits stinger did at least open the door for Xavier's return. Although that scene eventually paid off, it created a serious question that was never answered. In a move hinted at earlier in the film, The Last Stand's post-credits sequence revealed that Professor Xavier shifted his mind into the body of a comatose patient of Moira MacTaggart's following the disintegration of his body by the Phoenix. To communicate this to the audience, the patient speaks to MacTaggart with the unmistakable voice of Patrick Stewart.

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Professor X's Rebirth and Subsequent X-Men Appearances

Professor X faces off against Jean Grey in X-Men: The Last Stand

Despite undercutting a dramatic death, it was at least a "send the fans home happy" bright spot in an otherwise dreary movie. It also opened up the possibility for Stewart to return as Xavier in future X-Men sequels in a way that didn't put the onus on future creators to come up with the resurrection for the team's founder.

Stewart reprised the role of Xavier in three X-Men sequels. While Days of Future Past and Logan gave him a solid amount of screen time, his first appearance in an X-Men sequel after The Last Stand was a cameo in The Wolverine. Alongside Magneto, Xavier made a dramatic return, recruiting a stunned Wolverine for his Days of Future Past time travel mission.

Though the mid-credits cameo does acknowledge that Wolverine thought Xavier was dead, Xavier only cheekily references how he got his body back. In a call back to the first X-Men movie, Xavier tells Wolverine that he's not the only one with gifts. That left the task of explaining Xavier's return to Days of Future Past.

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The X-Men Movies Skim Over Professor X's Resurrection

Uncanny X-Men #167 shows Professor X rise from his wheelchair while in a new body

Given that Days of Future Past juggled a huge cast and multiple timelines, no attempt was made to explain Xavier's new body. If they couldn't find room for Rogue in the theatrical release, it's understandable that even something as major as Professor Xavier's dramatic return wouldn't make the cut; it was probably hard to work it into the dialogue organically with all the Sentinel attacks. The film's use of time travel also allowed director Bryan Singer to ignore and eventually retcon the events of The Last Stand, the only movie in the first X-Men trilogy that he didn't direct, including Xavier's death and rebirth.

That explains the creative choices that led to Xavier's return being given the "somehow Palpatine returned" treatment. It doesn't put forth a decent theory for how he got his body back, but the source material offers some possibilities. In Chris Claremont and Paul Smith's The Uncanny X-Men #167, Xavier's body was destroyed when a Brood Queen hatched inside of it. His consciousness was transferred to a clone body, which not only saved his life but gave him functional legs again. More recently, Xavier returned to life in the body of the mutant Fantomex in Charles Soule and Michael Del Mundo's Astonishing X-Men #6.

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Unfortunately, neither of those examples squares with Fox's X-Men Universe. It never got around to introducing powerful ally Lilandra and her Shi'ar supporting cast that included the Star Jammers, despite two cracks at adapting "The Dark Phoenix Saga." Outside of X-23 and X-24 in Logan, it also eschewed the use of clones. The fact that the technology exists in the universe means that Xavier and MacTaggart could have cloned him a new body at some point. It's unlikely that they would have worked with the company that used the technology in Logan, the villainous Alkali-Transigen, although it would add further tragedy to Logan's dystopia if they had.

Fox's X-Men series was notorious for its sloppy, impenetrable continuity. Uncharitable viewers might consider that one of the ways they were faithful to the source material. Things that should have been major moments, like Xavier's return or Wolverine regaining his adamantium claws, happened with no on-screen explanation. No matter how the X-Men are introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans have to hope that Marvel Studios runs a tighter ship with them than Fox did.