The difference between the Inhumans and the Mutants

[ImprobableQuestion]

Adding on to what the others have said, Inhumans are a race with their own society trying to live in tandem with human society whereas the mutants are a race trying trying to integrate into human society.

[Darth Phoenix]

How do inhumans register on Sentinal scans? If they attack then none.

[MichaelC]

Movie rights.

Ding! This ^

[Ravin' Ray]

Eternals aren't humans. Sky father level gods have more in common with humans than the Eternals do. They, like the Deviants and Inhumans, ceased being human.

I think what emac1790 wanted to point out, and to which I agree, is that the Celestials didn't introduce anything foreign into the primordial Eternal and Deviant DNA thus they are still fully terran, albeit cosmically augmented in the former's case. Both are of wholly human ancestry even if they've transcended their humanity.

[Myetche]

How do inhumans register on Sentinal scans? If they attack then none.

They'll inevitably attack anything that's superpowered regardless of origin, as DoFP has proven.

[Emma's Midriff]

I think the mutants would stomp the Inhumans.

[Geralt of Rivia]

Regardless of movie rights and the pissing contests that can be found all over nowadays; I preferred the Inhumans as a monarchical, secretive and insular society in the MU.

They sadly lost most of what made them special.

[Omegastorm]

Even though I really enjoy Blakagar and his wife slave owning fictional societies don't interest me that much. That's a major difference right there.

o

[emac1790]

I think what emac1790 wanted to point out, and to which I agree, is that the Celestials didn't introduce anything foreign into the primordial Eternal and Deviant DNA thus they are still fully terran, albeit cosmically augmented in the former's case. Both are of wholly human ancestry even if they've transcended their humanity.

Thanks. That's just what I meant. That's why I say Inhumans are not alien hybrids.

Edit; Going by Post Monster's logic, mutants wouldn't be human. There are some mutants more powerful than Sky-Fathers. Franklin Richards, for example. Is he not human?

[ImprobableQuestion]

The announcement of "No More Mutants" at NYCC has rekindled the belief in many that Marvel intends to remove mutants from the equation; namely to convert them into Inhumans.

I do not see any logical way this could/should come about, but many do, so I decided to create a place for greater understanding of the differences/similarities between the two superpowered factions.

There are some things I want to put up first:

Origin of mutants (the X-Gene): I could use some help with this, because I've lost track in terms of "children of the atom" vs "next phase of evolution" vs "something something Apocalypse"

Origin of the Inhumans (the Terrigen Mists): I'll put this in later when I have time, though feel free to add your own because I'm sure I'll miss something.

Some feel the Scarlet Witch will be behind the transformation. But without actually going through Terrigenesis what makes a mutant different from an Inhuman?

What does the franchise stand to lose/gain from becoming Inhumans? What about the Marvel brand?

[dragonmp93]

Well, how long i know, the X-gene comes from the time that the Celestials did some experiments on the humanity's ancestors.

And, to be sincere, the only difference between a mutant and a inhuman, its that a mutant is hunted by everyone, including the government.

And the only gain that i can see is that maybe the mutant-turned-inhuman wouldnt longer have to worry about being hunted anymore; well, either that, or, though is neither a loss or a gain, the Inhumans, in general, would start being hunted by everyone, including the government.

[vitruvian]

The announcement of "No More Mutants" at NYCC has rekindled the belief in many that Marvel intends to remove mutants from the equation; namely to convert them into Inhumans.

I do not see any logical way this could/should come about, but many do, so I decided to create a place for greater understanding of the differences/similarities between the two superpowered factions.

There are some things I want to put up first:

Origin of mutants (the X-Gene): I could use some help with this, because I've lost track in terms of "children of the atom" vs "next phase of evolution" vs "something something Apocalypse"

Origin of the Inhumans (the Terrigen Mists): I'll put this in later when I have time, though feel free to add your own because I'm sure I'll miss something.

Some feel the Scarlet Witch will be behind the transformation. But without actually going through Terrigenesis what makes a mutant different from an Inhuman?

What does the franchise stand to lose/gain from becoming Inhumans? What about the Marvel brand?

Fox would still retain the rights to all classic and otherwise identified X-Men characters, regardless of whether the source of their superpowers had changed in the comics, so I'm not sure I see the point of such an exercise.

Now, is it worthwhile to Marvel to emphasize and attempt to build up both their classic and new Inhuman characters, with the hope being to create a franchise eventually rivaling those for X-Men and Avengers? Sure, to the extent that the Inhumans concept isn't tied up with the Fantastic Four license.

Might Marvel be stepping back from some of its marketing and promotion efforts for the X-Men franchise, so long as it's believed that such efforts boost Fox movies? I guess, although the link is probably pretty tenuous and it might be just more benign neglect - X-Men comic book sales never seem to go too low no matter what editorial does to the line anyway.

But no, they're not going to completely do away with mutants in favor of Inhumans, at least not widely. I guess I could see them doing it with a few characters like Justice and Firestar and so on that they want to detach from the mutant label and use as part of the franchises (Avengers and New Warriors) they've actually been more closely associated with, but that's about it.

As far as the in-universe explanation goes, it's pretty simple:

1) Superpowered mutants get their powers from the X-gene. It appears to be a single gene mutation that somehow gives different individuals born with it (either by mutation or inheritance from X-gene positive 'mutant' parents) wildly different powers. The potential for the X-gene to crop up in the overall human population is believed to be a legacy of genetic tampering long ago by the Celestials, alien space gods who also created the variant human races of the Eternals and Deviants. Reasons for the mutant population exploding in recent decades are unclear, with theories ranging from exposure to radiation from nuclear tests to pollutants as mutagens to it just being time for the next stage in evolution (never mind that the potential for the X-gene was artificially introduced by mile high aliens) to it being the Celestial plan for Earth (never mind that the Fourth Host gave Earth the thumbs up while still populated mostly by baseline humans rather than mutants).

2) Inhumans can get superpowers from exposure to the Terrigen mists (rather than dying from them) because they were genetically engineered and tampered with by a different alien race, the Kree, rather more recently - but still a long, long time ago. This genetic tampering may have built on the stuff the Celestials had already done to the human genome. For a long time it was thought that the Inhumans were all sequestered from the larger world in their Hidden Land, but it's recently turned out that there is a minority of people around the world with enough Inhuman ancestry from groups that wandered off and interbred with other peoples that they can successfully undergo Terrigenesis as well, and a whole bunch of them recently got powers from Black Bolt and Maximus exposing the world to the mists (but in a low enough dosage it didn't kill regular humans without the Inhuman genetics).

As for what makes an Inhuman different from mutants, prior to the Terrigenesis, the 'pure strain' Inhumans that have been living in the Hidden Land (and then the Himalayas, and then the Moon, and then in Kree space, and then floating above NYC, and now kind of scattered or in the crashed city) are supposedly stronger, healthier, and longer-lived than regular humans even without exposure to the mists, but they don't get powers on their own. Mutants develop their powers and other mutations spontaneously, usually but not always at puberty. As for all the recent Inhumans who thought they were just regular humans and turned out to have enough Inhuman ancestry to undergo Terrigenesis, I don't think we've been shown or told if they were any different from normal before the mists touched them.

As for what the franchise stands to lose/gain, I think it's mainly an additional franchise, not a replacement, as mentioned above. Within an in-universe context, I suppose it would make some sense to say that what the Kree managed to do was just create a modified X-gene that only got activated by Terrigen, making Inhumans just a different type of mutant and the two groups in some sense one and the same.

[TakoM]

The origin of the X-gene I can only say this wasn't cleared to 100% we have only the Celestial at the beginning which manipulated the human genome for their purposes(later) which gave the human in their evolution the potential for superpowers. Than we have the X-gene which activate in puberty between that we have only a story about proto-mutants which I haven't read yet.

In the original X-Men stories(way way back) there were accident include like the other heroes also have for activation their powers and the X-gene was a result of radioactive rays from the sun.

In Alex Ross Earth-X it is fear what worked as catalyzer for the manifestation of the X-gene. I think in 616 we have a lot more 'things' which include into the evolution of the X-Gene like the proto-mutants

[vitruvian]

Well, how long i know, the X-gene comes from the time that the Celestials did some experiments on the humanity's ancestors.

And, to be sincere, the only difference between a mutant and a inhuman, its that a mutant is hunted by everyone, including the government.

And the only gain that i can see is that maybe the mutant-turned-inhuman wouldnt longer have to worry about being hunted anymore; well, either that, or, though is neither a loss or a gain, the Inhumans, in general, would start being hunted by everyone, including the government.

So far, the new Inhumans do seem to be getting hunted by various groups, but more because they want to try to exploit them and their powers than because they're simply feared and hated. Which would actually make more sense for mutants all along, too. As far as the governments and corporations of the world are concerned, they should all just be 'regular people who got powers', to be treated as exploitable assets or threats depending on their exact powers or inclinations, regardless of exactly how they got the powers or what they've been called.

[Tofali]

Their origins are different.
Mutants' origins are from Celestial while Inhumans are from the Kree.
Mutants' powers emerge with age while Inhuman's latent powers are triggered by Terrigenisis.