The Avengers and X-Men once battled it out in a superhero fight for the ages, with Iron Man and Professor X exchanging more than a few strained words during the conflict, the former of which inadvertently revealed his personal — and incredibly insulting — opinion about the man who built Marvel’s premiere mutant team!
Characters that have been staples in the Marvel Universe for decades, Tony Stark aka Iron Man, and Charles Xavier aka Professor X, are iconic heroes that don’t have much in common save for their superior intellect, leadership skills, and at times, a penchant for making questionable decisions for the greater good of the world. And while they’ve had their ups and downs in the past, it can’t be denied Tony and Xavier have also done some real good together, their personal problems with one another notwithstanding.
Pitted against one another in 2012’s epic event titled Avengers vs. X-Men, written and drawn by a rotating crew of talented creators, this series saw the Phoenix Force return to Earth only for it to be split into five separate fragments thanks to some accidental help from Iron Man’s latest piece of tech. Infesting five mutants — Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Colossus, and Magik — Iron Man and Professor X are forced into confrontation, with Tony finally letting loose about what he really thinks of Charles Xavier and his mutant students.
What Iron Man Really Thinks of Professor X
Calling a secret meeting to hopefully defuse the mounting situation between the X-Men, Avengers, and the mutants now known as the “Phoenix Five,” Captain America, Doctor Strange, Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man, Professor X, and eventually Namor, try to find common ground between opposing forces but aren’t exactly successful in their efforts. Immediately giving Xavier the business, Iron Man asks him, “What did you do to those kids?” following it up by saying, “All I know is — they go to your school and they all turn nuts.” Outraged at the insinuation that his students are essentially being called out as extremists even after Tony tries to play it off as a joke, Xavier says, “I can read your mind. You think this is partly my fault,” outright confirming that since the Phoenix Five mostly consists of X-Men, Iron Man thinks Professor X and his school are to blame for their current actions.
And although it’s true this was a time of high tension between these men with things said and done on both sides that they’ve (mostly) come to regret, the fact that Iron Man secretly thinks the Xavier Institute royally screws up its students while holding Professor X personally responsible for the AvX conflict is as insulting as it is partially true. Luckily, Iron Man and Professor X have long since buried the hatchet, but it’s still probably for the best that these two Marvel icons stay in their separate corners of New York City for the time being.
