Charles Xavier led something of an adventurous life before he settled into his wheelchair and role as the headmaster of his school for gifted youngsters. It was on one of these Indiana Jones-esque excursions deep within caverns in a foreign country that he encountered the villain Lucifer, who caused a cave-in that cost Xavier the use of his legs. That might seem like a less than exciting revelation for a character so key to the X-Men universe, but the cause of Professor X's disability being slightly boring isn't the weirdest thing in his history. It's rarely repeated these days, but early on in the X-Men's history, Charles Xavier was in love with the then 15-year old Jean Grey. The latest recruit to his team of mutant teenagers, Xavier worried about Jean being in danger not just because of a concern for all youngsters, but because of a very creepy desire to be with her that was revealed in X-Men #3. Reading this into the rest of his actions towards Jean and the X-Men is an exercise in weirdness, so we'd really rather Charles' self-confession never happened so that the leader of the X-Men can have always had a platonic relationship with his students... There we have it. Are there any strange origin stories that reek of the dark past? If there are any stories you think should have made this list, let us know in the comments!
