Blacklisted Mutants

[Sutekh]

Yup. And back in the day, random one-off mutants that never appeared anywhere else were a dime a dozen in Spider-Man issues.

Yup, or as members of the Serpent Society or Mutant Force, in Captain America's books.

Asp (bio-electricity like Stinger, Bolt, Surge or Dragoness) always was, but then Black Racer (super speed), Puff Adder (weak size change and acid breath) and Rock Python (rock hard skin) were all either said to be, or alluded to be.

Plus those later additions to Mutant Force, when they became the Resistants; Rust, Quill and Mist Mistress.

It was never really clear to me if Fixer's brain was a mutant thing, or one of those 'inexplicably smarter than a dozen engineers strapped together, but totally human?' things. Since he regularly teamed with Mentallo, a known mutant, I always kinda felt he was a mutant smart-guy (like Smart Alec) and not just 'randomly superhumanly smart for no clear reason.'

[danielsan52]

I'd love to see Mutant Force/Resistants again.

[Sutekh]

I'd love to see Mutant Force/Resistants again.

It was nice to see Peepers again, if only for a single-page burn of Fabian Cortez. (Although it was interesting that he used his 'old' name of Peepers and not his newer name of Occult.)

But it would be neat to see more of the others, particularly the less-developed newer ones like Mist Mistress, Rust and Quill, but also how their lives as mutants have been, with characters like Slither (who has also been with the Serpent Society), or crab-hands-dude-whose-name-I-forget (are they always crab-hands? how does he pee?!?).

[BobbysWorld]

I still say its been a missed opportunity, not using resurrection or the fact that even latent mutants who haven't manifested their X-gene by the time of their death end up in the Waiting Room to like, explore the idea that a non-mutant hero or villain discovers they're a mutant now and has a whole identity shakeup as a result. Like just saying, they could've potentially done something really interesting with someone who doesn't have natural powers popping out of an egg in Arbor Magna with a shiny new natural mutant power and an existential crisis as they navigate how this affects their entire sense of self and worldview. Especially given how much criticism gets aired of Avengers not doing enough for mutants.....imagine a long-time hero who never put a ton of thought into what mutants go through now ending up in a 'how the other half lives' story, especially if this revelation only came AFTER their death and resurrection so it was paired with all kinds of mixed feelings about how they'd lived their 'first life' and looking back on everything through a (literal, heh) new pair of eyes.

But also, the rise and exploration of actual mutant culture also presents a lot of interesting possibilities for stories told through the gaze of characters who've never identified as mutants previously - its a big part of why I'm looking forward to Jackie Chopra's appearance in Legion of X, given that we know she's a mutant but as far as we know, SHE still doesn't know that.

(For that matter, I really would love to see a couple of characters like from the Initiative or Avengers Academy discover they're mutants, just because I'm a big fan of outsider POVs in stories, and even with characters like Firestar who the writers make a big deal about being outsiders to the mutant community - again, not actually accurate because I HAVE read Amazing X-Men and am perfectly aware Angelica's literally taught at the Jean Grey School BUT I DIGRESS - but I just mean, even with characters who are being hyped as having never been a big part of mutant communities in the past, for the most part they've still at least known they're mutants and identified as such. But I'm really interested in seeing the outsider POV of characters who never identified as such previously, suddenly being thrust into mutant community and culture.

Like Brandon Sharpe aka Striker could be a good candidate...we never did find out where his powers come from, just that his mom said she had him tested for the X-gene and said he wasn't a mutant....but uh, his mom is a canonical liar obsessed with getting her son fame and fortune and given that being a mutant hasn't exactly always been a boon to say, Alison Blaire's stardom, lol, it'd be easy enough to suggest she just flat out fucking lied about Brandon having the X-gene. Or have a magic user like Reptil or someone granted their powers like Hardball discover that they have latent mutant powers alongside/underneath all that. Idk, idk. I just really like outsider POVs and there are plenty of minor or under-utilized nonmutant heroes who could get a huge narrative boost and high profile upgrade via being used as a newly minted mutant now navigating mutant culture as a relative outsider.)

[Sutekh]

Like Brandon Sharpe aka Striker could be a good candidate...we never did find out where his powers come from, just that his mom said she had him tested for the X-gene and said he wasn't a mutant....but uh, his mom is a canonical liar obsessed with getting her son fame and fortune and given that being a mutant hasn't exactly always been a boon to say, Alison Blaire's stardom, lol, it'd be easy enough to suggest she just flat out fucking lied about Brandon having the X-gene. Or have a magic user like Reptil or someone granted their powers like Hardball discover that they have latent mutant powers alongside/underneath all that. Idk, idk. I just really like outsider POVs and there are plenty of minor or under-utilized nonmutant heroes who could get a huge narrative boost and high profile upgrade via being used as a newly minted mutant now navigating mutant culture as a relative outsider.)

That would be interesting, although Brandon might be an off choice just because his first reaction to finding out that he was a mutant would be considering how to leverage it to raise his profile, or whether to suppress it to dodge the controversy... He's all about image over substance.

But there are tons of options. From the Avengers Academy, we don't really know where Finesse or Hazmat or Veil or Mettle's powers come from, only Reptil had an explicitly non-mutant origin, with his magic amulet. (It's implied heavily that Finesse's powers come from Taskmaster, but that doesn't mean that *he* isn't also secretly a mutant, or that, like Franklin, the mutant child of two 'mutates,' she could be the mutant child of a non-mutant-superhuman.)

And the various Initiative characters you mention are also an option. Hardball's powers might have been a mutation that unlocked after the process that attempted to give him powers failed and was just killing him, for instance. Small tweak, and bam, mutation is go. And various others like Boulder/Butterball and Batwing and Melee and Gorilla Girl don't even have the briefest explanation of where their powers came from (AFAIK).

Casually drop that one of them has the secondary mutation that they don't detect to mutant-detecting devices or tests (or, like Aurora had done by Walter Langkowski, have had some process, scientific or even magical, perhaps even without their knowledge!, that obscured their mutant gene), and managed to squeak by as 'generic superhumans,' and it's easy enough to 'suddenly' discover that they've been mutants all along, just didn't realize it until they stepped in front of a bus and woke up covered in goop at Arbor Magna.

[dragon1440]

It was nice to see Peepers again, if only for a single-page burn of Fabian Cortez. (Although it was interesting that he used his 'old' name of Peepers and not his newer name of Occult.)

But it would be neat to see more of the others, particularly the less-developed newer ones like Mist Mistress, Rust and Quill, but also how their lives as mutants have been, with characters like Slither (who has also been with the Serpent Society), or crab-hands-dude-whose-name-I-forget (are they always crab-hands? how does he pee?!?).

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Rico_(Mutant)_(Earth-616) ?

[BobbysWorld]

That would be interesting, although Brandon might be an off choice just because his first reaction to finding out that he was a mutant would be considering how to leverage it to raise his profile, or whether to suppress it to dodge the controversy... He's all about image over substance.

Oh that's precisely WHY I'm so intrigued by the idea of Brandon finding out he's a mutant. That potential story could cut right to the heart of how mutants are perceived in the current era, exploring the pros and cons of how much mutants have going for them right now versus the fact that they're more hated than ever by some people jealous of those various advantages, and like.....force him to wrestle with the potential for mutants to continue flourishing in the future versus the awareness of their historic persecution and fear of the current advantages/safety net not lasting forever.....

Idk, I think he could be an ideal candidate for a story whose main character looks at the history and projected futures of mutantkind and struggles in-story with the same kind of questions a lot of readers have about whether or not things can possibly last the way they are now, whether or not mutants will return to just being on the run or in danger of extinction, etc.

[bat22]

With Sana Amanat's ceaseless campaign to make Kamala Khan a legend, I have to wonder if Dust is a blacklisted or forgotten mutant due to her co-creator being Ethan Van Sciver.

[Sutekh]

Oh that's precisely WHY I'm so intrigued by the idea of Brandon finding out he's a mutant. That potential story could cut right to the heart of how mutants are perceived in the current era, exploring the pros and cons of how much mutants have going for them right now versus the fact that they're more hated than ever by some people jealous of those various advantages, and like.....force him to wrestle with the potential for mutants to continue flourishing in the future versus the awareness of their historic persecution and fear of the current advantages/safety net not lasting forever.....

Idk, I think he could be an ideal candidate for a story whose main character looks at the history and projected futures of mutantkind and struggles in-story with the same kind of questions a lot of readers have about whether or not things can possibly last the way they are now, whether or not mutants will return to just being on the run or in danger of extinction, etc.

Yeah, that's true, and it would certainly be interesting to see someone as fame-obsessed as Striker weighing the pros and cons of identifying as a mutant. He might come to the cold-blooded calculus that he's got fame without the mutant baggage going for him right now, and he'd rather be a special snowflake out in the world of normies, than one of thousands of special (and some very much *more* special than himself!) people off on mutant island. Better to rule in Hell, than serve in Heaven, as they say. He's a bigger fish out in the 'real world' surrounded by billions of powerless people, than he would be in a culture where *everyone* is special.

It would certainly be a unique perspective on being a mutant. (Much like Aurora, back in Alpha Flight, deliberately submitting to an experiment to make herself not detect as a mutant, which her boytoy rationalized as protecting her from anti-mutant sensors, weapons and bias, but she herself mainly seemed to embrace because she was in a snit with her brother and wanted to be different than him! Rejecting one's mutant identity for petty or self-serving reasons would certainly be an interesting contrast to people who are willing to reject it because their mutation sucks and is ruining their life or something.)

[BobbysWorld]

With Sana Amanat's ceaseless campaign to make Kamala Khan a legend, I have to wonder if Dust is a blacklisted or forgotten mutant due to her co-creator being Ethan Van Sciver.

This is a weird take for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that she shows up regularly in Spurrier’s Legion of X and has been since his Way of X stuff.

[bat22]

This is a weird take for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that she shows up regularly in Spurrier’s Legion of X and has been since his Way of X stuff.

"Forgotten" was a misspeak. I'd more meant sidelined, but I wasn't familiar with this writer's works.

[Outburstz]

What ever that one mutant woman who gets really really fat but has to throw up in order to reduce her size.

Big Bertha is her name she would need a full blown retcon of her powers to be used again

[Nyssane]

What ever that one mutant woman who gets really really fat but has to throw up in order to reduce her size.

Big Bertha is her name she would need a full blown retcon of her powers to be used again

She doesn't vomit anymore, she just stays in her plus size form. Plus she's a superhero, so why would she be blacklisted?

[danielsan52]

Why was Whirlwind ignored by the mutant community? he's, arguably, pretty well known for being a mutant (everyone he went to high school with and the skating community know about his powers, at least). he was an Avengers arcade game end boss. There are other mutants like him who, for whatever reason, were not given the time of day. i wonder why?

Well we got an answer to this one in the Annual.

He isn't wanted on Krakoa!

[Master of Sound]

Nekra is another that doesn't seem like she would fit in well with the butterflies and rainbows attitude of Krakoa.

She is part of Exiles now.