Did Jean-Luc Picard pick up a Charles Xavier trick for his Star Trek: Picard resurrection? The legendary Patrick Stewart has been fortunate enough to play a host of iconic characters during his illustrious career, but none more so than Star Trek's Picard, and X-Men's Professor X. Although the ex-Starfleet hero and the psychic leader of the X-Men are quite different personalities, both take charge of their respective groups, follow a strict moral code, and experience great personal sacrifice in the course of protecting others. Perhaps the biggest parallel between the two, however, is each man's respective refusal to die.
When Star Trek: Picard begins, the Admiral-turned-winemaker is living with the knowledge of a parietal lobe defect, first revealed in the finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Throughout Star Trek: Picard season 1, the fatal condition plagues Jean-Luc, but he clings on long enough to save the galaxy from an invading race of irritated sentient robots. Though Picard bows out in honorable fashion, the world isn't quite done with him yet. Altan Inigo Soong, the son of Data's creator, successfully transfers Picard's consciousness into an artificial golem, allowing him to live on as a synth, fighting the good fight.
Jean-Luc Picard's revival might've been more surprising had Patrick Stewart not already done something very similar with Charles Xavier in X-Men: The Last Stand. As Jean Grey succumbs fully to the Phoenix Force, Xavier, who promised to protect his psychic protégé, confronts the Dark Phoenix and is atomically disintegrated as thanks. Just like Picard, Professor X goes down heroically. Also like Picard, the Grim Reaper is swerved thanks to some timely intervention. X-Men: The Last Stand's post-credits scene reveals Xavier waking up in the body of a coma patient, and although future movies neglect to explain his survival properly, the vessel is confirmed to be P. Xavier, Charles' twin brother, born without consciousness of his own. Charles ability to "transfer" is hinted at earlier in the film and, as with Picard, the switch allows Xavier to live on - the same mind in a different shell.
The clear similarity between Jean-Luc and Professor X's respective resurrections is even more interesting due to the heavy Logan influence woven throughout Star Trek: Picard. Patrick Stewart has admitted that Logan was an inspiration when plotting out Picard's return to Star Trek, and the shared ideas are plain as day. Dahj/Soji plays the X-23 role, and Jean-Luc takes Wolverine's place as a dying man embarking on one last stand to safeguard a next generation that has fallen victim to discrimination. Already borrowing liberally from Logan, it's perhaps not surprising that Star Trek: Picard might take a cue from X-Men: The Last Stand in how to kill Picard without actually killing him.
The resurrections of Picard and Xavier both attracted a divisive response - as one would expect with a major character fake-out death. But comparing the two, Star Trek: Picard's holds up better, despite coming many years later. Professor X's survival always felt like a cop-out. The process was never properly set up or explained, and merely offered a convenient excuse to prolong Patrick Stewart's presence in the franchise. Love it or hate it, Star Trek: Picard spent plenty of time establishing the synthetic race, while Jean-Luc's connection to Data created a thematic reason for him to be brought back by Soong.