How Many Second Generation X-Men Are There?

[ARkadelphia]

Aren't Inhumans still technicaly humans just with the extra trait of super powers or has it been established that they have gained so much physical distinction from regular humans even without said powers that they can count as a full blown sub-species of the homo genus ala Neanderthals (offshot from homo sapiens though, rather than a shared ancestor)?

Because it seems to me that without the alteration from terrigenesis they are still baseline humans by default similar to mutants who's X-gene hasn't activated yet, which is different to the Atlanteans who are always fundamentaly physical different from baseline humans (and said traits can't be just switched off via a dozen different ways).

And if Inhumans are still just "humans with build in super powers", an inhuman/mutant offspring could still be considered baseline human too until the respective source of their super powers kicks in.

Infact this actualy raises the question if an X-gene and terrigenesis can be an active source of super powers within a human at the same time or if their presence causes problems (one supressing the other, both canceling each other out, the person explodes)?

Even if we ignore the recent reveal of terrigen mist being lethal to x-gene mutants, it seems both would not work well together since they technicaly occupy the same "slot".

Which would mean a healthly inhuman/mutant offspring would either become a full blown inhuman (terrigenesis canceling out the X-gene), full blown mutant (X-gene canceling out the terrigenesis) or baseline human (both cancel each other or both never manifest at all), without a true hybridization being able to occur.

Inhumans are definitely not just baseline humans with powers at this point. They live to 150. They are much stronger, more durable than humans, even without teregenesis.

[Sutekh]

To further complicate the situation is the case of Earth X, where Celestials intentionally implanted the X-Gene into proto-humanity for the explicit purpose of having a superhuman population to protect the gestating baby Celestial inside the planet. And when Blackbolt released the Terrigen Bomb on this earth, the entire population turned into: MUTANTS! So basically the Inhumans were just the Kree's version of accelerated/triggered-on-demand mutants, utilizing the X-gene potential the Celestials had laid down in the first place. Making IvX even more ridiculous.

And that's kind of the whole point of the original Kree genebomb storyline. The Kree created the Inhumans from Earth-humans because *they didn't have the Celestial-tinkered genetic potential to be superhumans themselves,* so they had to arrange to artificially stimulate the potential in humans to create super-powered warriors for their own use. (And then the Supreme Intelligence murdered 90% of the race to kickstart that process so that the survivors could have powers, too, IIRC. The Skrulls, OTOH, *had* received Celestial tinkering, and did have mutants, which the Kree regarded as yet another reason why they *had* to have superpowered warriors of their own, even if they had to make them from other races.)

So, really, the Inhumans are just humans with the latent potential to be mutants, who've had their X-gene artificially triggered through Terrigenesis. At least that's how it seemed like it was supposed to work. Lord only knows what nonsense is now canon over there at Marvel. I suspect if you ask five writers/editors, you'll get five different answers.

And Jason Aaron's answer will involve Ghost Rider and the Phoenix, somehow?

[yogaflame]

Somebody get Jason Aaron out of here! He is the number one culprit in trying to rewrite the classical lore. I can't believe they've just let him go at it with the Avengers(and everything) lore when they are Disney's #1 IP(for now). Between him and Gillen, they've really messed up what was actually already quite well defined. When the Eternals movie was announced years ago, I was interested in learning more about them and went back and read the classical Kirby stories, and a few later runs. I much preferred the godly humans(made at the same time from the same substrate as both humans and Deviants) who harness cosmic energy over pre-programmed robots with a sassy AI 3D printer parent. Even Gaiman's 2006 version was much better, and it seems like the MCU people probably at least read that version, since you can see shades of that in the film(wish they had used that more, if they were going to seemingly ignore the Kirby stuff).

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[Grunty]

Inhumans are definitely not just baseline humans with powers at this point. They live to 150. They are much stronger, more durable than humans, even without teregenesis.

So full blown off-shot/sub-group allready. Thanks for clearing that up.

(...)It's also true that double mutations can exist, via the mechanic of 'secondary mutations,' so it's entirely possible that one could have one mutation from one trigger source, and a 'secondary mutation' from another... (So, a mutant affected by a gamma serum, or an Inhuman gaining spider-powers.) (...)

Good points.

(...)If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

It seems in the absence of knowing what to do with these characters anymore, but a constant need for new stories, some writers just default to trying to reinvent the wheel, even if the square shaped end result just creates a needlessly bumpy ride and looks awkward.

[Sutekh]

Somebody get Jason Aaron out of here! He is the number one culprit in trying to rewrite the classical lore. I can't believe they've just let him go at it with the Avengers(and everything) lore when they are Disney's #1 IP(for now). Between him and Gillen, they've really messed up what was actually already quite well defined. When the Eternals movie was announced years ago, I was interested in learning more about them and went back and read the classical Kirby stories, and a few later runs. I much preferred the godly humans(made at the same time from the same substrate as both humans and Deviants) who harness cosmic energy over pre-programmed robots with a sassy AI 3D printer parent. Even Gaiman's 2006 version was much better, and it seems like the MCU people probably at least read that version, since you can see shades of that in the film(wish they had used that more, if they were going to seemingly ignore the Kirby stuff).

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Yeah, it particularly bugs me that 'Eternals', now having a resurrection machine, die like flies. A knife can kill one. They used to be one of the more unkillable / invulnerable things *in the universe,* and even if something more powerful than Thor's hammer could actually hurt one (and Thor gave it a shot, against Ajak, against 'the Forgotten One,' he could knock them around, but they just got back up and kept fighting!), their cosmic-energy caused their body to heal almost instantly. It took a special machine to shatter their concentration and kill them, and you had to beat them down and make them helpless before you could even do that!

And now, they die *constantly.* Such junk.

It's kind of like Wolverine. The better his healing factor got, the more and more he got cut to ribbons fighting mooks that Cyclops and Psylocke and Beast and Gambit were going hand-to-hand with *and not getting hurt.* I know, meta-reasons, it was to show off his regeneration power, but all it did was make it look like Wolverine kind of sucked at fighting, since he was the only one getting his ass handed to him every single fight. Same with the Eternals now. They got resurrection technology, which apparently means they have to die like, all the time.

That's not 'Eternal.' That's 'Self-replacing serial loser.'