Who is right: Professor Xavier vs. Magneto

[Spiritualcramp]

One of the central conflicts in in the Xmen comics is the debate about whose philosophy to the mutant population has served the mutants best. Magneto's radical approach of separation and doing all he can to secure the existence of mutankind, or Charles's Xavier's dream of a peaceful coexistence between man and mutant. Its 2017 now and the comics has seen scores of events that call the question the central conflict of Coexistence between Man and Mutant- which was further exacerbated by the dwindling mutant population/the Inhumans and actions taken by Cyclops in the latter Xmen runs. At the end of the day has Professor Xavier's vision done anything to actually improve relationships, or has it left the Xmen splintered in a rats race trying to keep themselves from extinction all while humanity still hates them? On the other side has Magneto actually done worse by influencing Scott, and in the end is Magneto right to want to distance himself/secure a place for mutants and the discrimination they've faced from man and other groups?

[Carabas]

How about you need both?

No minority group ever got more rights just by politely asking for them.

[Vegan Daddy]

Magneto. Genosha was a separate state with a homogeneous mutant population and it worked much better than Xavier's Institute for Mutant Child Soldiers.

The real answer is that it doesn't matter. Mutants and humans will never coexist peacefully because that's impossible. Also, there'd be no more X-Men comics.

[KurtW95]

Professor X. Magneto's old approach further inflames the situation and gives normal humans reasons to fear mutants.

[dragonmp93]

Professor X. Magneto's old approach further inflames the situation and gives normal humans reasons to fear mutants.

Well, after two genocides and several mass murders; i dont think that the professor x's approach is working.

[Victorian_Soul]

If the Marvel didn't demand it, then mutants would be able to co-exist peacefully with humans. The only issue would be that the X-Men would lose all meaning if they're treated equally.

[yogaflame]

Magneto's philosophy is based on the precept that humans can't even get along with each other and that they will surely try to wipe out mutants, so mutants should just assert themselves as the dominant species and rule the planet.

Xavier's philosophy is based on the idea that man and mutant can share the planet and make it better for everyone.

They are both simplistic and wrong in their own ways. But it is the crux of the X-Mythos and if you had the X-Men achieve world peace, they would loose their reason for existing, so they are doomed to always struggle. Being a capitalistic enterprise, they can never really win.

Magneto is more right. Humans have a history of destroying themselves, and the very planet itself. Mutants, with their incredible powers over nature and advanced mental abilities are the obvious solution to many of humanities problems. But, Marvel has many non-mutant properties, especially given the Fox movie rights, that they prioritize over the mutants, so the mutants can never win in that way either(hence No More Mutants).

In a real-world scenario not determined by ongoing sales, the X-Men should just do something grand like give the world free energy, and topple some repressive regimes, and feed the hungry and cure the sick. Then humanity would have no choice but to accept them. But that would never happen in a comic, because it buckles the status quo too much.

[ExodusCloak]

In a real-world scenario not determined by ongoing sales, the X-Men should just do something grand like give the world free energy, and topple some repressive regimes, and feed the hungry and cure the sick. Then humanity would have no choice but to accept them. But that would never happen in a comic, because it buckles the status quo too much.

Happened in AvX 6

[jmc247]

It's really entirely up to the government in question they are dealing with. In a Representative Democracy that respects the basic rights to free speech and free expression of its citizens revolutions need not start and end with rivers of blood in the streets. In the government Magneto grew up in when he was young the only way to stop the leaders of 1930s Germany was to kill the leaders of Germany and their SS loyal to the party.

In the words of Kennedy, 'those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable'

The US government of the x-man world vacillates between early 20th century America and out and out fascism and developing armies of death robots.

On the other hand in a world where one Mutant's power goes haywire can kill hundreds or thousands of people is not going to be a world that is apt to respect Mutant rights.

Thankfully the new TV show The Gifted looks like it will deal with this question in a way it hasn't been in the comics hasn't in a long time.

[yogaflame]

Happened in AvX 6

Yeah, right before the Phoenix drove them mad and everyone fought to preserve the status quo.

[yogaflame]

Another big flaw in the set up is Xavier's supposed pacifism. Like, it's okay to train kids to whup butt with their powers, but it's not okay to just use telepathy to change peoples' minds? Even though he did use telepathy to change peoples minds. Like, whole towns at a time.

Instead of fighting in tights for over a decade, why not just strategically alter key influential targets in military, political, industrial and media sectors?

[CoCoBandz]

Yeah, right before the Phoenix drove them mad and everyone fought to preserve the status quo.

Well we know whose fault it was that the Phoenix drove them insane.

[RLAAMJR.]

Professor X of course.

[yogaflame]

Well we know whose fault it was that the Phoenix drove them insane.

I'm just saying, Marvel wouldn't let them win and preserved the status quo.

Besides, if they really wanted to, the X-Men could accomplish the same things without the Phoenix Force.

[Midnight_v]

In the majority of the sentinel ran time lines, the sentinels round up the mutants, then go okay these humans are likely to produce mutant children....
...then go... okay humans produce mutants... ultimately mutants are humans. Round them all up, to keep them separate and classified. or something like that.

The question with Professor X's philosophical pronouncement "Can humans and mutants peacufully co-exist... of course they can"
Really has to be met with another equally weighted on "Can humans peacefully co-exist with each other..." well... historically, categorically, no.

That doesn't mean magneto is right either, but his stance is a lot easier to get off the ground... kinda whats alluded to above.
If Magneto and the Professors powers were switched, then cerebro could be used by the greatest telepath ever to push the minds of everyone to love and embrace mutants. Or accept their rule.

Of course... maybe it the fact the Charles Xavier has such telepathy give way to the idea that he understands people are just afraid. They all with very few exceptions want a good life with friendly neighbors, and well Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

In the authority (I think) The Doctor said something really interesting like "Unlimited knowledge is wonderful... until you gain unlimited understanding". I think Charles was working with a lot of understanding and it made him
grasp more of the "goodness" of mankind and attribute most of the "evil" to simple fear.
Doesn't mean he wasn't human and didn't get angry or use bad judgement, but he didn't want to crush humanity under a booted heel either.

So really they were both wrong, and right in different ways.

I gotta say though. . . Answering these questions are kind of what made the X-men so interesting. The books need to focus more on the philosophical stand off of different ideologies in regards to mutants.