SPOILERS: Fantastic Four #26

[Crimz]

It's semantics at this point, but John Byrne wrote the first Johnny and Alicia paring. At that time, Alicia was really Alicia. Tom DeFalco retconned that into being Lyja. In Marvel's defense, the Johnny/Alicia match was incredibly ugly given Johnny and Ben's relationship and replacing Alicia with a Skrull seemed the best way out of a terrible plot development. So technically, it wasn't the writer of the story, but the next writer who changed the situation. It's still assault, but who gets what blame easily gets confused.

I understand that and I think it's one of those cases where a fix to one situation led to unfortunate consequences. I also dislike the idea of Johnny and Alicia and understand why Lyja was created to fix that. I just think that it should be acknowledged that what she did was sexual assault and it shouldn't be ignored because it's an inconvenient truth. The idea of her and Johnny being in a romantic relationship should be thrown out the window because after what she did it sends a really bad message.

[Thundershot]

See, this revelation made me angry... unlike Superior Spider-Man, which I thoroughly enjoyed (waiting for a reprint of Complete Collection v2, Marvel!), which we all knew would eventually have the real Peter return... I don’t see Franklin getting reversed any more than Pietro and Wanda. As far as I’m concerned, they’re all still mutants. Every single mutant doesn’t need to be on Krakoa. I’m just waiting for someone to say Justice isn’t a mutant anymore.... that would piss me off too.

[Steel Inquisitor]

See, this revelation made me angry... unlike Superior Spider-Man, which I thoroughly enjoyed (waiting for a reprint of Complete Collection v2, Marvel!), which we all knew would eventually have the real Peter return... I don’t see Franklin getting reversed any more than Pietro and Wanda. As far as I’m concerned, they’re all still mutants. Every single mutant doesn’t need to be on Krakoa. I’m just waiting for someone to say Justice isn’t a mutant anymore.... that would piss me off too.

Retcons like this is normal in comic books, and they will get reversed when the people who disagree with those decisions are get into management.

[jackolover]

So is there another category now for Powered people whose abilities are natural but did not have something "done to them" later in life (adolescence, adulthood, etc., such as Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, Matt Murdock)?

For the longest time, it was implicitly accepted that all children of powered people who had powers were "mutants" in some way (even if you were the sort to nitpick and insist that "true mutants" can only have abilities that neither parent has, it was still an accepted premise. Thus Daken is a mutant via his father Wolverine, etc.).

The abruptness of "he's not a mutant, end of story, see ya" just comes across as incredibly arbitrary, even by comic-book-logic standards.

My understanding is that people who had their powers “done to them” as you call it, (example Reed Richards and Sue Storm after getting cosmic rays powers later in life) who then have children like Franklin and Valeria, can have transferred their abilities to their children. Mutants are another category as these people hand down their mutant gene to their children. The difference between both sources of parents, (Normal but later altered, versus mutant gene transfer) is very vague. I suspect there is some test that verifies powered parents, and another test that verifies mutant gene parental transfer. Somehow, that has been the case in the Marvel Universe this whole time. I myself have made this assumption for decades, otherwise, how would the bigoted mutant killers have identified who was a mutant and who was the child of a super powered person?

Maybe Dan Slott has brought up a very important issue regarding mutant identification, by having Professor X state he couldn’t determine that Franklin was not a mutant. If Prof X and his Cerebro computer can’t pick a mutant, what can? Up till now, Cerebro has been the accepted determining factor for mutant identification. It supposes all children born to super powered parents (like Reed and Sue), do not appear on Cerebros radar. If Reed and Sue’s child appears as a mutant red dot, does Luke Cage and Jessica Jones’ Danielle appear as a mutant red dot too?

I would want to know that the difference is substantial, or, why segregate mutants in the first place? That’s what makes this so important.

[Drops Of Venus]

So is there another category now for Powered people whose abilities are natural but did not have something "done to them" later in life (adolescence, adulthood, etc., such as Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, Matt Murdock)?

For the longest time, it was implicitly accepted that all children of powered people who had powers were "mutants" in some way (even if you were the sort to nitpick and insist that "true mutants" can only have abilities that neither parent has, it was still an accepted premise. Thus Daken is a mutant via his father Wolverine, etc.).

The abruptness of "he's not a mutant, end of story, see ya" just comes across as incredibly arbitrary, even by comic-book-logic standards.

I assume you mean regular human characters born with powers, 'cause there are a lot of non-human or human hybrid characters that were born with powers without being mutants (like the Asgardians, Eternals, Inhumans/NuHumans, America Chavez, Hellstorm, Carol Danvers after the retcon, etc). As for regular human characters born with powers, the first example I can think of someone who broke the mutant rule was Mr. Immortal. At one point, it was established he wasn't Homo Superior, but Homo Supreme, which I guess made him distinct from your regular mutant in a way. Funnily enough, I think it was Dan Slott himself who established that Homo Supreme was a thing, so I guess he was always onto the idea that people can be born with powers and be something other than mutant. Maybe he wants Franklin to be Homo Supreme as well?

Some retcons have created more characters like this (although the term Homo Supreme hasn't been used in those cases). Squirrel Girl is now a part of some mysterious, unnamed species, since her solo book established she was born with powers, but was not a mutant. The Scarlet Witch solo book also established that the Maximoffs came from a long line of witches and wizards, so even though they were High Evolutionary experiments in their new origin, now they also have some innate arcane power from birth too. My guess is that Wiccan and Speed also fall under that category, assuming they're not mutants. DC has a category for people born with magic powers (Homo Magi, I think), so I guess Marvel could create some similar labels now that they have enough characters that don't fit in the mutant category anymore.

[Ravin' Ray]

Ah, Marvel genetics and heredity. I'm no longer comfortable with the definition that a mutant has to have the x-gene. Maybe "Mutant" with a capital "M" as used by the X-Men, but if you are born with other genes that grant you powers you are still a mutant of the human race, just not an x-gene Mutant. Lyra the Savage She-Hulk? Inherited gamma-radiation from her father the Hulk as well as her mother Thundra's enhanced strength, and that technically makes her a mutant, but not an x-gene Mutant. So Franklin is analogously a mutant.

[Steel Inquisitor]

Ah, Marvel genetics and heredity. I'm no longer comfortable with the definition that a mutant has to have the x-gene. Maybe "Mutant" with a capital "M" as used by the X-Men, but if you are born with other genes that grant you powers you are still a mutant of the human race, just not an x-gene Mutant. Lyra the Savage She-Hulk? Inherited gamma-radiation from her father the Hulk as well as her mother Thundra's enhanced strength, and that technically makes her a mutant, but not an x-gene Mutant. So Franklin is analogously a mutant.

Marvel's figured out what to call mutants like that, it's "mutate." They have to categorise all the various super-humans or it gets really confusing. Not all super-human species are born mutants, that's how we get Inhumans and Eternals. Thanos is an exception in that he's an Eternal who is also a mutant. But the fact is Franklin is a disposable weapon to Xavier, if it wasn't this he'd be another pawn in his plans, the days of Xavier caring about his mutant pupils are long over.

[Zelena]

Ah, Marvel genetics and heredity. I'm no longer comfortable with the definition that a mutant has to have the x-gene. Maybe "Mutant" with a capital "M" as used by the X-Men, but if you are born with other genes that grant you powers you are still a mutant of the human race, just not an x-gene Mutant. Lyra the Savage She-Hulk? Inherited gamma-radiation from her father the Hulk as well as her mother Thundra's enhanced strength, and that technically makes her a mutant, but not an x-gene Mutant. So Franklin is analogously a mutant.

Mutates, mutants… it wouldn’t make a difference if the characters didn’t make a difference.
If these “special people” are somehow a metaphor for difference in our society, it’s something they have all in common to be different from the norm. And still, there is almost no empathy anymore between “mutants” and the rest…

The “heroes” are people that are strong, free individuals that speak to readers who considered themselves in the same way. The “mutants” are now “a people”, what they are individually is diluted in the group. I’m confused by the appeal.

[BroHomo]

Mutates, mutants… it wouldn’t make a difference if the characters didn’t make a difference.
If these “special people” are somehow a metaphor for difference in our society, it’s something they have all in common to be different from the norm. And still, there is almost no empathy anymore between “mutants” and the rest…

The “heroes” are people that are strong, free individuals that speak to readers who considered themselves in the same way. The “mutants” are now “a people”, what they are individually is diluted in the group. I’m confused by the appeal.

Of which group?

[Zelena]

Of which group?

The group of mutants.

[ARkadelphia]

The abruptness of "he's not a mutant, end of story, see ya" just comes across as incredibly arbitrary, even by comic-book-logic standards.

Abrupt? This plot point has been building since the early days of Slott’s run dating back to last year.

End of story? What makes you think that? This revelation just happened in the most recent issue. It’s likely one plot point in a much longer storyline that is far from finished.

[Mike_Murdock]

NOW THIS PART IS BIG. Franklin gets the device from Val and plans to use the Forever Gate to got to Krakoa. Suddenly, Xavier mentally contacts him and reveals that Franklin is not a mutant and never was a mutant. As a kid he accidently used his cosmic powers to give himself the X-gene - so he is not welcome on Krakoa.

FWIW, this has always been my proposal for the Scarlet Witch - that she was a mutant but used her reality-altering powers to make her no longer a mutant.

I don't think this Franklin retcon makes a ton of sense based on Marvel comics history. I recognize that he's always been a sort of black sheep of the mutant world and only rarely fit into the X-universe, but the same could be said about Typhoid Mary. I don't think this retcon was a good creative choice - especially so closely following Chip Zdarsky's really solid mini-series.

[FFJamie94]

FWIW, this has always been my proposal for the Scarlet Witch - that she was a mutant but used her reality-altering powers to make her no longer a mutant.

I don't think this Franklin retcon makes a ton of sense based on Marvel comics history. I recognize that he's always been a sort of black sheep of the mutant world and only rarely fit into the X-universe, but the same could be said about Typhoid Mary. I don't think this retcon was a good creative choice - especially so closely following Chip Zdarsky's really solid mini-series.

This is the first time I've heard someone talk positively about that mini. I only got a chance to read the first two issues (I have the second two, but life got in the way and I never got the chance to read them, they are currently in storage).
I really liked what I read, it was fun.