Marvel lists him as one. Or at least they list telepathy as a form of his power.

Why didn't I think of looking for lists of Marvel's telepaths on Wikipedia? We could have avoided this whole thread.

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This was the world that I had created. I know what I have to do to fix it...to make things right. There's no problem that can't be solved.

Because discussions are fun. Unless that's sarcasm, which doesn't carry well on the internet, in which case: because discussions are still fun.

Further adding to the confusion, in X-Men: First Class v1 #8 Jean actually SAYS she's NOT a telepath.
Is this some kind of retcon, a mistake or did she originally not have telepathic abilities?
I always thought she had telepathic powers that far surpassed Emma and could rival Xavier's.

Why do they fail so hard at making this clear/keeping this straight?

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Do not bore me with such trite cliches. For I have you in my clutches, and should I choose, I could snuff out your insignificant lives in an instant.

Jean Grey was born with both telepathy and telekinesis, but Jean was unable to control her telepathic powers. So Prof. X suppressed them until they were needed in the fight with Z'Nox. Originally her character was only telekinetic, but a writer changed it so she was also telepathic (explained at the time as her 'sharing' the Professor's powers). After a retcon, the previous story was used for her history. So in First Class she would not know that she possessed telepathic powers, because of the Prof.

Yeah I saw that in Wikipedia too.

It wasn't clear though if her having suppressed telepathy was the idea from the beginning or a retcon. I'm leaning towards retcon. But then is the story that ProfX founder suffering I'll effects of here telepathy and supressed it AND her memory of having it?

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Do not bore me with such trite cliches. For I have you in my clutches, and should I choose, I could snuff out your insignificant lives in an instant.

It was a retcon. Her 'sharing' the Prof's telepathy didn't leave much room for her to retain the power.
I would imagine that he would have blocked the memory of her having it too, otherwise she wouldn't have been surprised when she first demonstrated her telepathic abilities.

Where are the villains...Mesmero and Purple Man?

According to Wikipedia Mesmero can only hypnotize people..not true telepathy. Also, Purple Man is listed as mind control, which is also not telepathy.

Cassandra Nova is a villain, so is Mister Sinister, Shadow King, and Exodus. Quentin Quire isn't a villain but he is definitely a nuisance and troublemaker, and Emma Frost was a former villain.