It's the end of an era. The X-Men we first met 17 years ago are officially no more, and I'm not just saying that because X-Men: Days of Future Past retconned the original X-Men trilogy. Logan, the third and final Wolverine film, puts a pretty decisive end to the franchise as we know it. Yes, there are deaths involved. By now, you're probably wondering, does Professor X die in Logan? Before I answer your question, please be advised that if you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading because there are major spoilers ahead.
Professor X's story officially comes to an end in Logan. When we meet the Professor in Logan, it's clear he doesn't have much time left. Now 90, Charles Xavier is old and suffering from dementia. He's lost control of his powers and is prone to seizures that paralyze and kill people within a block's radius. As the film's baddie, Pierce, puts it, Professor X's brain is now considered a weapon of mass destruction. And a volatile one at that. So Professor X isn't doing so great at the beginning of Logan, and he only really gets worse from then on. Professor X dies in Logan, but it's not his deteriorating health that kills him, it's a Wolverine clone. (It's pretty damn dramatic, in fact.)
I know what you're thinking: we've seen this before. This is not the first time Professor X, as played by Patrick Stewart, has died onscreen. He was essentially blown to smithereens in X-Men: The Last Stand, only to be miraculously revived in Days of Future Past. If he didn't really die then, then there's a chance he could be revived after Logan. (Especially with the conflicting timelines of the X-Men franchise.) Sadly, though, it really does seem like Professor X is dead for good this time.
Stewart recently declared that Logan would be his last turn as Professor X, telling a SiriusXM Town Hall, "I'm done." Stewart added, via Entertainment Weekly, that he hadn't made an official decision until he saw the film at the Berlin premiere. "I realized there will never be a better, a more perfect, a more sensitive, emotional, and beautiful way of saying au revoir to Charles Xavier than this movie."
Before you start mourning, don't forget that just because Stewart's Professor X is dead doesn't mean that James McAvoy's interpretation of the character is. McAvoy, who was last seen playing Charles in X-Men: Apocalypse, could still be in future films, giving life to Professor X even if Stewart can't.
