This article contains SPOILERS for Wolverine: Patch #5The Wolverine has shown that he is Charles Xavier's true successor.
Wolverine is well known for having a lonely and animalistic past. He wandered the Canadian wilderness for years, living among the wolves in the wild. He also spent a lot of time as a soldier, worrying only about himself and doing whatever he could to survive. It wasn't until he came under the tutelage of Professor X that he learned about teamwork, integrity, and caring for others. Still, even though he is a stalwart member of the X-Men, Wolverine is a loner who goes off on his own missions from time to time. An example of this is when he adopted the moniker Patch to be in disguise in Madripoor, but he always ed the lessons Charles Xavier taught him.
In Wolverine: Patch #5 by Larry Hama and Andrea Di Vito, an adventure in Wolverine's life during his time as Patch comes to a close. He somehow gets stuck in the middle of a battle between several different armed forces as they tried to kidnap mutants hiding in the jungle. When these mutants ask Wolverine why he is helping them, he reiterates the lessons he learned under Professor Xavier. "I was like you once. Lost, cut off, desperate...And then ol' Charlie Xavier took me in. When I asked him why, he answered, 'It's the right thing to do.'" In a similar vein, Logan feels compelled to help these mutants for the sake of doing the right thing.
It's hard to quantify the number of students Professor X has had since he opened his school, but he has certainly helped a lot of mutants. Fans may argue that Cyclops, Professor X's most prominent student and leader of the X-Men, would be Charles Xavier's natural successor. Scott even took over his school and was heaster alongside Emma Frost for a time. But this line about Wolverine learning from Professor X about doing what’s right reveals a lot about Logan and shows why he should be Professor X's true successor.
It's not just about who leads the X-Men. Being a successor means who has learned the most and is in the best position to on those lessons. Logan has had a long and traumatic life. He had been abused and tortured for decades before coming under Professor X's care. The fact that Charles Xavier was able to instill in Logan a sense of integrity and morality shows just how far Wolverine has come from the feral, animalistic beast he was for so many years. That growth alone makes Wolverine Professor X's best student and true successor of the X-Men founder's legacy.
Wolverine: Patch #5 is now available from Marvel Comics
