__________ is apparently an X-gene mutant! (Photon 4 spoilers)

[Psi-Lord]

How could a powerful mutant not be detected by Xavier, the Sentinels, the Hellfire Club and anybody who is hunting or headhunting powerful mutants?
I really hope she won't be one, that would be as ridiculous as Squirrel Girl, Wanda and Pietro being retconned as non-mutants.

Marvel editors would find a way, like they always have.

[Devaishwarya]

As I saw mentioned it might actually be a way if re-introducing the Inhumans into the MU proper. And actually I'd be okies with that.

[Thundershot]

If she ends up a mutant (and I think it’s a misdirection) then I hope she’s like Justice and stays away from the other mutants.

[Triniking1234]

She had her powers since she was a child before the accident in her Amazing Spider-Man appearance but Marvel trying to say she's not a mutant when that's how it works in 616 most of the time except in cases like Speedball from New Warriors.

[gonnagiveittoya]

I really can't imagine why they'd do this for Monica but not the much more obvious candidate of Kamala

[Micabe]

I really can't imagine why they'd do this for Monica but not the much more obvious candidate of Kamala

But, Kamala Kahn was officially classified as being a latent Inhuman from her inception and unlike Kamala, Monica's origin was not defined so much to the point that such a reveal now would contradict anything cannon-wise, Cerebro/Cerebra, Sentinels notwithstanding.

[Devaishwarya]

But they would have to completely ignore/disregard a lot of very important canon...important to mutants...to make turning her into a mutant now, make any sense. Not to mention how damaging it would be for the character.

She hid her abilities throughout her entire childhood and early adulthood...then "gained" power when she was a full adult...and then willfully decided to completely hide the fact that she was a mutant from EVERYbody for all these years, all this time?

That would actually make her one of the biggest hypocrites ever in the MU.

[Grunty]

If this is the plan, it can feel like a short sighted repeat of the "let's make everyone a mutant because the X-men are a hot property" trend of the late 80's/early 90's (the X-men's late golden age) and an overreaction to the following counter trend of trying to harm the mutants' presence in the Marvel Universe via cutting their numbers down and making characters unrelated to them because of the movie rights.

Which has arguably been extremely harmfull to the immersion factor of these stories and impedes the allready weakend accesibility for potential new readers, because of how much it can draw attention to "office politics" of the publisher as more logical explanation for a change than in universe consistency.

As I saw mentioned it might actually be a way if re-introducing the Inhumans into the MU proper. And actually I'd be okies with that.

Considering that the treatment of the Inhumans after their failed push was arguably another harmfull overreaction, re-introducing them would not be a bad move, but turning a previously unrelated character into one would not necessarily be a good way to do so.

[Devaishwarya]

If this is the plan, it can feel like a short sighted repeat of the "let's make everyone a mutant because the X-men are a hot property" trend of the late 80's/early 90's (the X-men's late golden age) and an overreaction to the following counter trend of trying to harm the mutants' presence in the Marvel Universe via cutting their numbers down and making characters unrelated to them because of the movie rights.

Which has arguably been extremely harmfull to the immersion factor of these stories and impedes the allready weakend accesibility for potential new readers, because of how much it can draw attention to "office politics" of the publisher as more logical explanation for a change than in universe consistency.



Considering that the treatment of the Inhumans after their failed push was arguably another harmfull overreaction, re-introducing them would not be a bad move, but turning a previously unrelated character into one would not necessarily be a good way to do so.

Not good, but not necessarily bad either...certainly not as bad a making her a mutant which is a bajillion times worse.

They could go with: Her mother was working in the lab with the Doctor who invented the energy device and was exposed to the extradimensional energies while pregnant with Monica. The fetus absorbed all of those latent energies invitro and started to exhibit powers as a pre-teen but decided to hide her abilities because of "Mutant Hysteria" thinking that she herself was one. When years later she interacted with the same device and the same energies her true powers were reactivated fully.

[Grunty]

Not good, but not necessarily bad either...certainly not as bad a making her a mutant which is a bajillion times worse.

I agree. It's certainly more reasonable than mutant.

They could go with: Her mother was working in the lab with the Doctor who invented the energy device and was exposed to the extradimensional energies while pregnant with Monica. The fetus absorbed all of those latent energies invitro and started to exhibit powers as a pre-teen but decided to hide her abilities because of "Mutant Hysteria" thinking that she herself was one. When years later she interacted with the same device and the same energies her true powers were reactivated fully.

That's an interesting idea, especially since it would actualy involve showcasing the social and cultural impact of mutants on the Marvel Universe, in this case people being afraid of developing super powers because of the potential negative association with them.

[Krakoa]

But they would have to completely ignore/disregard a lot of very important canon...important to mutants...to make turning her into a mutant now, make any sense. Not to mention how damaging it would be for the character.

She hid her abilities throughout her entire childhood and early adulthood...then "gained" power when she was a full adult...and then willfully decided to completely hide the fact that she was a mutant from EVERYbody for all these years, all this time?

That would actually make her one of the biggest hypocrites ever in the MU.

Monica was actually depicted having powers as a child in Nextwave #1, so it's not out of nowhere for her character.

[Micabe]

But they would have to completely ignore/disregard a lot of very important canon...important to mutants...to make turning her into a mutant now, make any sense. Not to mention how damaging it would be for the character.

She hid her abilities throughout her entire childhood and early adulthood...then "gained" power when she was a full adult...and then willfully decided to completely hide the fact that she was a mutant from EVERYbody for all these years, all this time?

That would actually make her one of the biggest hypocrites ever in the MU.

I'd like to believe that Monica was worried that she (and or her family) would be targeted for being a mutant while being a member of the Avengers and simply decided that being mum about it was the best course of action for all involved.

Monica was actually depicted having powers as a child in Nextwave #1, so it's not out of nowhere for her character.

I have the issue but I didn't make the connection until you mentioned it, you're referring to these frames, yes?



Nextwave - Agents of H.A.T.E. #1 (2006)

[Devaishwarya]

So a coward...on top of being a hypocrite. Because she was leading the Avengers, in a position of power to actually make a difference or at the very least try to do something positive for mutants but chose to stay silent and hide.

And I know this is long after the fact and nothing is confirmed but...this just shows how retcons could possibly be more damaging than just leaving things as they are especially when there's no need to rewrite her origin story in the first place.

And if that's the direction...they better have a far better excuse than: I stayed quiet all these years to protect my family.

[anyajenkins]

…I don’t really think it’s a good idea to leave it cannon that Monica killed dogs when she was a kid…

[Micabe]

Huh? What? Wait... The little yapper didn't die. Monica just scorch him/her until it stopped barking.