Charles Xavier: Capitalism Corrupts Christ

Charles Xavier, the all-loving hero who gave his unusual middle initial to the X-men.  He's "the good guy" in all the X-men films.

Or is he?

Oh, he is indeed all-loving. He is literally incapable of hatred, because he is telepathic. And he is a good man, saintly even. He is self-sacrificing: willingly feeling the pain that others feel, physical or mental. He is loving, but is he just? Is his ideology justice?

No.

Magneto is just. He is working for justice. He is working to prevent genocide. He is standing up and demanding a place for mutants in society. He is fighting the human-made power systems which keep mutants oppressed. He is doing justice. Magneto, actually, is the "good guy".

How? Why?

Charles Xavier, Professor X. This title and initial is not a coincidence. The Latin letters "P" and "X", don't have any meaning. But they look like letters that do: the Greek letters "Rho" and "Chi". These are the first two letters of the word christos, in Greek (ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ). He's meant to be Christ.

But there's a problem. Charles Xavier's power, is telepathy as I mentioned. This too points to him being a Christ figure. "God knows already what is in your soul" says the gospel. He wields divine power, and having that divine power is what makes him so all-loving. He knows the good inside each person, so he cannot help but care for them.  He cannot help but sacrifice for them. But there is a problem.

Charles Xavier, is born into privilege. He is a member of an oppressed group, but he has passing privileges. He inherits wealth from his family, and has access to well...anything he wants. The only hardships he has ever known, have been the ones he chose to suffer on behalf of his friends. He can be so willing to sacrifice himself, because his life is so otherwise idyllic. He can be a teacher, because he doesn't have to fight for survival. He alone of all the mutants learned to accept himself at a young age, because living was not a constant struggle.

Magneto has no such privilege. Nor do any of the others. Magneto, is a Holocaust survivor. He's Jewish, in addition to being a mutant. His life is anything but idyllic, it has been a series of hardships. He can't be tolerant. He can't slowly coach humans into understanding. He must tear down the structures that oppress the mutants which were built by humans. And if humans have to die, so be it. He isn't bloodthirsty. His desire for revenge was sated by the death of his personal tormentor. Magneto now fights in the name of doing justice.

He is Samson to Charles Xavier's Jesus. There are, of course, more parallels between Samson and Jesus than you would first think. What is Samson famous for doing, after all? Destroying a temple. Well, Jesus smashed a temple too. It's an uncomfortable moment in the scripture, because this is the closest Jesus comes to being violent. There are money-changers in the temple: that is, businesses operating within sacred space. Jesus flips out, and does everything short of actually striking them. He turns over their tables and drives them out with the threat of a whipping. Samson of course, pulls apart a pillar causing the roof of the temple to fall onto the Philistine Princes who were holding him captive.

Both stories are examples of God's justice being visited on those who have sinned. But there is a fundamental difference between Samson and Jesus. Samson is a warrior. Jesus is a teacher.  Samson lived his life as a second-class citizen in his own native land, subject to and forced to serve the will of a conqueror. He was born with divine power, but had to be tricked into using it to bring justice to Israel presumably because his oppressors had exploited that power.

 Magneto's story is similar. He was born in a land hostile to him, where he lived as a second-class citizen in his own native country. He was born with mutant powers, which his oppressors exploited. In order to unleash his full powers, he had to be tricked by Charles Xavier. And he too is destined to become the instrument of his people's justice. Most Nazis were never punished for their crimes. But in the world of X-men, there is Magneto. He is the divine justice which pursues them to the ends of the earth, because mortal systems of justice failed.

But the flip side of Samson crushing the Temple's pillar, is Jesus dying on the cross. And in X-men: First Class, we see Magneto and Charles Xavier act out these two things simultaneously. Magneto driving the coin into the brain of a Nazi is the wrath of Israel incarnate: the focused rage of all the Holocaust's victims. But in order for Magneto to do this, Charles Xavier had to mind-control the Nazi. He feels everything that Nazi feels. And he does not let go. He refuses to spare himself the pain, because he knows this is not about one man's quest for revenge: because he is fully aware of the drama playing out even if Magneto is not.

Charles Xavier understands that he is Christ on the cross, and that this too is divine justice. He understands that it is not only Nazis who have to pay for the crimes of the Nazi regime. It's rich British guys like him too, who are comfortable in their riches, sampling ideologies along with wines. That's why as he lies on the verge of death in Magneto's arms: he smiles. If he had died there, he would have been happy and satisfied. 

The one thing that Charles Xavier is blind to, that he can't understand, is this: in our world, being Christ is an option only for the 1%. Magneto can't be like him, not because of a character flaw but because of his class. Under capitalism, telling a worker to be kind is an act of oppression.  Under capitalism, telling a worker to sacrifice is an act of oppression. Only the capitalist is able to sacrifice himself. But Christ is supposed to be a model for all humans to follow. Capitalism, makes being the perfect human into a privilege: an option which only a select few can even chose. Thus, no matter how well-intentioned, in a capitalist system the church is oppressive.

But if there were no capitalists, then the church would not be oppressive. Charles Xavier and Magneto could have remained sworn brothers. Magneto would not wear his telepathy blocking helmet, and would not need to dismantle the systems built by humans. It is capitalism which oppresses Jews, and capitalism which oppresses mutants. If there were no capitalists, then loving and respecting people across the boundaries of culture and identity would be easy.  It would not require a telepath, or personal sacrifice.