What if Mutants Weren't Feared and Hated?

[yogaflame]

That's what was interesting about the Watchmen(comic). Ozymandias had already revolutionized the energy system, and you started to see the ripple effect in culture(the old Nite Owl going out of business as an old school car mechanic since everyone had flying energy cars). And then in the end of the story he transcended Cold War international tensions with his "extradimensional" threat uniting the world powers.

Comics/sci-fi should be pushing the boundaries of what is possible, not just spinning wheels in the same old same old. All of the Marvel heroes share this problem to a certain extent(especially the Reed Richards and Tony Starks), but with mutants, there are just so many of them. It was interesting to see Morrison and others of his era explore the notion of humanity actually being supplanted by mutants within a single generation, with millions of mutants showing up. The relative few dozen (non-mutant)meta-humans pale in comparison at that level. I would have loved to see more stories in that vein(the X-Corperation, Mutants Sans Frontiers and the UN-sanctioned XSE were really interesting concepts), but No More Mutants put a stop to that before it really got going(to preserve the non-mutant status quo!).

Think about all the various mutants who harness energy, especially the large-scale elementals. If you get your Forges and Alchemys to team up and design/produce the right equipment to harness and distribute their mutant powers, there goes the petroleum/coal/natural gas/nuclear industries, free energy for the masses. Get your Storms to actively calibrate the weather systems, reversing climate change, your Flourishes to grow back the forests, clean up the pollution. Bam, instant Category 1 civilization status. Your healers, both the Elixirs/Triages and your Wolverines/etc, give you medical breakthroughs. Then you get your psis to link up everyone's minds and transcend even the revolution radio, tv, and internet created by actually sharing the cumulative knowledge of humanity, transcending linguistic boundaries. There goes all the antiquated misunderstandings and maladaptations.

There's so much you can do with the concept of mutant evolution of mankind, but we have pretty much been in the same narrative space for the entire run: a perpetual eve of the war between humans and mutants, with skirmishes here and there threatening to overboil.

[Blackphoenix]

This question was answered in Peter Milligan and Mike Allred's X-Force/X-Statix run




They were celebrities, and they never had to deal with the usual mutant angst that's usually present in all the other X-Books. I really wish Marvel would relaunch it.

[Outside_85]

I know this is considered controversial, but bear with me, please.

What if the entire mutant population didn't have to suffer constant persecution on a daily basis?
What if mutants were accepted by human society rather than faced with fear and hatred?
What if mutants didn't have to worry about humans building weapons, giant killer robots, cures, or viruses to exterminate their kind?
How would everything in the Marvel Universe be different?
Would there be a need for the X-Men?
Would Magneto need to form the Brotherhood?

Let me hear your thoughts.

Think House of M gives a pretty good example of what it would be like.

[SpiderClops]

If you want the answer to a world that accepts people with powers and how that would affect superheroism, read My Hero Academia.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Me too!

101010

[Agent Z]

That's what was interesting about the Watchmen(comic). Ozymandias had already revolutionized the energy system, and you started to see the ripple effect in culture(the old Nite Owl going out of business as an old school car mechanic since everyone had flying energy cars). And then in the end of the story he transcended Cold War international tensions with his "extradimensional" threat uniting the world powers.

Comics/sci-fi should be pushing the boundaries of what is possible, not just spinning wheels in the same old same old. All of the Marvel heroes share this problem to a certain extent(especially the Reed Richards and Tony Starks), but with mutants, there are just so many of them. It was interesting to see Morrison and others of his era explore the notion of humanity actually being supplanted by mutants within a single generation, with millions of mutants showing up. The relative few dozen (non-mutant)meta-humans pale in comparison at that level. I would have loved to see more stories in that vein(the X-Corperation, Mutants Sans Frontiers and the UN-sanctioned XSE were really interesting concepts), but No More Mutants put a stop to that before it really got going(to preserve the non-mutant status quo!).

Think about all the various mutants who harness energy, especially the large-scale elementals. If you get your Forges and Alchemys to team up and design/produce the right equipment to harness and distribute their mutant powers, there goes the petroleum/coal/natural gas/nuclear industries, free energy for the masses. Get your Storms to actively calibrate the weather systems, reversing climate change, your Flourishes to grow back the forests, clean up the pollution. Bam, instant Category 1 civilization status. Your healers, both the Elixirs/Triages and your Wolverines/etc, give you medical breakthroughs. Then you get your psis to link up everyone's minds and transcend even the revolution radio, tv, and internet created by actually sharing the cumulative knowledge of humanity, transcending linguistic boundaries. There goes all the antiquated misunderstandings and maladaptations.

There's so much you can do with the concept of mutant evolution of mankind, but we have pretty much been in the same narrative space for the entire run: a perpetual eve of the war between humans and mutants, with skirmishes here and there threatening to overboil.

Actually, before the finale, the world superpowers had decided the current tensions were not worth mutual destruction and were sitting down to negotiate. Ozy missed this because he was too busy with his plan. He underestimated humanity's sanity.

That's one thing Watchmen has over most superhero stories; its humanism. We don't need brightly coloured strongmen for progress, humanity advanced without them. Luke Cage in Al Ewing's Mighty Avengers pointed out that while he can't cure cancer, he can save the guy who can.

[Master of Sound]

If they were not hated and feared, they would be like any other hero team of Marvel, DC, Image and so on.

Boring.....