Oriphiel

Yup. Talkin' 'bout those damn dirty muties.

For those who don't read comics (or watch mediocre movies), Mutants are humans in the X-Men universe who are born with a certain "mutant gene" that gifts them with random innate abilities. Certain Mutant supremacists have dubbed themselves "Homo Superior", and consider themselves to be the next step of humanity's evolutionary path. Other Mutants just consider themselves to be no better than anyone else, or possibly even worse off if their powers are detrimental rather than beneficial. And the vanilla humans are naturally split into camps of varying tolerance, where some accept them wholeheartedly, others believe they should be heavily monitored, and others still won't be happy until the "mutant threat" has been wiped out entirely.

So, if you were living in a world like this, where do you think you would stand on the topic of Mutants? On the one hand, they're people, and as much entitled to a life as anyone else. On the other hand, their various powers often make them dangerous at best, and hilariously lethal at worst. The very existence of certain Mutants poses a global threat. There's also the issue of Mutant supremacists (mainly The Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Magneto) stirring things up with acts of terrorism, and even attempts at a genocide of all of regular humanity. In fact, though I'm too lazy to google it, iirc in the original Civil War event it was a Mutant losing control of their powers and killing a bunch of people that sparked the Superhero Registration Act.

Is it reasonable for Mutants to register themselves and their powers? Should Mutants be contained, or even neutralized? Is it reasonable for Mutants to assert dominance over regular humanity (i.e. are they actually superior, the next evolutionary step, etc.?)?

Basically, it all boils down to two major camps:

Charles Xavier and his X-Men, who believe that every human, whether Mutant or not, has a right to live, and that in spite of all the bullshit in the world Mutants and regular humans have proven time and again that they can coexist, even if they have to make tough compromises, suffer through humiliation, and jump through whatever legal hoops politicians throw at them in order to make slow progress.

Magneto, leader of The Brotherhood, who believes that humanity has violently proven time and again that coexistence is inherently impossible, and therefore Mutants are fully justified in destroying vanilla humanity before it destroys them.

Which side would you support?

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The Batlord

If I'm a human then mutants are clearly a threat to be neutralized. Many is the time (e.g. Proteus, Phoenix, Magneto, etc) that an omega level mutant has proven that they could very well cause destruction on a level that's at least as horrific as an atomic bomb, except the atomic bomb is in the hands of an often teenage or early 20s person with the massive existential crisis of suddenly being a "freak" to make them too unstable to reasonably contain. What could you possibly do but kill them all? X-Men makes us question this solution simply because it is a comic book and deals in elevated comic book morals no matter how much it tries to be realistic, but truthfully they are a time bomb, and there's no telling if a mutant might come into existence whose power is simply to blow up the Earth. Kill them.

Of course if I'm a mutant I'm not about to sit down and be murdered by Sentinels, and humanity's penchant for genocide against people with far far far far far less differences and supposed threat levels than even mid-level mutants makes it clear that they simply can not be trusted to accept mutants out of the kindness of their hearts. They will kill you. No words or deeds you can muster will stop the genocide so you might as well side with Magneto because Professor X is delusional in the extreme.

Although there's also the issue that "normal" mutants would still be subject to omega level mutants they'd be unable to contain (especially since this wouldn't be a comic book and there'd be very little assurance that the X-Men could win against every single threat that could potentially wipe out all human or mutant life) so even mutants would be unable to escape the necessity to murder certain members of their kind, potentially to the point that they'd be forced to look for a cure simply to avoid extinction.

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Oriphiel

@Batlord

But since the mutant gene isn't 100% hereditary, would it even be possible one way or the other to completely wipe out either side? Kill every Mutant or human, and more will pop up. So I think a compromise where Mutants are tested at birth and monitored would make the most sense, which is something Xavier would be way more receptive to than Magneto. Mutants with low-mid level powers are basically people with guns. Have them register, mentally assessed, and so on. Mutants with strong powers are basically people with nukes. Even if society were %100 Magneto worshipping muties, free from humanity and registration, just one of these Mutants could destroy all of civilation by mistake. Therefore, a coexistance via registration is safer for both sides anyway.

Low level Mutants could still pretty much roam free. After all, this is a world where Spiderman swings around New York, and %90 of the time only JJJ gives a shit about monitoring him. Nobody cares about the Cyphers and Matter Eater Lads. But it would be nice if the Jean Greys and Emma Frosts of the world were under wraps. Which, incidentally, would result in Xavier himself being subject to imprisonment, but hey.

Then again, maybe the Mutants could just make like the Inhumans and fuck off to the moon.

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The Batlord

Even if you could identify every single mutant from birth you still couldn't know what their powers would be until they manifested. How do you monitor a world killer mutant? From second 1 that they manifested they'd be a threat to an extent that it could potentially be physically impossible to step in and imprison or reason with them. The only workable solution would be to exterminate the entire population and come up with a cure that would hopefully eradicate the gene from existence. Put something in the water or the air or something. Hell, committing genocide even against every normal human with the gene would be preferable to letting them live out of the kindness of humanity's heart. But coexistence is a complete nonstarter no matter how touchy feely liberal you were.

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Trollheart

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Trollheart

I think the bigger question is, why the **** is Ori using percentage marks IN FRONT OF THE NUMBERS instead of behind? %100? Really? You a mutant, boy?

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Oriphiel

Maybe babies that test positive for the Mutant gene could be sent to and raised in some society seperated from our planet. When their powers manifest, then they can be further assessed, and maybe allowed to travel. The mentally sound and non-apocalyptic could offer a lot to humanity if given freedom. Till then, they can play video games on the moon with Black Bolt and Medusa. Hell, let the Kree babysit them. They love that shit, and they've got the tech to control them.

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DwnWthVwls

Not a clue. Curious though, are the questions posed in the OP a big part of the comics? Never considered the potential for politics in a super hero comic, but I'd probably really enjoy it, if taken seriously.

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I don't got a god complex, you got a simple god...

Oriphiel

%40 of X-Men is young adult/teenage angst. %40 is anti/pro Mutant politics. %10 is world saving. And the last %10 is awkward sex.

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The Batlord

I absolutely beyond all sense recommend Grant Morrison's New X-Men run. In the early 2000s it for the first time posited a world where the mutant population had achieved a level of millions that had developed their own enclaves in society much like Chinatown. They had their own subculture, their own music, and even subversive elements in human society much like a punk movement (Morrison was in a punk band in the 70's so that makes total sense.) The question was moved from "Mutant survival" to "Mutant rights". (One character's "Magneto Was Right" t-shirt is constantly on my buy list but I've never pulled the trigger.)



Not to mention that Jean Grey's Phoenix storyline and Magneto's very place in the mutant community were completely flipped on their head to illustrate the change in direction to an extent that probably confused a lot of kids who didn't know what to do with an X-Men series that wasn't a pure genre series. Hell, Cyclops being a perennially self-absorbed dick with an inferiority complex was brought to a head that changed a part of continuity in a way that is still relevant almost twenty years later, and for the better afaic cause Emma Frost > Jean Grey. So even the melodrama was on another level from ALL years past.

After he left the series Marvel decided that they didn't like all of this progression and just wanted to write the same X-Men stories they'd been writing since the 60s so they reversed basically everything Morrison had done and killed the vast majority of mutants to bring the question back to "Mutant survival" in a cringey event much like the event that ruined Spider-Man around the same time (Joe Quesada is a ****ing whore). X-Men has never since been interesting because there's basically an editorially mandated glass ceiling of how far X-Men can advance its own story. Joss Whedon wrote a great run directly after that was almost entirely regressive but still high quality, but since then there's been okay or even good stories but never anything of true worth as far as I know.

Morrison's run is just over 40 issues so it had quite a bit of time to develop and there's a nice, heavy omnibus that might as well be made of concrete for you to sink your teeth into. If you want to read the absolute most mature and well-realized X-Men series ever made then this is an absolute must. It's god damn brilliant and the best looking dictionary-sized thing on my shelf. Literally the only thing I'd criticize is that the art isn't exactly my favorite thing. Oh yeah and there was a retcon at the end that was fine but still kinda bull****.

https://www.amazon.com/New-X-Men-Omn.../dp/1302901966

http://readcomiconline.to/Comic/New-...e-114?id=32326

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