Ho Yay / X-Men Film Series

"It is a little bit of a mini-tragedy that him and Magneto don't, you know, have sex and become married and become best friends."

—James McAvoy

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X-Men: The Last Stand

• X-Men: The Last Stand:
  • A Harsher in Hindsight example. After X-Men: First Class revealed that the young Xavier taught Lehnsherr how to achieve greater control over his power by finding the point between rage and serenity—the latter requires a happy memory—Magneto's line of "Charles always wanted to build bridges" as he's moving a large section of the Golden Gate Bridge seems to indicate that he's thinking about his dear old friend instead of his mother in order to attain serenity. And like his mother, Xavier—whom he loved—is now dead, so happy memories from their brief friendship in 1962 is all Magneto has left of him.
  • Ian McKellen wanted Magneto to have homosexual relationship with Professor X in this film.
    "It would be wonderful if the camera hovered over Magneto's bed to discover him making love to Professor X."
  • Barely Political's "X-Men 5: The Broadway Play" features a parody of Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto bickering Like an Old Married Couple. ^note Interestingly, the video was uploaded nearly two months before X-Men: First Class was released, so the comedy troupe couldn't have known there would be a ton of Ho Yay between Charles and Erik. Of course, they could've been influenced by the comics. The characters later talk to a psychologist in what feels like a marital therapy session.

X-Men: First Class

Has its own page.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

• X-Men: Days of Future Past has both past Charles/Erik and future Charles/Erik moments.
  • Younger Charles becomes agitated by the mere mention of Erik. Erik is affected by Charles as well.
    Charles: YOU ABANDONED ME!!! You took her away, and YOU ABANDONED ME!!!
    • It really says something when that was the first thing he said when blinded by emotion. Xavier then brings up Raven, his sister figure... before bringing up Erik abandoning him again. It's pretty clear who's more important to him.
    • And after they've had a huge shouting match during which Erik rages so hard he almost crashes their plane, Erik looks contrite after Charles storms off to sit next to Hank in the co-pilot's seat. In their next scene, Erik attempts to persuade Charles into a quiet game of chess as a peace offering. A section of their dialogue has shades of a Double Entendre.
      Charles: It's been a while since I've played.
      Erik: I'll go easy on you.
    • The scene before the chess game deserved special mention because it perfectly captured the feeling the two men have for each other. Erik tried his damndest to convince Charles that he's good and deserved to be in his good grace. In return, when understanding Erik's role in JFK's assassination, Charles breathed a sigh of relief and immediately dropped the subject, then showed a more vulnerable side by admitting to Erik that he too doubted his idealism when faced with the information that mutants would be wiped out by humans.
  • Logan outright refers to Erik as "someone he [Charles] loved" when trying to convince Charles to go and find him. Although it's possible he was referring to Mystique, they were talking about Erik at the time, and it's left deliberately ambiguous.
    • Also note that Logan had only met Charles and Erik for about twenty seconds in 1962, came back forty years later when the two were arch-enemies, and still thought this.
    Logan: The professor I knew would never turn his back on someone who lost their path, especially someone he loved.
  • When Logan asks Hank as to why Charles is in such bad shape, Hank lists Erik before Raven and the spinal cord injury, implying that the loss of Erik upset Charles more than the other two.
    Hank: He lost everything: Erik, Raven, his legs...
  • Not to mention them (the older future versions) holding hands when they think they're both about to die.
    Magneto: All those years we wasted fighting each other, Charles... To have a precious few of them back...
  • After Charles punches Erik very hard in the face, not only does Erik not retaliate at all (it's extremely rare for him to not respond to violence with violence), but he simply wipes his mouth where he was hit as he cheerfully greets Charles without any sarcasm. After believing for 11 years that he'd never see Charles again (and 10 of those were spent in solitary confinement), Erik is so darn grateful to be in Charles' presence once more that he isn't the least bit angry by the latter's punch.
    Erik: Good to see you, too, old friend.
  • Without any context, this scene would look like Erik and Charles are engaged in a romantic Held Gaze. This io9 article mentions "Young Professor X and Magneto smoldering at each other!" as one of the highlights of the trailer.
  • When the guards try to shoot them in the Pentagon kitchen, Charles instinctively places his arm across Erik's chest as a protective gesture.
  • Charles letting Erik go after he's just tried to kill the president, even though Erik's not wearing the helmet and he could easily stop him. And then Erik reacts by telling Charles that the humans will kill him if they catch him before he flies away, instead of immediately going for the helmet so Charles can't get back inside his head.
  • Ian McKellen wishes there was a scene of Erik making love to Charles... only to reveal that "Charles" was Mystique in disguise. (So what the actor is suggesting is that Magneto only became romantically involved with Mystique because he couldn't have Xavier.)
    McKellen: I thought it would be wonderful to have a scene in which you saw Magneto waking up, probably making love to [...] Mystique, and it would begin with Magneto making love to Professor X who turns into her. Wouldn't that be fun?
• There has been a small, but noticeable increase in "Xavierine" (Xavier/Wolverine◊) shippers thanks to James McAvoy and Hugh Jackman sharing a lot of screentime together. It's a Mentor Ship that works both ways because Logan counsels the younger Charles in this movie, but Professor X is Wolverine's mentor in the original trilogy.
  • You don't even have to choose between Cherik and Xavierine; there's "Cherigan" for Charles/Erik/Logan.
• Hank and Charles have pretty much isolated themselves from the outside world and are each other's Only Friend for a decade. Situational Sexuality, anyone? James McAvoy even joked about the inherent slash-iness of the two characters in this interview.
  McAvoy: Hank is my enabler and my bitch.
  • There's a brief moment in the Gag Reel on the Blu-Ray/DVD release where Nicholas Hoult lifts James (who is much shorter than his younger co-star) into his arms and performs a Bridal Carry.

X-Men: Apocalypse

• What is it that snaps Magneto out of Apocalypse's brainwashing? The cherished memories of his close friendship with Charles.
  • Writer Simon Kinberg has said that X-Men: Apocalypse is the third chapter of a love story between Magneto and Professor X.
    "If First Class was Erik's story and Days of Future Past is Charles' story, then Apocalypse will be both of their stories. The first movie was about Erik becoming empowered. That's the origin story of a man's power. Days of Future Past is about a guy who is a mess, masterminding the end of this massive movie. So they are both at their peak powers at the start of Apocalypse, so Apocalypse for me is the culmination of that three-act love story."
  • Kinberg later adds that when Erik calls Charles by his professor title for the first time in the movie series, it's a sign of respect and love which is greater than "old friend" because in the Alternate Timeline, Xavier is less pacifistic than in the original timeline.
    Simon Kinberg: 'I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul looking for trouble.' The way that James said that line, to me, it's almost a Magneto delivery. It's a threat. And there's a response from Fassbender where he gives a little smile. And the little smile to me, that I read that smile and Michael and I talked about that smile, the smile was Magneto understanding Charles has learnt my lesson. That's a militant Charles Xavier. Erik says, 'Good luck, professor.' It's the first time he ever called Charles 'professor.' And it sort of shows respect that I found it really beautiful that Michael said it subtly loving.
  • While promoting Apocalypse at SDCC, James McAvoy summarized his charater's love-hate relationship with Erik (and Michael Fassbender agrees).
    McAvoy: It's that thing in a love story where you don't always like the person you're in love with, but you still love them. Charles and Erik always hated the way [the other] approached things. It's like, "Argh, he's always wanting to kill the humans! He's always going about the same old shit," and yet I just love the guy. I can't kill him, I don't want to mind-control him, I love him.
    Fassbender: That's right.
    • Shortly afterwards, McAvoy thinks it's great that same-sex marriage is legal in America because Charles and Erik can get hitched. Fassbender then suggests that their characters can tie the knot in Ireland (which also legalized same-sex marriage in the same year).
  • Both actors add fuel to the fire with this exchange from the Gag Reel.
    Erik: I love your body.
    Charles: I love my body, too. Every Tuesday night. And I think of you.
  • Although Bryan Singer later clarifies in this interview^note the video appears to be inaccessible for Google Chrome users, though that Charles and Erik are friends, he nevertheless entertains the idea that they're almost married.
    Interviewer: How do you describe this relationship between Charles and Erik? It's like, "We fight, and we break up. We fight alongside each other, and then we make up."
    Singer: It's called a marriage. That's the best way I can describe it! (laughs)
  • Tumblr has observed that Carolina Bartczak, the actress who plays Madga, Erik's wife, looks like a female version of James McAvoy. While it's probably just a coincidence in terms of casting, you'd think that if the producers had wanted to discourage the Cherik shippers, they would've picked an actress who bore no resemblance to McAvoy whatsoever. Bartczak even directly compares Magda with Xavier, and if you take into account the Homoerotic Subtext of X-Men: First Class,^note Charles and Erik are foster dads who "adopt" mutant teenagers, but they end up being "divorced" plus the scenes of Xavier learning everything about Lehnsherr on the first night they meet and later being able to detect serenity and goodness within him, they add further credence that her character is essentially a Gender Flip of Charles. Erik is therefore in love with a woman who (subconsciously, at least) reminds him of Charles.
    Carolina Bartczak: She meets Erik after he has become this globally wanted criminal, and even on their first night, he tells her who he is. She sees something beautiful in him, something peaceful, something like Charles also sees in him, that he can be a good man and live a normal life. They actually fall in love and start a family.
  • One critic on Rotten Tomatoes◊ titled her review as Professor X and Magneto Should Finally Admit Their Toxic Relationship Is Really Lust and Get on With It. She also wrote:
    Moira has the least to do. Why is she here? Moira doesn't have a costume and is just around to prove Professor X is not gay even if everyone else knows he is in love with Magneto.
• James McAvoy (who has now firmly cemented his reputation as the ultimate slash whore of the First Class trilogy) told F*** magazine that Professor X and Beast are practically married because they're so domestic.
  "We're like an odd couple rattling around in this mansion, supporting each other. I'd quite like to see a film like The Odd Couple just about Hank and Charles, to be honest with you, bitching about who makes the sandwiches for the kids and who washes all the dirty underwear. There's an implication that we've come to rely on each a great deal in the last decade."
• There's "Charpocalypse" for Charles/Apocalypse, although it should be noted that the shippers are more likely to use the Mr. Fanservice Oscar Isaac-looking version of En Sabah Nur for their fanfics than his creepy blue form.
  • It hasn't escaped the notice of Oscar Isaac and James McAvoy that there is slash-y vibe between their characters because on the Gag Reel, Isaac turns Apocalypse's scream of pain when Professor X bombards him with the "voices" of other minds into an orgasmic "IT FEELS GOOOOD!!" McAvoy then cheekily wags his eyebrows at the camera.
  • On the Blu-Ray's "Unlimited Powers: VFX, Stunts and Set Pieces" documentary, McAvoy jokes that Apocalypse lusts after Xavier.
    McAvoy: So he really desperately wants to get in my body. Also because, I mean... (gestures towards himself in a "Look how beautiful I am" manner) Do you know what I mean? (winks)
• Angel/Devil Shipping in form of "Nightangel," or Nightcrawler/Angel.
• "Nightsilver" for Nightcrawler/Quicksilver.
• In the Gag Reel, Nicholas Hoult grabs Evan Peters into his arms and pretends to kiss him on the mouth—the Beast/Quicksilver pairing has been validated by the two actors.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

• X-Men: Dark Phoenix:
  • The final scene of the Alternate Timeline franchise is Erik finding Charles in Paris, setting up a game of chess, and asking the latter to move in with him.
    "A long time ago, you saved my life. Then you offered me a home. I'd like to do the same for you."

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