Comics history quiz masters - Who was the original "mutant" in the history of comics?

[TBG]

I still say Namor counts, regardless of when they started calling him a mutant or if cerebro detects him. His breathing underwater or on land don’t count, as those are each inherited from a parent, but the little ankle wings that let him fly and his extreme strength make him a mutant, because neither of his parents had those powers.

[Horatio_Hellpop]

@TBG

I still say Namor counts, regardless of when they started calling him a mutant or if cerebro detects him. His breathing underwater or on land don’t count, as those are each inherited from a parent, but the little ankle wings that let him fly and his extreme strength make him a mutant, because neither of his parents had those powers.

That, and his prodigious strength. He’s in, I think, the 85-ton range on land (i.e. on a par with Ben Grimm) and 100-ton underwater (he could go toe to toe with Thor or the Hulk, due to homefield advantage). A handful of Atlanteans are that strong, and of them, only his blood relatives have the ankle wings.

Isn’t it time for one of Namor’s illegitimate sons to make an appearance? Or one of his alien monster kids by Marrina?

[Horatio_Hellpop]

@Exapno_Mapcase

There’s a bunch of other categories as well in the Marvel Universe.

Hybrids between species, like Namor (part Atlantean, part human).

Aliens with native powers, like the Scrulls.

Artificial intelligent beings, like the original Human Torch and the Vision.

Enhanced artificial powers, like Iron Man.

Cosmic beings, like Eternity. (Galactus, his heralds like the Silver Surfer, and the Watcher, I believe all have some background in ordinary alien races, but that may have changed at any point).

Magical talents, like Dr. Strange.

Evolved animals, like one incarnation of Spider-Woman. (The High Evolutionary evolved her from a spider to a human. This didn’t last long.)

Mythological gods, like Thor, Hercules, and other pantheons.

Miscellaneous, like Ego, the Living Planet.

I’m leaving out the monsters they did after the Comics Code changed, like Dracula, Zombies, vampires, and all the rest.

It’s a fun game. I probably missed some, since I’m making a point to do this all by memory, no cheating. Hey, I started reading Marvel in 1962. Cut me some slack.

Don’t forget artificially mutated humans (Savage Land Mutates), artificially evolved humans (Alpha the Ultimate Mutant, the Futurist, any spindly giant with a disproportionately huge head with godlike intelligence and abilities), artificially evolved animals (Knights of Wundagore) and hidden races (Jack Frost’s people, Red Raven’s people, the Mole Men, the Cat People, etc.).

[Revenant_Threshold]

@kenobi_65

Back in the 80s, when I played the Marvel Super Heroes RPG, they made a clear distinction between mutants (born with their powers, though such powers usually did not manifest until puberty) and altered humans (born as normal people, and gained their powers later due to exposure to some sort of energy or substance). Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the Hulk would all be examples of the latter type.

If I remember right (though my knowledge may be out of date) Spider-Man is considered a mutate - of a group who do have genetic oddities but who if left alone would not develop any powers, but if given the right stimulus (which would, often, kill anyone else) that and their body would react in a similar way to a mutants. I think the idea of this was brought in mainly to explain why some people got powers from being involved in radioactive disasters while others just dropped dead.

[Alessan]

@Tengu

Chuck -

Yes, but every Kryptonian was supposed to be like that - he wasn’t a mutant, just a typical example of his species, who happened to be ridiculously physically and mentally advanced, compared to humans.

Wait - so why did the Kryptonians all choose to live on the one planet where they don’t have super powers?

[astro]

@Alessan

Wait - so why did the Kryptonians all choose to live on the one planet where they don’t have super powers?

This is never (so far as I know) specifically explained for Daxamites, Kryptonians. or myriad other advanced races that have godlike powers off their own planets. The common take on Kryptonians since Byrne (IIRC) developed the notion of Kryptonians as a fairly xenophobic, emotionally rigid “master race” is that (powers aside) they regard most other races as lower species and do not wish to associate with them.

[Kamino_Neko]

@astro

This is never (so far as I know) specifically explained for Daxamites, Kryptonians.

Daxamites it’s pretty well explained by the fact that a very common element (lead) is swiftly - and, until the 30th/31st century, incurably - lethal to them. Leaving their planet is pretty much suicide.

Now, a religious prohibition, and xenophobic ‘anything out there is evil and dangerous’ aspect has been layered on top.

Kryptonians, the answer has changed over the years - in the 80s and 90s, there was some story I vaguely remember involving genetic engineering and making it so they couldn’t leave Krypton (I have no idea what was supposedly changed that allowed Kal-El to leave).

Currently, it’s historical - they had a period, several hundred years before the birth of Kal-El, where the Kryptonians were tyrants, using their powers to rule a galaxy-spanning empire.

After ‘doing this kind of makes us evil’ sunk in, they pulled back. Leaving a lot of former subject species with grudges and the ability to stockpile arms. Combine that with the urge to go out an explore being uncomfortably close to the urge to go out and conquer for many Kryptonians, and a fairly understandable urge to just close the door and pretend the rest of the galaxy doesn’t exist developed.

(Also, there’s not really that many races like the Kryptonians and Daxamites…they’re the only ones currently canon, and there were only 2 or 3 others that I know of…aside from the rather odd case of Kanjar Ro getting powers under the 3 suns of Rann.)