It's not always as noticeable, because they tend to write him out via plot device, because otherwise it'd be an easy win for the X-men (gets poisoned by Mystique via Cerebro in one film, has the other telepath in the wheelchair used against him in X2, literally disintegrating him in X3, the helmet with first Shaw and then Mags in First Class, the medicine that let him walk at the cost of his powers in DoFP, making him semi-senile in Logan etc.). The writers generally have to find a reason to bench him because, as shown as far back as the first film, he can flat-out mind control someone who doesn't have resistance/protection, at 2:20 odd here:
or freeze them in place:
Yeah, going by feats, this is no stomp for Xavier at all. He simply doesnt have great teack record.
A friend at HeroChat wrote the below concerning the same match up, it was fun reading:
I'm partially joking out of boredom but yeah, over the years, I've noticed that Charles Xavier never wins any fights and is often useless in the movies. In some cases, he's practicality a liability:X1: Can't get past Magneto's helmet (although he kinda had the opportunity when he took over Sabertooth's mind but didn't think to do so, I guess) and falls into a coma halfway through the movie after getting poisoned.
X2: Captured in his first scene (by powerless humans no less), loses a telepathic battle to Stryker's kid, then almost kills all mutants, then almost kills all humans before he's rescued.
X3: Dies in the first act and doesn't recover until after the credits.
First Class: Blocked by Shaw's helmet, overpowered by Emma Frost, blocked by Emma's diamond form, and gets paralyzed like an idiot (stay down when bullets are passing overhead, Chuck).
Future Past: The past version has no powers for most of the movie while the future version can't do anything against Sentinels, then he dies again before time is reset.
Apocalypse: Gets captured at the beginning, loses a telepathic battle to Apoc, then he's nearly used as a weapon again.
Logan: It's implied that he killed the X-Men by accident, is a liability due to his age/power, then he dies again.
Sure, some of these things are not his fault but he has a piss poor record and has never won a fight. You'd think he'd at least beat the few telepaths who have gone up against him but he loses those battles too. Losing to Apocalypse and Phoenix isn't too bad but Stryker's son and Emma Frost should not be better than him. Xavier's only offensive tactic is to hold people still and Strange can counter that by astral projection.
He and Stryker's son were in a telepathic battle for a chunk of the movie until Xavier was eventually mind-controlled. Don't you remember? The creepy kid walking around the empty mansion that wanted to "find the mutants"?As for Emma, they didn't have a battle because Charles gave up the moment he got any sort of feedback from Emma. It was pretty weaksauce.
And sure, he's too powerful for the film series but the in-universe explanation is that he's a bit of a chump.
None of those reasons are really relevant to this fight though.
- Strange doesn't have telepathy.
- Strange doesn't have a helmet which makes him immune to telepathy.
- Strange isn't going to sneak into the X-Mansion and put poison in Cerebro during the middle of the fight.
- Xavier was betrayed by Magneto in X2, which is why he got captured. Stryker specifically prepped to have him captured.
- The Sentinels were robots, which Strange isn't, so not really applicable either.
- Apocalypse had Magneto's help when capturing him and would murder Strange as well.
The only way I see Strange not getting mind-raped here is if you give him prep.
Well, you can always use the Legion version of Xavier. 😛
He's never actually appeared onscreen, but we know he beat the Shadow King, who could do all this, even when not at full power:
But then high-tier Legion characters are pretty terrifying.
Well Zod never won a fight either but based on his powers we would give him a win over a ton of people assuming he's powered.
But Xavier had a much of plot working against him. I mean to be fair his encounter with Stryker's son was when his powers were being blocked yet he still resisted for a long ass time.
Sure it can. Again Zod(never won) would dominate John Preston(always won) in a fight for example. It depends on the character's abilities and known tactics more some than their win/loss records.
Xavier has not only shown the ability to control minds but has done it multiple times at ease even mid fight. The only times he doesn't is against beings with known resistances to it or individuals that have prepared specifically to combat or avoid it. Strange doesn't fall within either category
And this is what nakes for a debate imo, because Steange isnt just waiting for Xavier to do things. He has potent offensive abilities, his sling ring, his eye, the ability to enter the mirror dimension, his astral form...
...win or lose, Xavier’s not just shutting him down.
And while Zod’s a decent example for your case he’s not perfect, as he kicked all kinds of ass throughout his one appearance w. powers he wasnt really used to, and wasnt a glass cannon.
That and as a bad guy, Zod was destined to lose regardless.