The New Mutants reunion: Charles has to choose again

The New Mutants reunion: Charles has to choose again New Mutants #50–51 brings Xavier’s two lives into the same place. His students reach him in space, and suddenly the school is no longer something he is worrying about at a distance. The children are there. They have lived through things he missed, and he has to deal with the people they have become in his absence. The reunion also exposes an old problem in the way Charles handles people. In #51, his effort to get answers from Illyana crosses a line, and Dani challenges him over the hurt it causes. It is a reminder that concern and authority can still lead him to make a bad decision. Being glad to see their teacher does not require the students to accept everything he does. Then the danger to the Starjammers becomes immediate. Charles detects the attackers’ thoughts and warns the ship. His telepathy is something this crew needs right then, just as the school needs him on Earth. He ultimately sends the New Mutants home while remaining with the Starjammers. The choice is tied to the danger the crew faces if he leaves. There is no clean solution in which he can be fully present for both groups at once. That is where this update leaves him. Carol has found a place for herself with the crew. Charles has survived because of them and become important to their survival in return. Lilandra and the original Starjammers still have their own struggle to get through. The ship now carries a much larger part of the X-Men’s personal world. When someone on Earth asks where Xavier is, the answer includes people, obligations and a conflict that keeps moving whether the X-Men are there to see it or not.