10 Times Professor X Outsmarted Everyone

As one of the smartest heroes in the entire Marvel universe, Professor X has as many clever moments in comics as the X-Men have members - which is to say, a whole damn lot.

Even with his powers removed, the psychic has four PhDs, and a Medical Doctorate in Psychiatry, meaning he's an intellectual heavyweight even without his brain-boosting powers in mind.

Combining his telepathic abilities with a considerable intellect and thirst for knowledge, Charles Xavier is capable of out-planning and outsmarting just about anyone, given the right amount of time and resources. There are few enemies of the X-Men who haven't bore the brunt of Xavier's acumen, and even fewer who don't regard the telepath as a massive threat due to his cerebral wiles.

While the mental heavyweight isn't a stranger to creating bad plans, even his more immoral or questionable schemes tend to be able to outsmart people, seemingly by sheer willpower. Not many people could pull off things like faking their death to defeat aliens, or one-upping a man while his brains have been scooped out - but when Xavier does, it's somehow completely unsurprising.

In a move that added yet another death to Xavier's considerable collection, X-Men #65 revealed that Professor X had not been killed by villain Grotesk as the majority of the team thought, but rather the shapeshifting Changeling had in his place.

The real Charles Xavier had actually been underground for several months, desperately preparing for the impending invasion of Earth planned by the evil alien Z'Nox. All the while, both the X-Men and their enemies were fooled into thinking everything was as normal, with Xavier even lending Changeling some of his powers in order to make the illusion believable.

Managing to fool both your enemies and your allies at the same time is no easy feat, and - when combined with the fact that Xavier's plan defeats the Z'Nox - shows just how easily the telepath is capable of thinking three steps ahead of anyone else.