What have the X-Men done lately to make the world a better place for mutants?

[Mr. Brightside]

I feel like the Phoenix Five did more for mutants and the world (they ended poverty and hunger and war) than pretty much all the other superheros and mutants together.

But Wolverine's school has done a lot for mutants but has done practically nothing for their place in society, it's just a haven. Shield is too busy chasing Cyclops for the public to stop vilifying mutants.

All points are on point lol

[dragonmp93]

Just to clarify.

There has been very little social progress toward mutant acceptance since the 80's. So yes, I'm talking decades of real world time span.

The X-Men have been almost entirely reactionary since that time. facing off against the likes of Apocalypse, Sinister, and their type of villainy. As well as dealing with whatever alternate timeline/dimension that pops up.

What has been done in their main timeline to better the mutant condition, in my opinion, has been relatively nonexistant.

Well, thanks to AvX, we know what happened the one time that X-men tried to make the world a better place in a more active way.

[JoeWithoutFear]

I would LOVE to see the X-Men finally focus more on Mutant/human acceptance again. I am a big fan of striving towards understanding and acceptance for all people. So, I really enjoy that aspect of these books and miss how it has been put on the way back-burner in favor of heroes fighting heroes for the 8000th time. Like seriously, Marvel heroes haven't fought a villain since 2006. Look it up. ;-)

That said, when I read X-Men comics, I see the metaphor as general understanding and acceptance for all people, groups, issues and settings. Issues that face minority groups are of course included under that umbrella. But, I don't think the X-Men metaphor speaks ONLY to that subject, or should. If I wanted to read something about specific real-world issues, works of fiction would not be the most consistently reliable way to do that. But, there are many excellent non-fiction books on those subjects!

[teddyeatsyourface]

Except the average citizens don't know anything about Spidey being bit by a radioactive spider. For all they know, Spidey may very well be a mutant, but he generally gets treated well by the public while actual mutants are despised on sight.

I literally addressed that in the same post.

[sureshot]

In the case of the Inhumans, the racism has a very personal core to it:

spoilers:

Their friend and colleague Tripp was killed by an artifact that releases Terrigenesis Mist to create Inhumans. Now their friend's death is inextricably linked with the weird alien stuff/Inhumans. Simmons saw Tripp's shattered remains being wheeled out of the Temple, so it's particularly graphic for her, in her mind.

end of spoilers

To be caught up in that kind of grief and be looking for someone or something to blame, and latch onto Inhumans as the source of that trauma and grief, is a very human thing to do.

It's very believable, to me. They don't understand it, so they hate and fear it. But there are other sorts of reactions by humans and pieces of human-mutant dialogue that sound straight out an X-Men comic book, too.

I thought it was a very effective mutant-centric episode.

I know the reason for the character acting the way she did is because of Trip death. Except if anything it makes her also a hypocrite. It's okay if a Inhuman kills off some random civilian or someone else. It suddenly becomes personally simply because it's a teammate that she may have had feelings for. As long as her character develops into it gradually. If they decide to make Simmons anti-Inhuman. Again I don't think it's a bad thing. Simply that I wanted to see some sign of it in the previous season.

The average MU citizen really can't do much for Mutant Rights except voice their opinions. Like all things in real life, it all comes down to the decisions of the ones in charge.

True. But it would be nice to see some anti-government protests against the use of Sentinels and/or anti-mutant laws. From someone who has been reading comics and and off since the mid 80s. Very little has been done to change the status quo on mutants. If anything the writers seem determined to do anything but. Thinking we won't notice imo.

[sureshot]

I feel like the Phoenix Five did more for mutants and the world (they ended poverty and hunger and war) than pretty much all the other superheros and mutants together.

But Wolverine's school has done a lot for mutants but has done practically nothing for their place in society, it's just a haven. Shield is too busy chasing Cyclops for the public to stop vilifying mutants.

Which does not paint a very good picture about the rest of the MU imo. When it takes five mutants who in the end are corrupted by their power. To help mutants and the rest of the world that's saying something the characters. As well as how the writers keep trying to push the anti-mutant agenda.

[Iron Fist]

Which does not paint a very good picture about the rest of the MU imo. When it takes five mutants who in the end are corrupted by their power. To help mutants and the rest of the world that's saying something the characters. As well as how the writers keep trying to push the anti-mutant agenda.

Well to be fair, they weren't being corrupted until the avengers started interfering thus increasing everyone's exposure to the Phoenix force everytime someone got knocked out. During the weeks before the Avengers started trying to undermine them, they were doing amazing things for the world and by extension for mutants.

But yeah the rest of the marvel universe are useless. You think with Tony Stark making Phoenix guns and crap they'd have figured out a way to end world hunger or at least used their considerable media influence to help mutants not be vilified in the press.

I think Civil War for all it's failing, really illustrated why the mutants didn't give a flying f*ck about the superheroes problems. Emma basically says "oh the whole country thinks you're a danger and wants to register you? cry me a river darling." to Iron Man.

If anything the mutants would be better served being in their own universe so this anti-mutant stuff can actually work, because right now it seems that everyone is a-okay with the hulk and the fantastic four and spiderman who could all be radioactive and giving them cancer, but mutants who evolved their powers naturally, gotta protest that. Or Marvel needs to drop the anti-mutant stuff and find a new angle for the X-Men to use for their stories, at the moment it just doesn't work or make sense.

Wow this was a ramble.

[AJpyro]

Well to be fair, they weren't being corrupted until the avengers started interfering thus increasing everyone's exposure to the Phoenix force everytime someone got knocked out. During the weeks before the Avengers started trying to undermine them, they were doing amazing things for the world and by extension for mutants.

But yeah the rest of the marvel universe are useless. You think with Tony Stark making Phoenix guns and crap they'd have figured out a way to end world hunger or at least used their considerable media influence to help mutants not be vilified in the press.

I think Civil War for all it's failing, really illustrated why the mutants didn't give a flying f*ck about the superheroes problems. Emma basically says "oh the whole country thinks you're a danger and wants to register you? cry me a river darling." to Iron Man.

If anything the mutants would be better served being in their own universe so this anti-mutant stuff can actually work, because right now it seems that everyone is a-okay with the hulk and the fantastic four and spiderman who could all be radioactive and giving them cancer, but mutants who evolved their powers naturally, gotta protest that. Or Marvel needs to drop the anti-mutant stuff and find a new angle for the X-Men to use for their stories, at the moment it just doesn't work or make sense.

Wow this was a ramble.

That was hilariously awesome on Emma's part. I would've given the guy the finger as well.

[sureshot]

Well to be fair, they weren't being corrupted until the avengers started interfering thus increasing everyone's exposure to the Phoenix force everytime someone got knocked out. During the weeks before the Avengers started trying to undermine them, they were doing amazing things for the world and by extension for mutants.

I was taking Avengers interference into account. Even with that they still did more than everyone else imo.

But yeah the rest of the marvel universe are useless. You think with Tony Stark making Phoenix guns and crap they'd have figured out a way to end world hunger or at least used their considerable media influence to help mutants not be vilified in the press.

To be fair it's not so much the rest of the MU being useless. So much as the mandate from Marvel that no matter what mutants have to suffer racism. Even in a world where different to be honest is the norm rather then the exception.

I think Civil War for all it's failing, really illustrated why the mutants didn't give a flying f*ck about the superheroes problems. Emma basically says "oh the whole country thinks you're a danger and wants to register you? cry me a river darling." to Iron Man.

Classic Emma Frost. I had forgot about that. I felt no really sympathy for non-mutants having to register. Considering what mutants as a whole have suffered for years.

If anything the mutants would be better served being in their own universe so this anti-mutant stuff can actually work, because right now it seems that everyone is a-okay with the hulk and the fantastic four and spiderman who could all be radioactive and giving them cancer, but mutants who evolved their powers naturally, gotta protest that. Or Marvel needs to drop the anti-mutant stuff and find a new angle for the X-Men to use for their stories, at the moment it just doesn't work or make sense.

Even when the X-men were self contained in the MU it still made no sense for mutants to suffer racism. As you say with the Hulk, FF and Spider-man clearly not being 100% human anymore. Why would they be the only ones targeted. Not to mention with the likes of the Wrecking Crew and similar human looking villains who injured more people. As well as doing property damage. The anti-mutant bias was simply no longer beleivable or realistic to me at least. I have said many times if mutants or even non-mutants lived in a world where 80-90 of the world population was normal. With mutants and non-mutants being the other 10-20%. Then I can see humans lashing out at mutants and probably even non-mutants. With the MU one can't take then steps without tripping over a superpowered individual. If anything besides a few hardcore human supremacy anti-mutant groups. Mutants and non-mutants would be simply not even be on anyone radar.

To use a somewhat of a extreme example. At 0;22 of this video. The guy driving in the car simply keeps driving after seeing Godzilla walking next to him. Probably going "Man it's Monday back to the grind. Oh and there Godzilla again". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbfmC7_CdK4

Wow this was a ramble.

Your not rambling. I have read worse hear and elsewhere.

[The Overlord]

That falls on the wider MU as well. They haven't made much if any attempts at improving mutant rights. The X-Men have constantly been on the defensive since Decimation, to the point where their main goal was to protect the surviving 198(whatever) number of mutants from the numerous threats against their survival. The Heroic Age (post-Second Coming) was supposed to re-introduce a positive look on mutant-kind by the MU, but that quickly fell by the wayside when AvX happened. After that, all the mutants are treated as the villains even though they eliminated civil wars, starvation, and the general lack of resources in many parts of the impoverished world.

AvX had the X-Men make a better world for everyone, yet mutants are still treated by the MU as a dangerous nuisance to the world rather than part of the normal, everyday communities they're born into.


Marvel, in general, has done a shit job in portraying minority metaphor/allegory throughly. They only allow the X-Men to deal with prejudice when it's to remind people that mutants are hated for existing. But Marvel never goes into how the MU is originally responsible for its own hate & prejudice and they never seem to show how pro-mutant rights are being handled on a socio-political level in the MU.

But the big problem with the X-Men and the Marvel Universe, it tries to enforce a status quo that other books are not interested in dealing with. Avengers wants to tell more straight forward super hero stories, so they wouldn't want to deal with mutant rights issues all the time, the fantastic Four wants to have cosmic adventures, they don't want to tell with mutant rights issues all the time either, Daredevil deals with crime noir stories, so DD writers wouldn't want to deal with mutant rights issues either. Really if every title was dealing with the mutant rights issues, would the X-Men still be unique. I think the X-Men work better in other media, like movies and cartoons, because they are usually the only meta humans around and so its easier to justify their status quo.

Since the federal govement is more likely to exterminate mutants than give them aid asking them for aid is a bit silly, Apartied against mutants is t still federal law in the MU version of the US, and the have a whole agency w run by a sociopath that developed plans for a "final solution' to the "mutant problem"
Mutant outreach in the MU is called murder

The X-men have done a fair job of making sure there are still mutants, and without that the rest is meaningless,.

See this never made a whole lot of sense to me, why is the US government want to kill all mutants? What do they even gain from that? Is the "kill all the mutants" policy affected by election cycles, are both Democrats and Republicans genocidal towards mutants and that will never change? Frankly the US government trying to exploit mutants and recruit them into the military to fight their wars for them, would make more sense then spending billions of giant killer robots to kill all of them. Heck why are Sentinels used just to kill mutants, why not spend them to wars in the Middle East? I think the whole "the US government wants kill all mutants for no good reason" is a tired old trope, I think there are other forms of discrimination that less extreme that are worth exploring. The evil one dimensional psychopath who wants to kill all mutants because he is evil, needs to be retired.

Also are no pro mutant NGOs out there that X-Men can work? The vast majority of humans just hate mutants for no good reason?

[Iron Fist]

Even when the X-men were self contained in the MU it still made no sense for mutants to suffer racism. As you say with the Hulk, FF and Spider-man clearly not being 100% human anymore. Why would they be the only ones targeted. Not to mention with the likes of the Wrecking Crew and similar human looking villains who injured more people. As well as doing property damage. The anti-mutant bias was simply no longer beleivable or realistic to me at least. I have said many times if mutants or even non-mutants lived in a world where 80-90 of the world population was normal. With mutants and non-mutants being the other 10-20%. Then I can see humans lashing out at mutants and probably even non-mutants. With the MU one can't take then steps without tripping over a superpowered individual. If anything besides a few hardcore human supremacy anti-mutant groups. Mutants and non-mutants would be simply not even be on anyone radar.

No you misunderstood, when I said they need to be self contained i meant they should have their own universe. Like the ultimate universe being completely separate from the 616. Give the mutants their own universe where there is only mutants and humans, no superheroes. then their racism plots can actually work but it gets ruined the second you bring in cosmic beings who can talk and interact. If they could make the Phoenix it's own thing and not have any other life in the universe or at least no other life that is going to visit or be visited by the X-Men then great.

But I think the X-Men need a shake up or their own universe.

[Tazpocalapse]

I see your point. Yet it still feels forced. When humans hate it's not so selective imo. Or very rarely. If anything what happened with Civil War should have had a decent amount of the population wondering if even non-mutant heroes/villains should be trusted. Given the negative reaction on the US army using drones. Their should be major protests against the use of Sentinels. Even government backed superheros would be accused of "working with the enemy". Not by their actions. By working with the government. Even then how are cosmic rays, gamma radiation, super serums, radioactive spiders, Gods, or from other dimensions/planets that different then a mutant gene. If anything a certain amount of humans would be against any and all of those characters powered by those various sources. Simply for being different. For some anything different is to be feared. It's not to say mutant racism as a concept did not work. It did. But now with little to almost no progress on the mutants right issue in the MU. It just feels forced imo. It was and is Marvel clumsy heavy handed way with dealing with racism in their comics. If they truly wanted to show racism it would have been handled in a more realistic manner. At least DC gets it right imo. When the three most powerful villains and heroes look human. It kind of makes racism against the Martian Manhunter seem out of character imo. The guy in the blue suit with the S on his chest lifting a parts of building is less frightening than a alien .

Xenophobia against Martian Manhunter would not be out of character. First of all the guy in the blue suit with the S on his chest is a ALIEN, he just has the benefit of looking like a caucasian male from the midwest. While Martian Manhunter has a completely different appearance that may cause a different reaction.

[dragonmp93]

But the big problem with the X-Men and the Marvel Universe, it tries to enforce a status quo that other books are not interested in dealing with. Avengers wants to tell more straight forward super hero stories, so they wouldn't want to deal with mutant rights issues all the time, the fantastic Four wants to have cosmic adventures, they don't want to tell with mutant rights issues all the time either, Daredevil deals with crime noir stories, so DD writers wouldn't want to deal with mutant rights issues either. Really if every title was dealing with the mutant rights issues, would the X-Men still be unique. I think the X-Men work better in other media, like movies and cartoons, because they are usually the only meta humans around and so its easier to justify their status quo.



See this never made a whole lot of sense to me, why is the US government want to kill all mutants? What do they even gain from that? Is the "kill all the mutants" policy affected by election cycles, are both Democrats and Republicans genocidal towards mutants and that will never change? Frankly the US government trying to exploit mutants and recruit them into the military to fight their wars for them, would make more sense then spending billions of giant killer robots to kill all of them. Heck why are Sentinels used just to kill mutants, why not spend them to wars in the Middle East? I think the whole "the US government wants kill all mutants for no good reason" is a tired old trope, I think there are other forms of discrimination that less extreme that are worth exploring. The evil one dimensional psychopath who wants to kill all mutants because he is evil, needs to be retired.

Also are no pro mutant NGOs out there that X-Men can work? The vast majority of humans just hate mutants for no good reason?

Why do you do think that Cyclops is so obssessed with survival ?, and according to the X-books, at least half of the normal humans hate the Mutants, the rest simply couldnt care less about what happens with them.

About the mutants' right, its not like that the other books have to do it too; and after what happened in AvX, i would be so happy and grateful if they kept the Avengers away of the mutants for a while.

[The Overlord]

Why do you do think that Cyclops is so obssessed with survival ?, and according to the X-books, at least half of the normal humans hate the Mutants, the rest simply couldnt care less about what happens with them.

Except its become a cliche at this point, a large number of humans having genocidal hatred towards mutants for no good reason. Not every bigot is going to be a Hitler like genocidal fanatic, I think constantly going that extreme kinda undermines the X-Men and any idea of moving forward. The Avengers only seem to be uncaring, because the X-Men titles have to go to this extreme that other titles do not want to deal with. I think this has become a rather tiresome story telling device for the X-Men.

About the mutants' right, its not like that the other books have to do it too; and after what happened in AvX, i would be so happy and grateful if they kept the Avengers away of the mutants for a while.

Alright, then people shouldn't complaining about the Avengers never helping the X-Men then. Let's face there have been plenty of time where the Avengers have faced off against villains who commit mass murder and the X-Men didn't show up to stop them, are we to assume that the X-Men didn't care about those villains and their crimes? Again the X-Men writers and writers of other titles simply want their characters to focus on their own problems, its not the characters fault if the writers don't want to deal with other characters issues.

[dragonmp93]

Except its become a cliche at this point, a large number of humans having genocidal hatred towards mutants for no good reason. Not every bigot is going to be a Hitler like genocidal fanatic, I think constantly going that extreme kinda undermines the X-Men and any idea of moving forward. The Avengers only seem to be uncaring, because the X-Men titles have to go to this extreme that other titles do not want to deal with. I think this has become a rather tiresome story telling device for the X-Men.



Alright, then people shouldn't complaining about the Avengers never helping the X-Men then. Let's face there have been plenty of time where the Avengers have faced off against villains who commit mass murder and the X-Men didn't show up to stop them, are we to assume that the X-Men didn't care about those villains and their crimes? Again the X-Men writers and writers of other titles simply want their characters to focus on their own problems, its not the characters fault if the writers don't want to deal with other characters issues.

Well, then the Avengers shouldnt just show up one day and start giving orders like if they were the X-men's bosses, like in AvX.