Why did Marvel pit mutants against inhumans?

[Force de Phenix]

The two species have always been written as having a lot in common over the decades, why did Marvel decide to do an event for them to compete as opposed to writing them as allies who could learn from one another, work together and help each other out?

[XPac]

Same reason they did an event pitting the X-Men against the Avengers.

Hero vs hero stories tend to generate a lot more interest than hero vs villain stories. The first Civil War event taught us that. It's overdone at this point, but it's still a way to generate a buzz.

[Anduinel]

Short-sightedness, lack of imagination, and spite, and all of it originating from outside the folks actually doing comics, from what the rumor mill was pushing.

[BlackClaw]

The two species have always been written as having a lot in common over the decades, why did Marvel decide to do an event for them to compete as opposed to writing them as allies who could learn from one another, work together and help each other out?

Because prior to Disney buying Fox, Ike Perlmutter was salty that Marvel didn’t have the movie rights to mutants so he decided to try and replace them with the Inhumans. And we all know how that story ends.

That and as Xpac said, hero vs hero stories tend to generate a lot of buzz.

[Force de Phenix]

Because prior to Disney buying Fox, Ike Perlmutter was salty that Marvel didn’t have the movie rights to mutants so he decided to try and replace them with the Inhumans. And we all know how that story ends.

That and as Xpac said, hero vs hero stories tend to generate a lot of buzz.

But they never wrote a story to replace them, in fact right before Inhumanity, at the end of AVX, mutants returned to the same numbers as before House of M, and after they did RessureXion before the Fox buyout and Ike Permutter was still in charge. If they wanted to get rid of them X-Men, they would have done it as a result of AVX.

[Anduinel]

But they never wrote a story to replace them, in fact right before Inhumanity, at the end of AVX, mutants returned to the same numbers as before House of M, and after they did RessureXion before the Fox buyout and Ike Permutter was still in charge. If they wanted to get rid of them X-Men, they would have done it as a result of AVX.

There was never any intention of actually getting rid of the X-Men; that would have been financial suicide for the comics side of things. But further reducing their prominence and letting a lesser-known property ride off their relative popularity and take over their niche in the comics landscape would have been just fine. But some genius didn't get that when you put a fledgling concept up against a more popular one with an entrenched fanbase, things aren't likely to go well.

[XPac]

But they never wrote a story to replace them, in fact right before Inhumanity, at the end of AVX, mutants returned to the same numbers as before House of M, and after they did RessureXion before the Fox buyout and Ike Permutter was still in charge. If they wanted to get rid of them X-Men, they would have done it as a result of AVX.

I think the notion that marvel was trying to get rid of the X-Men was always just some overblown conspiracy theory from people wearing tin foil hats while posting from their mom's basement.

That said, I do think it's believable that marvel studios tried to have the Inhumans fill a certain narrative niche the X-Men had since Marvel didn't have the X-Men at the time. A lot of the elements that were attributed to the X-Men began overlapping with the Inhumans. And if you're part of the X-Men fanbase, I suppose that might be misinterpreted to mean far more than it actually did.

[Force de Phenix]

There was never any intention of actually getting rid of the X-Men; that would have been financial suicide for the comics side of things. But further reducing their prominence and letting a lesser-known property ride off their relative popularity and take over their niche in the comics landscape would have been just fine. But some genius didn't get that when you put a fledgling concept up against a more popular one with an entrenched fanbase, things aren't likely to go well.

I think that the Guardians of the Galaxy had a bigger part in taking over the X-Men in video games, merchandise, cartoon series, theme park rides, etc. But I can see how putting more energy and a spotlight on teams like the Defenders, GOTG and Avengers scared fans, and then the Death of X event sparked controversy for comic book readers. Now, even non-comicbook readers still think they are replacing the X-Men because of it.

I think the notion that marvel was trying to get rid of the X-Men was always just some overblown conspiracy theory from people wearing tin foil hats while posting from their mom's basement.

That said, I do think it's believable that marvel studios tried to have the Inhumans fill a certain narrative niche the X-Men had since Marvel didn't have the X-Men at the time. A lot of the elements that were attributed to the X-Men began overlapping with the Inhumans. And if you're part of the X-Men fanbase, I suppose that might be misinterpreted to mean far more than it actually did.

Yea, that's why I wondered why Marvel didn't opt to bring them together since they've been like cousins storywise since their inception. I'm an X-Men fan, and the inhumans inclusion seemed interesting.

[Zero Hunter]

There is no denying that Marvel pushed the Inhumans harder than they have ever pushed any property in their history trying to make it take off, and a lot of that was at the expense of the mutants and the X-Line. Suddenly the Inhumans were everywhere while the mutants were all segregated over in their own little corner for quite a few years.

[Michael Watkins]

because they are a house of ideas...some of them incredibly bad and short-sighted.

[Vegeta]

Because Marvel thinks controversy always generates sales.

I think the notion that marvel was trying to get rid of the X-Men was always just some overblown conspiracy theory from people wearing tin foil hats while posting from their mom's basement.

That said, I do think it's believable that marvel studios tried to have the Inhumans fill a certain narrative niche the X-Men had since Marvel didn't have the X-Men at the time. A lot of the elements that were attributed to the X-Men began overlapping with the Inhumans. And if you're part of the X-Men fanbase, I suppose that might be misinterpreted to mean far more than it actually did.

Not entirely unfounded though. Let's not forget the classic 80's "Secret Wars Issue 1" cover appearing on T-shirts with the Fox controlled heroes edited out of the image and replaced with characters like Black Bolt and Luke Cage (two heroes that had NO role whatsoever in that event.)

[Force de Phenix]

Because Marvel thinks controversy always generates sales.

Not entirely unfounded though. Let's not forget the classic 80's "Secret Wars Issue 1" cover appearing on T-shirts with the Fox controlled heroes edited out of the image and replaced with characters like Black Bolt and Luke Cage (two heroes that had NO role whatsoever in that event.)

They edited out the X-Men characters to put Black Panther, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist and Luke Cage. They replaced the Human Torch with Black Bolt. They replaced the X-Men with Avengers and Defenders, and in Marvel vs. Capcom, they also replaced them with Avengers and the GOTG. It was screwed up. But that still doesn't change the fact that they could've written them as allies which seems more natural.

They are two minorities. In the real world not everyone oppressed group gets along and they are very different. Like someone who is discriminated against because of their sexual orientation isn't in the same as someone who is discriminated against because of their ethnicity, and they might even discriminate against each other, while sometimes not realizing if they work together they can achieve more equality. Marvel could've worked more with this.

[Force de Phenix]

the mutants were all segregated over in their own little corner for quite a few years.

They've always been segregated. Especially since their success in the 90's. They never mixed with other cartoons, nor films, nor events and they even have their own separated group in this forum.

[Snoop Dogg]

The idea of doing IvX is not bad. It's actually very good, because they're very good foils to each other. They just fucked it up. But the idea is cool.

[Holt]

The usage of Inhumans in other media where mutants couldn't be used (such as in Agents of SHIELD), coupled with the embargo against X-Men appearing in things began to give off the perception that Marvel wanted to replace the mutants with Inhumans, even though that was likely not the case (at least not in comics). They leaned into the controversy and tried to pump it for sales, thinking it'd draw more interest to the Inhumans books, but it just didn't work because very few people sided with the Inhumans given the way the conflict was presented.