Just in case some of you are not familiar, back during the original run of the X-Men, Marvel decided to kill off Charles Xavier—so they did. And at the time of publication, it was indeed the real X who bit the dust.

But a while later, someone decided they really did need Xavier in the book after all. So they brought him back.

This was accomplished, in flashback/retcon, by having the mutant called Changeling use a power he had never before manifested, shape shifting, to take Charles’ place while the real X went underground—literally—to work on a top secret project. Changeling, we were told, was dying of cancer, and looking for away to make up for past misdeeds. So it was he who died a short time later, not Professor X.

Okay, fine so far. But it didn’t take long for folk to start saying X had faked his own death.

Only that ain’t what happened. Neither X nor Changeling knew the impersonation would end in death. Changeling was going to die, but no one knew it would be caused by something other than his cancer. No one expected him to die in battle. That was a surprise.

I’d planned to address this in HIDDEN YEARS, but the book was yanked out from under me before I got there.

Lucky he was able to cover Havok’s foot.