Warning: Spoilers for Uncanny X-Men #8!Professor X has been a fixture of the X-Men since the team's inception, but he’s also spent a considerable amount of time dead or dying, and that fate seems to be happening all over again. Xavier has an inoperable brain tumor stemming from his specific mutation, but the question reamains if Marvel will really let Xavier die for good this time.

Uncanny X-Men #8 by Gail Simone and Javier Garrón has revealed that Professor X is dying of a brain tumor he didn’t even know about. The issue also reveals his retconned heritage; Professor X is now part of a newly revealed subset of mutants.

In the issue, the villainous Scurvy reveals that Charles is part of the "Avians," a group of five telepathic mutants. Unfortunately, this power comes with a cost, as shown by the death of the first Avian readers met: the young telepath Harvey, who died in Uncanny X-Men #1 by Simone and David Marquez.

The X-Men's Leader, Professor X, Is Dying of a Brain Tumor

Uncanny X-Men #8 by Gail Simone, Javier Garrón, Matt Wilson, and Clayton Cowles

Since the beginning of the new From the Ashes X-Men era, Xavier has been trapped in Graymalkin Prison - the former Xavier Mansion, which has been converted into a prison for mutants. Scurvy is one of Xavier’s captors, second-in-command to the maniacally evil Dr. Ellis. However, not until Uncanny #8 did readers have any indication of Charles Xavier’s supposedly failing health. This issue also reveals that Scurvy himself is much younger than he appears, so his "Avian" status is clearly also killing him, uniting the new subgroup of mutants in a deadly plot twist.

On a more practical level, this revelation is the clear setup for the X-Men crossover, "X-Manhunt." This event will see Xavier break out of prison and go on a country-hopping jaunt across the various X-Men books for some unknown purpose. Clearly him dying is the motivation to get in gear and ruin all his former students’ lives yet again. It's hard to say at this point whether Xavier is simply putting his affairs in order - maybe evening some final scores - or perhaps desperately looking for a way to stave off his seemingly inevitable death. It’s possible that he'll be doing both over the course of the event.

Is Professor X Really Going to Stay Dead - Even Die in the First Place?

The Answer Is: Probably Not

If there’s one problem with this new revelation, it’s that it’s a little hard to take "Xavier is going to die" all that seriously as a plot hook after all these decades of X-Men stories. Even discounting the fact that readers are coming off an X-Men era where death was a non-concern, Xavier’s too major of a character to get rid of for good. His last death in the 2010s lasted approximately five years, but even if he does die thanks to his tumor, it’s hard to imagine that he’ll stay gone even that long. Professor X is dying; long live Professor X and the X-Men.

Uncanny X-Men #8 is available now from Marvel Comics.