Professor X: How Childhood Neglect Shaped Charles Xavier

Disclaimer: Primarily this will cover the universe of X-Men movies in terms of characterization.

Charles's Childhood

Honestly it doesn't surprise me that Charles didn't have a good childhood, looking at the rest of the X-Men it seems like a common theme. Between Jean Grey and Logan Howlett, I think I could name more depressing backstories than happy ones.

In the case of Charles, however, it gets particularly interesting due to his telepathic abilities and the sheer strength of them.

Charles was born in 1932 and grew up rather privileged—extremely so. He was white, he was rich, and he was male. His primary point of discrimination really only comes from the fact he is a mutant. However, outside of that his childhood is interesting. 

Charles Xavier lost his father before his mutant abilities began to form at age nine, when he was still very young his mother remarried after much convincing from his father's late colleague, Dr.Kurt Marko. The last name might be familiar due to a popular character by the name of Cain Marko—a.k.a Juggernaut. If you know anything about Juggernaut, you know that his father's regular abuse shaped who he became in adulthood, an abuse that he projected the anger from onto Charles even before their parents married.

After his mother's marriage and his telepathic abilities formed, it didn't take much for Charles to figure out Dr.Marko only wanted his mother's money and that he was regularly abusing his mother, leading her down a road of alcoholism and neglect in the comics.

As for the movies, however, we really have no proof of any abuse towards Charles at all outside of the neglect from his mother and Juggernauts existence—despite his shallowness and lack of character.

However neglect itself is a large part of Charles' character as neglect does shape any child into adulthood and it is through his mother's neglect that Charles meets his sister, Raven.

In the first scene we see Charles and Raven interact with teach other in X–Men: First Class at age twelve in the opening scenes—no sign of a father in sight, so we can assume his father is indeed deceased—Charles clocks Raven as an imposter due to the sheer fact that she attempted to care for him while playing the part of his mother. 

Other than this, we know very little about his backstory in the X–Men movies. Charles went on from his childhood to become a Professor of Genetics at Oxford University before forming the original X–Men in the government's "Division X" program.

But that does not mean his backstory and childhood are unnecessary details.

Charles' Adulthood

When you look at the neglect from Charles' childhood and his actions (and reactions) as an adult, a lot of things begin to re–contextualize in a way that makes sense. 

For example: The way Charles argues. 

In X–Men: Days of Future Past, X–Men: First Class and even in Dark Phoenix we see Charles argue in a way that can be described more as someone lashing out. When he argues with Raven he is much more likely to yell one thing and then speak much more calmly the rest of the time, a reflection of the fact that Charles has known her a long time and trusts her the same way she knows to trust him and can handle his outbursts. This goes in contrast for the way Charles argues with Erik—in the one large instance that he does yell at Erik it is on the plane in the Days of Future Past movie, where Charles quite literally grasps Erik by his shirt and yells in his face.

Speaking of that scene, it perfectly shows the lowest of Charles' abandonment issues—another symptom that can manifest from neglectful childhoods. If you take a moment to rewatch the scene, one thing I noticed as I did so was that Charles was much angrier at Erik for leaving him over the actions that he committed. Not only that but by extension causing him to lose his sister as well. 

So those cover both the emotional regulation and abandonment issue sections of neglectful parenting effects, but are there any other's portrayed in Charles Xavier? 

Yes!

Addictions and dependencies. Specifically on the drug provided to him by Hank—a.k.a Beast—shown in X–Men: Days of Future Past. Not only that but the implication of Charles' struggles with alcohol in the same movie. Children of neglect are scientifically shown to be 1.2 times more likely to develop an addiction and/or a dependence on addictive substances than children without neglect, and the X–Men films showcase this part of Charles very well.

In many scenes of Charles in the Days of Future Past movie, especially earlier in the film, Charles is shown drinking, especially during rather emotional scenes. His first (young) introduction in the movie, after his argument with Erik, etc. While it's not explicitly stated, his dependence is there. He's showcased with increased anxiety, emotions, and reaches for a glass when things get tough. 

Though it's much clearer in the portrayal with Charles and the drug from Hank. Charles at first is explained as having taken the drug—at the sacrifice of his powers—to gain his ability to walk. Though, by looking at the context of past movies we can actually understand that Charles took the drug to get rid of his powers with an added bonus of getting his legs back because of the fact that Hank developed the drug in First Class and then seemingly perfected and improved it over the years since. 

Either way, his dependence is clear. He becomes extremely and clearly distressed when he cannot take it and even shows other more typical signs of an addiction: irritability, anxiety, heightened emotions, distress, etc.

Summary

In general, it's clear that the neglect from Charles' childhood affects him deeply into adulthood even in ways I haven't brought up in this post. But between his childhood and the addiction in his appearances, it's a real surprise that he's as functional as he is. And he is not very functional...