Mutation later in life

[Headache]

A question for X-fans from me, an outsider.

Now, the default with mutations seems to be that it comes about in puberty. Some others are evident right at birth, like Nightcrawler if memory serves. What about later in life? Can it happen in middle age, or older? Now, I don't mean "they had powers but they never came up" or suppressed memory of powers from a young age. I mean normal person who suddenly grows horns or starts breathing fire in their 30s or similar.

It's something I realized I just don't know about Marvel's Mutants.

Thanks in advance for any information.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I don't think that any mutant has developed their powers that late, if there was anything like that where the character got their powers later in life it was because of outside forces, like someone kept them from getting their powers for one reason or another or they were mutated later in life, otherwise yeah the lion's share of characters powers show up at puberty or earlier...

[paurru]

Some mutants were born mutants such as Nightcrawler and Hank McCoy.


Hank McCoy' s father was screwing around at a nuclear power facility so his sperm was affected by radiation. So it was lucky Hank's mother didn't die from the sex

[DDM]

Jamie Braddock's mutant powers didn't manifest until he was in his 30s, and then only as a result of the trauma he endured being tortured by Doc Croc. James Jaspers also didn't manifest until much later in his life (50s iirc). Oddly in both cases they're reality warpers so maybe that has something to do with it?

Some mutants are "late bloomers" and manifest natirally in their early adulthood (18-20s) rather than onset at puberty or as a minor. Two examples here are Psylocke or Rhapsody.

[jwatson]

There are also latent mutants who powers have never been activated for whatever reason. Maybe the perfect life, maybe a great way of dealing with stress, or whatever it may be. In some cases their powers can be jump started by technology like Polaris (though technically it was retconned that Polaris had her powers since she was a toddler at least. Though she did have the green hair from birth.) or by mutants such as Sage who can jump-start a latent x-gene like she did for Lifeguard's brother Slipstream.

[Digifiend]

Some mutants who came of age between "No More Mutants" and AVX also got their powers late, since their X-gene couldn't activate in that period. Hijack, for example.

[ChibaMariners]

Some mutants who came of age between "No More Mutants" and AVX also got their powers late, since their X-gene couldn't activate in that period. Hijack, for example.

So M Day didn't completely erase the existence of the X-gene?

[doomeye56]

How has no one mentioned Magneto yet? His mutant powers didnt awaken till he was an adult.

[Digifiend]

So M Day didn't completely erase the existence of the X-gene?

It can't have done, or no more mutants would manifest ever. It suppressed it.

[ZNOP]

So M Day didn't completely erase the existence of the X-gene?

It can't have done, or no more mutants would manifest ever. It suppressed it.

Post M-Day Mutants

[Headache]

Ok, so what I am getting is that while there are a few fringe cases, it isn't something that happens in normal circumstances.

Ok, thanks. That's what I was looking to find out.

[JustAnotherFan]

So M Day didn't completely erase the existence of the X-gene?

It can't have done, or no more mutants would manifest ever. It suppressed it.

IIRC the comics post M-Day made it explicit that Scarlet Witch didn't just turn off the x-gene but that she actually removed it completely. So when Phoenix was dispersed in AvX it didn't just activate the latent x-gene in latent mutants but it actually gave the x-gene to them. The fact that all of the post AvX mutants shown so far were not mutants pre M-Day seems to support that as does the fact that no mutant depowered on M-Day seems to have regained their powers thanks to Phoenix reigniting their x-gene. One would think that writers would have by now brought back at least one mutant depowered on M-Day if M-Day only turned their x-gene off and it only needed to be reactivated by Phoenix!

Then again I think at least some comics also implied that x-gene simply needed to be reactivated and not completely recreated from scratch. But that's Marvel continuity for ya. You can probably choose which one you wanna see as being the case.

How has no one mentioned Magneto yet? His mutant powers didnt awaken till he was an adult.

He's actually kind of a question mark. Originally I think that his powers were supposed to have manifested only at adulthood (maybe being malnourished in puberty at concentration camps had something to do with it?) but later stories have retconned it so that he did manifest his powers at the camps but that they were very weak at that point. In his solo he levitated a nail to try to use it as a weapon but once he lost his concentration after being shoved he dropped it and couldn't pick it up again using his powers.

[blinkingblah]

Hijack is older I believe.

[Bl00dwerK]

I see mention of latent powers but, if they were activated by some outside force (not happening naturally), aren't those people considered "altered humans" or mutates?

[Ricochet Rita]

How has no one mentioned Magneto yet? His mutant powers didnt awaken till he was an adult.

Nope. He used them subconsciously as a child, when he was about to get killed together with his family. After that, his powers kept latent to his 20-30, when he was already married and father. Maybe it was a traumatic consequence.

TNM #49