Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters | |
Continuity: | Marvel Universe |
Aliases: | X-Mansion; Xavier Institute for Higher Learning[1] |
Category: | Learning center |
Continent: | North America |
Country: | United States of America |
State: | New York |
County: | Westchester County |
City: | North Salem |
Town: | Salem Center |
Residents: | X-Men; New Mutants; Professor Charles Xavier |
Points of interest: | Danger Room |
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is a fictional location featured in comic books and film. It is a property of Marvel Comics and part of the internal continuity of the mainstream Marvel Universe. It is associated with the X-Men family of titles and has also been featured in the X-Men film series as well. It first appeared in The X-Men #1, published in September, 1963. The school has also been referred to as X-Mansion and the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. The modern iteration of the school is known as the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.
Description[]
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is the family mansion of Professor Charles Xavier. He renovated the building as a special needs school for those with peculiar physical "disablities" - all of the students who attend the school, as well as most of the staff are mutants - gifted with powers that set them apart from mainstream society, branding them as outcasts in a world that "hates and fears them". The X-Mansion is located at 1407 Graymalkin Lane in Salem Center, Westchester County, New York.
Originally, the staff of the school only of Professor Xavier and his student body was made up of five mutant teenagers, whom he dubbed the X-Men. These original five students were: Warren Worthington, III, aka Angel; Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, Henry "Hank" McCoy, aka the Beast; Bobby Drake, aka Iceman and Jean Grey, originally known as Marvel Girl.
In addition to learning how to control their abilities, the Xavier School served as a front for the X-Men's superhero activities, in which they would band together to combat evil mutants, such as Magneto and his aptly named Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
The second group of students to begin operating out of the school came to be known as the New Mutants. The original New Mutants, whose were brought together to serve as a backup plan should the X-Men ever fall in battle consisted of, Cannonball (Sam Guthrie), Karma (Xi'an Coy Manh), Psyche (Danielle Moonstar), Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair) and Sunspot (Robert da Costa). Later members included Majik (Illyana Rasputin), Magma (Amara Juliana Olivians Aquilla), Cypher (Doug Ramsey) and the techno-organic alien being Warlock.
Despite it's fortified defenses, the Xavier School has been either partially or fully destroyed and rebuilt several times over. The first major destruction it suffered took place several years ago when it was leveled by an attack by an alien force known as the Sidri. [2]
Danger Room[]
One of the more notable characteristics of the X-Mansion is the Danger Room. The Danger Room originally started out as a simple gymnasium fitted with various exercise equipment and special tools designed to cater to the specific talents of the students (such as rings suspended from the ceiling that Angel could swoop through). In later years, the Danger Room was outfitted with Shi'ar technology, which enabled the staff to create life-like holographic settings in order to train students in realistic crisis situations. In addition to it's visual imaging, the Danger Room could also replicate various temperatures and even scents. It also included robotic technology, which worked in tandem with the holographic imaging, providing various physical threats to the trainees. A control center and monitering station was attached to the upper levels of the Danger Room from which one could observe the progress of those using the room. The Danger Room was incorporated with various safety features so that no actual harm would befall any of the students, but these safeguards could be deactivated for real combat scenarios.
Notes & Trivia[]
- The concept behind the X-Mansion was originally developed by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby.
- The school was re-named the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning in X-Men, Volume 2 #38.
- Another school that served a similar function to the X-Mansion was the Massachusetts Academy, which was the base of operations for the Hellions and later, Generation X.
See also[]
External Links[]
- Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters at MDP
- Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters at Facebook
- Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters at Wikipedia
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ X-Men, Volume 2 #38
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men, Volume 1 #154