Marvel Officially Crowns X-Men's New Professor X Replacement

Published Nov 10, 2026, 6:30 PM EST Robert Wood is a writer and editor based out of Cheshire, England. He is the author of 'The False Elephant: and 99 Other Unreasonably Short Stories' - 100 stories, each told in exactly 100 words. Rob got into comics via Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and the UK anthology 'The Mighty World of Marvel,' which was running Frank Miller's Daredevil, Classic Hulk and Contest of Champions II. Prior to journalism, he worked in copywriting and copyedited for Oxford University Press. He is on X as @PinchTwigs and Instagram as roobwoodjourno. Sign in to your ScreenRant account After retiring Professor Charles Xavier from the X-Men franchise in 2025, Marvel has introduced a replacement for the mutant hero and mentor, as a powerful character declares, "I want to replace him." Over the last few decades, a slew of stories have revealed the increasingly disturbing skeletons in Xavier's closet, including his abandonment of his son David, his enslavement of the Danger AI, the secret second X-Men team he led to their deaths, and more. The Krakoan Era finally saw Professor X go too far, rejected by his former friends and allies. In 2025, Xavier escaped imprisonment and took to the stars with his longtime love Lilandra Neramani, hoping to rescue their daughter Xandra. Pleading for his former students to abandon their resentments and build a new school, Xavier left X-Men canon for "the last time." Now, he's been replaced by the worst person possible... Sarah Gaunt Is Marvel's Evil Professor X The recent Uncanny X-Men #38 - from Gail Simone, Luciano Vecchio, Matt Wilson and Clayton Cowles - focuses on Sarah Gaunt as she attempts to set up her own 'school' for young mutants. Able to take the form of the horrific, super-strong 'Hag,' Sarah Gaunt recently freed four mutants from the X-Finity project, bringing the brainwashed runaways under her control as the Scavenged. Uncanny X-Men #38 sees her set them up in a mansion and hand out costumes and a mission, persuading the group to track down and brutalize the villainous mutant Mutina. Explaining her motivations, Gaunt cites her hatred of Xavier, claiming that she wants to replace the X-Men's founder with "students of my own." Gaunt is a truly heinous villain, pressuring a group of mutants who were targeted by Weapon X-Finity specifically because of past trauma. Coercing them to carry out what appears to be the murder of Mutina is intended to bond them even more tightly to her, as she instructs them to address her as "Mommy" and claims she 'scavenged' them from certain death. Why Sarah Gaunt Hates Charles Xavier While Uncanny X-Men has revealed some details of Sarah Gaunt's backstory, it's still unclear exactly why she's so fixated on Charles Xavier. The two met at a young age at Oxford University, dating until Sarah faked a pregnancy, with Charles realizing the truth thanks to his powers. The two broke up and Sarah went on to have a son named Peter who died during Hurricane Katrina, with Sarah surrendering herself to the water and emerging as the incredibly powerful Hag, with claws made of Somber Steel - a material formed from the mystically transmuted blades of murderers. Gaunt subsequently began working for X-Finity, capturing mutants to be experimented on, and attempted to kill Rogue's Louisiana X-Men as an attack on Charles' legacy. Uncanny X-Men #38 sees Gaunt admit she's no longer concerned with destroying Xavier - instead she wants to replace him, becoming a twisted mutant mentor. Even in this context, it's not yet clear why Gaunt is so focused on Charles, though she does reference that she took the death of her son "poorly," and may be projecting her grief and rage onto an old flame. Given the caliber of the creative team, it's reasonable to suspect there's an unseen chapter of Gaunt's story that will offer further clarity, especially because her transformation into the Hag has yet to be fully explained. Rogue's X-Men Are Contending With Their Evil Opposites While Gaunt claims she wants to "replace" Xavier with her dark parody of the X-Men, she's still totally committed to killing off his former students. Gaunt recently gave the Louisiana X-Men a stay of execution, but the series has made it clear the two groups are already moving towards a rematch, with Gaunt using Mutina's body to taunt Rogue's team. What makes Gaunt such a despicable villain is that she's not just leading 'evil' mutants - she's brainwashing young runaways with nowhere else to go, using her resources to keep them on the hook. As morally compromised as Charles Xavier became in modern X-Men stories, Marvel is still able to contrast his genuine desire to help and teach young mutants against Gaunt's abusive weaponization of traumatized kids. The Louisiana X-Men's mission can't just be to defeat Gaunt and the Scavenged - they need to rescue the young mutants from her thrall. Thankfully, if they do, there's somewhere they can send them... Emma Frost Is Xavier's True Successor While Sarah Gaunt may have declared herself Charles Xavier's replacement, it's not like his students are sitting idle. In a surprise move, Marvel has positioned Emma Frost as Charles' true successor, as she founds the new mutant school 'Graymatter Lane' over in X-Men United. While Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde were slated to share headmistress duties at the school - which exists on the psychic plane and is thus accessible the world over - it's the former White Queen who has truly come to embody the concept of the X-Men training and educating young mutants once again. Indeed, recent attacks by Superior (aka Justina LaGuardia) have cemented Emma's place as the new Xavier, seeing her inherit an enemy who turned against Charles specifically because of his mentorship of young mutants, which LaGuardia considered reckless and potentially dangerous to innocent people. Cyclops and Beast Have Recreated The Magneto/Xavier Rivalry While Emma has taken Charles Xavier's place as mutantkind's 'professor,' Cyclops has continued his role as their protector. While many consider Cyclops to be Xavier's son, Scott Summers has explicitly abandoned Xavier's dream of human and mutant coexistence as the greatest moral good. Instead, Cyclops has dedicated his Alaskan X-Men to protecting other mutant groups and creating the space for a plurality of visions for the future. Of course, while Cyclops may not have embraced Xavier's dream, he HAS taken his symbolic place in the franchise, as his battle against Hank McCoy's mutant supremacist the Chairman (formerly the heroic Beast) replicates the clash of ideals embodied by Xavier and Magneto's long rivalry. When the X-Men franchise began, Xavier was the unquestionable hero of the story, embodying a dream of a singular, integrationist future for mutants. In 2026, the X-Men franchise's moral outlook is no longer embodied in a single character, with heroes like Cyclops and Emma Frost evolving his legacy in different ways, and villains like Sarah Gaunt and the Chairman fighting to corrupt it. Uncanny X-Men #38 is available now from Marvel Comics. Movie(s) X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) TV Show(s) X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men '97 (2024) Video Game(s) X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine's Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994) First Film X-Men (2000) Character(s) Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23 Comic Release Date 213035,212968