Professor X & Lilandra's Relationship, Explained

Long-distance relationships are never easy, but they are especially complicated when the people involved live light-years apart. Despite their best efforts, Professor X and Lilandra Neramani learned that the hard way. 

The founder of the X-Men and the leader of the Shi'ar Empire once saved each other and formed a bond that turned into a romance with cosmic consequences. Even after Charles Xavier and Lilandra were pulled apart by their respective duties, they kept falling into each other's orbit, like two planets in an orbital dance. Their love was so great that, even after death, it continues to echo throughout the Marvel cosmos.

Now, let's take a closer look at the relationship between Professor X and Lilandra and how these two star-crossed lovers changed the course of intergalactic politics. We'll also break down the way their relationship shaped iconic epics like "The Phoenix Saga" and how its legacy lives on today.

HOW PROFESSOR X MET LILANDRA

Long before Professor X and Lilandra physically met, they knew each other intimately well. In the early days of the X-Men, Professor X realized a group of ravaging alien pirates called the Z'nox were getting ready to attack Earth. After faking his death and going into hiding to prepare for the attack, Xavier and the young X-Men channeled their powers together and repelled the invasion force, a process that involved Xavier telepathically linking every mind on Earth, in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #65 by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams.

Around that time, Lilandra's brother D'Ken became Emperor of the Shi'ar Empire. In his quest for power, the crazed D'Ken turned against Lilandra and branded her as a traitor. When Xavier unleashed his massive psychic attack, Lilandra felt it, and her mind briefly merged with Xavier's, as seen in CLASSIC X-MEN (1986) #14 by Chris Claremont and John Bolton. 

As Xavier and Lilandra worked through their confusion, the two leaders recognized each other as soulmates. Desperate to stop D'Ken from wielding the universe-destroying power of the M'Kraan Crystal, Lilandra traveled to Earth and asked Xavier and the X-Men for help.

THE PHOENIX SAGA

Lilandra and Professor X finally met each other face-to-face during one of the X-Men's most iconic tales: "The Phoenix Saga." As Lilandra approached Earth, she reached out to Xavier through a series of unsettling dreams starting in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #97 by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum. Around the same time, Jean Grey bonded with the Phoenix, a powerful cosmic entity that posed as her and took her place in the X-Men. 

While Xavier visited Jean's parents, Lilandra crashed to Earth, and the pair finally met in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #105 by Claremont and Cockrum. However, one of D'Ken's agents, Erik the Red, tracked Lilandra down through her psychic link to Xavier, captured her, and took her to D'Ken. 

When D'Ken tried to kill Lilandra and take control over the M'Kraan Crystal, the X-Men and the Starjammers—a small team of cosmic pirates—saved Lilandra and stopped the mad cosmic tyrant. Following that crisis, Lilandra spent some time on Earth with Xavier as preparations were made for her to take over the Shi'ar Empire. When the X-Men seemingly died in a battle with Magneto, Xavier joined her as her consort in space to study the Phoenix in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #117 by Claremont and John Byrne.

LILANDRA AND XAVIER AFTER THE PHOENIX SAGA

After its relatively peaceful beginnings, Lilandra and Professor X's relationship soon faced several significant challenges outside of their control. For instance, the Phoenix embraced its darkest impulses and destroyed D'Bari, a Shi'ar system with billions of residents, in "The Dark Phoenix Saga." 

To avenge them and stop the Phoenix's rampage, Lilandra reluctantly ordered the Phoenix to be put to death in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #136 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Although Xavier tried to save the Phoenix by challenging the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, the Phoenix ultimately sacrificed herself to end the conflict. 

Lilandra briefly lost the Shi'ar throne thanks to a plot by her sister, Deathbird, and the Brood, a race of parasitic aliens that implant embryos in their victims. Although Lilandra retook the throne, she and Xavier were both implanted with Brood embryos. While Lilandra was able to get rid of the Brood inside of her, Xavier could not, and he transformed into a monstrous Brood Queen in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #167 by Claremont and Paul Smith. 

Lilandra was able to save Xavier by cloning him and transferring his mind into the clone body, but Deathbird took that opportunity to reclaim the Shi'ar throne. After spending time on Earth helping Xavier recover, she returned to space with the Starjammers to fight her sister's regime in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #177 by Claremont and John Romita Jr.

PROFESSOR X AND LILANDRA IN SPACE

When Professor X's new body started deteriorating, he and Lilandra reunited for an extended stay in space with the Starjammers. After having a heart attack, Xavier asked Magneto to take over the Xavier School and joined Lilandra in space for treatment in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #200 by Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr. 

Xavier joined Lilandra in the Starjammers as she tried to take the Shi'ar Empire back from her sister. During one battle with Deathbird, Xavier was injured but briefly merged with a sliver of the Phoenix, which became a turning point in Lilandra's rebellion in X-MEN: SPOTLIGHT ON STARJAMMERS (1990) #2 by Terry Kavanagh and Dave Cockrum. 

After several cosmic adventures, Xavier, Lilandra, and their allies fell into the grasp of several Warskrulls, shapeshifting aliens who could copy their appearance and abilities, in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #275 by Claremont and Jim Lee. By mimicking Xavier's powers, the Warskrulls made Deathbird step down and installed Lilandra as the new Shi'ar leader. 

After an extended period apart, the X-Men came together to free their allies and defeat the Warskrulls. While Deathbird allowed Lilandra to keep the Shi'ar throne, Xavier returned to Earth with the X-Men, much to Lilandra's disappointment.

PROFESSOR X AND LILANDRA BREAK UP

As Professor X and Lilandra each faced crises that tested their morals, their relationship deteriorated considerably. While trying to unite the Shi'ar and Kree Empires after a brutal intergalactic war, Lilandra met a resistance leader named Malakii, who helped her stop a larger resistance plot with the X-Men. When Lilandra arrested Malakii under Shi'ar law despite his help, Xavier effectively broke up with her in X-MEN UNLIMITED (1993) #5 by John Francis Moore and Liam Sharp.

During a brief attempt to get back together, Lilandra was targeted by Cassandra Nova, an evil Mummudrai psychic entity who posed as Xavier in NEW X-MEN (2001) #122 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. Under Nova's influence, Lilandra attacked several Shi'ar planets and sent the Imperial Guard to kill the X-Men and every other mutant on Earth. 

However, the X-Men were able to free Lilandra and defeat Nova before they carried out that mission. With her mind in shambles, Lilandra attempted to assassinate Professor X personally, still under the belief he was Nova in disguise. Although several mutants stopped her, the Shi'ar Empire annulled her marriage to Xavier and erased all memory of it.

LILANDRA AND XAVIER'S LEGACY

Although their relationship ended, Professor X and Lilandra's love lives on in the form of Xandra, their genetically engineered daughter. While Lilandra recovered from Nova's attack, D'Ken and Deathbird teamed up with Vulcan—the crazed Omega-level brother of Cyclops and Havok—to take over the Shi'ar Empire. Despite the support of the X-Men, the Starjammers, and her loyalists, Lilandra was assassinated by one of Emperor Vulcan's allies in WAR OF KINGS (2009) #4 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Paul Pelletier.

After Vulcan was deposed and Gladiator—the Imperial Guard's leader—took control of the empire, genetic samples from Lilandra and Xavier were used to create an egg, which was placed in the care of the Shi'ar X-Men ally Cerise. While on their intergalactic honeymoon, Gambit and Rogue were tasked with retrieving that egg, which hatched to reveal an adolescent Xandra in MR. AND MRS. X (2018) #3 by Kelly Thompson and Jan Bazaldua. 

With her inherited telepathic powers, Xandra read the minds of the X-Men, learned about her parents, and took the name Xandra. Although Xandra prepared to rule in hiding, Gladiator named her as the new Majestrix of the Shi'ar Empire in NEW MUTANTS (2019) #2 by Jonathan Hickman and Rod Reis. With Deathbird and Gladiator as her advisors, Xandra has led the Shi'ar Empire through multiple crises and carried on her parents' legacy by acting as the galaxy's closest ally to Earth's mutants.

Want to read more about Professor X and Lilandra? Join Marvel Unlimited for instant access to 30,000+ comics on the Marvel Unlimited app or on the web, with digital issues spanning Marvel Comics classics to ongoing series!