Why is it that mutants are so hated yet the Fantastic Four get parades?

[Crimz]

Reed was worried that the public would fear the team after the accident, so he made them celebrities to try and stop that fear (as well as to try and atone for what he did to them). They could easily have been feared and hated if wasn't for that.





This is my favorite Reed moment, it really humanizes him.

[Grey]

Doesn't make sense to be fine with one but not the other.

This is exactly right.

Which, again, parallels with the real world.

Humans in real life often don't have rational or consistent beliefs, so it's pretty believable that humans in the 616 universe would act the same way. Therefore to me the contradictory beliefs in 616 make sense in that people in real life are the same way.

[remydat]

Real life examples aren't comparable to this fictional one if both persons are of a similar racial/ethnic background but received their abilities from different circumstances.
Marvel Comics is saying a blonde haired blue eyed Sue Storm is A okay by the public because she received her powers from a space accident, but a blonde haired blue eyed white woman who received the power of invisibility from genetics is hated.
Doesn't make sense.

Because one represents a challenge to the species while the other doesn't. Gaining powers by accident in the MCU has never been something that brought those people together.

Gaining powers via genetics in the MCU resulted in those genetic freaks to view themselves as a community of sorts. And once you have a minority community with power then some in the majority will hate them.

The Purifiers for example view the genetic defect that gives rise to mutants as the result of them being some demon race or spawn of the devil. Their mutant gene being the mark of the Devil. You really can't view someone that gained powers accidentally in this way because well it was an accident.

[Anthony Shaw]

Reed was worried that the public would fear the team after the accident, so he made them celebrities to try and stop that fear (as well as to try and atone for what he did to them). They could easily have been feared and hated if wasn't for that.





This is my favorite Reed moment, it really humanizes him.

Thanks for the scan.

This might be disputed, but perhaps Reed Richards is a better PR person than Charles Xavier.

During Waid's run, Reed told baby Valeria that he made it a point not for the FF to be outcasts. He wanted the team to be bright & shiny. He did everything out in the open.

On the other hand, Charles proved to be neither charismatic, nor photogenic, when he had the televised debate with Bolivar Trask during the first Sentinel story.

Just imagine if Xavier was a better orator, and won the debate before Trask rained on his own parade with the out of control Sentinels.

[ClanAskani]

No one would be afraid of Sue Storm but a mutant with the power of invisibility would be hated and feared?
So all the X-Men have to do is make a reality show that introduces them to the public like the FF4.

The X-Men aren't all mutants. The X-Men can show that not all mutants are evil, but people still fear the unknown and there are evil mutants doing harm. Some mutant out there will use their powers for less than heroic reasons.

There does tend to be some root of fear for why people discriminate. In the real world, there's a small number of terrorists who practice Islam and thus some people overreact that all Muslims must be terrorists.

The FF or the Avengers are handful people who are identified as superheroes. Mutants could be anyone walking around on the street who could have any power and could be very very dangerous.

I can see how there would be calls for mutants to be identified, registered and monitored in case they are doing anything "illegal". Or laws put in place to regulate what mutants and or can't do. But with the FF, the average Fox News viewer likely wouldn't see them as needing regulation.

[Crimz]

I wonder if things would change for the FF if Franklin is ever exposed as a mutant to the public.

[Anthony Shaw]

I found a site detailing the televised debate between Xavier & Bolivar Trask from the very first Sentinel story.







Below is a link to the scans above regarding the debate that could have swung the perception of mutants in a different direction.

https://peerlesspower.blogspot.com/2...sentinels.html

[Anthony Shaw]

I wonder if things would change for the FF if Franklin is ever exposed as a mutant to the public.

It may not be that far different than when Warren and Hank publicly revealed themselves. I imagine it helps that Warren is rich, and Hank is an Avenger.

A few haters exist, but money & status can transcend race & genetics.

[Crimz]

It may not be that far different than when Warren and Hank publicly revealed themselves. I imagine it helps that Warren is rich, and Hank is an Avenger.

A few haters exist, but money & status can transcend race & genetics.

That's true. They'd better still keep the whole "God-like power" part a secret though, even if he's exposed as a mutant.

[Jirrenm]

Reed was worried that the public would fear the team after the accident, so he made them celebrities to try and stop that fear (as well as to try and atone for what he did to them). They could easily have been feared and hated if wasn't for that.





This is my favorite Reed moment, it really humanizes him.

I love this moment too, it's great. If you read other comics outside of X-men you'll see that others superhumans have it difficult with the public too, in this run the FF actually fall from grace with them after the unthinkable arc.

[BushidoBlade2]

Nothing about the MU civilians' double standards towards mutants and other supers is outside of believability anymore. Not in this political climate for sure.

It's still not believable.
You're operating under the idea that MU civilians can tell the difference between mutants and other supers.
They cannot.

You can not reproduce the formula that gave the powers of Steve and it was created in laboratory so Steve is a unique situation. Steve was chosen and trained before and after receiving his powers was not something random that could happen to anyone.

It's not possible compare a great war hero and leader of the Avengers with a mutant who never wanted powers or wished to be a mutant.

It is comparable in the scenario that poster used. Mutants are hated because they gained abilities from genetics, Steve Rogers gained his abilities from a serum but it's different because he fought in a war. So mutants would be celebrated if they were soldiers in the U.S Army then.

They know Sue Storm, they don't know the random mutant. Even if they got to know the mutant, after a while humanity's illogical need to let labels take precedence would mean they have a subconscious (if not overt) distrustful prejudice against mutants purely due to labeling.

So pretty much humans hate mutants because the writer says so.
Even if they got to know Sue's mutant look-alike they'll hate her because.... writing.
There's no reason Sue wouldn't be hated while the mutant is.
Sue's mutant double could say she received her powers from a blood transfusion involving Sue's blood.
Problem solved, no more hate because her powers came from an accident. Right.

This is exactly right.

Which, again, parallels with the real world.

Humans in real life often don't have rational or consistent beliefs, so it's pretty believable that humans in the 616 universe would act the same way. Therefore to me the contradictory beliefs in 616 make sense in that people in real life are the same way.

It's not believable because humans in the 616 would not even be able to tell the difference unless it was stated by the mutant/mutate themselves.

Because one represents a challenge to the species while the other doesn't. Gaining powers by accident in the MCU has never been something that brought those people together.

Gaining powers via genetics in the MCU resulted in those genetic freaks to view themselves as a community of sorts. And once you have a minority community with power then some in the majority will hate them.

The Purifiers for example view the genetic defect that gives rise to mutants as the result of them being some demon race or spawn of the devil. Their mutant gene being the mark of the Devil. You really can't view someone that gained powers accidentally in this way because well it was an accident.

So all a mutant has to do is not associate with the X-Men, Brotherhood, & Morlocks.

How can you not view someone who gained powers accidentally the same way as a mutant. The purifiers wouldn't be able to tell the difference unless they have mutant tracking device. And even then, them viewing someone like Jean Grey as a spawn of the devil but not Sue Storm doesn't make any sense. Religious people in real life would view anybody as having God-like powers to be devils. They don't like real life Psychics but you think religious people would be okay if someone gained Psychic abilities from an accident? NO! They don't care. All they say are people going against God. They would not care how one gained those abilities nor would they be able to tell the difference anyway.

But with the FF, the average Fox News viewer likely wouldn't see them as needing regulation.

Why not? A man who can turn his body into fire is accepted by the world because he got the ability from an accident, but a guy whose body turns to fire due to genetics needs regulated. That doesn't make any sense.

[Confuzzled]

In regards to how people can tell if "so and so non-mutant super" is a non-mutant and not a mutant, there could be cases of "mistaken hate crimes". Like how some Sikh and Indian people were murdered because their perpetrators thought they were Muslim or Arab.

Has any non-mutant super been the victim of an anti-mutant hate crime due to mistaken identity? I can't remember for sure. Though this plotline would have better fit during Morrison's mutant subculture era (yet another reason why I still heavily favour that direction and status quo for mutants).

[BushidoBlade2]

The X-Men have all manner of reformed/semi reformed bad guys on their teams. How is it going to look when you associate with people like Magneto, Sabertooth, etc..to the general public? Not good.

So just kick Magneto and Sabertooth off the team.
Then have a press conference announcing they're no longer associated with such troubled individuals.
Problem solved.

If somebody like Wolverine shows up to save you but is all covered in blood and growling with gigantic claws then it is going to be kind of frightening.

But it wouldn't be frightening if Wolverine said he was bitten by a radioactive wolverine.

[Jirrenm]

Racism is inherently irrational. But anyways *sigh*

People say kids can't understand the difference between fact and fiction, but that's bullshit, kids understand that real crabs don't sing like the ones in The Little Mermaid. But you give an adult fiction, and the adult starts asking really fucking dumb questions like 'How does Superman fly? How do those eyebeams work? Who pumps the Batmobile's tires?' It's a fucking made-up story, you idiot! Nobody pumps the tires!

[silence.]

The way I explain it is 'You can give birth to a mutant, you can't give birth to a scientific accident that results in superpowers'