# Something that always bothered me about the X-Men **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2018, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834 "2018-06-27T13:42:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/61 "2018-06-28T14:35:15Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Chris Claremont, in particular, ran the anti-mutant hysteria angle into the friggin ground during his long run on X-Men. As his erstwhile collaborator John Byrne was fond of pointing out, after a while it didn’t make sense: the same people who adored Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four were all “Muties! I hate 'em!” :smack: Is this the same “adored” Spider-Man who was the subject of an endless stream of “Threat or Menace?” _Daily Bugle_ screeds? 😕 That said, mutants are easier targets for fear and hatred because of perceived “threats” (_Your kid_ could be a mutant! Mutants could _replace normal humans_ someday!) that don’t apply to other one-off superpowered individuals. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/62 "2018-06-28T14:49:52Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Heck, it occurred to me during the first or second X-Men movie that if Storm can instantly create and direct tornadoes, could she manipulate naturally-occurring hurricanes? Even if she couldn’t simply dissipate a Hurricane Sandy or Hurricane Maria, could she “nudge” them out to sea and either prevent landfall entirely or direct it to less-populated areas? Even if she could mitigate only 1% of total hurricane damage, that’ll quickly pass the $1 billion mark after just a few seasons. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You’re giving human rationality too much credit. If Storm mitigated 99% of the total hurricane damage, she’s still condemned for it. People wouldn’t care about how bad the hurricane would have theoretically been if she hadn’t intervened. They would just say _“Storm messed with the weather. And my flower garden was ruined by the heavy rain she caused. I’m suing.”_ Well, if you live in the “less-populated area” that got hit because of Storm’s intervention, you’d probably be pretty pissed. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/63 "2018-06-28T14:57:54Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Iron Man may just be a normal guy in a suit, but he sure leaves a Hulk-sized trail of destruction behind. Who pays to put it all back together again, to clean up the rubble and glass and destroyed cars? And then they screw over the salvage company guys just trying to make an honest living in a super-powered world. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/64 "2018-06-28T15:21:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But even if the mutants _are_ a race, they’re still one-offs. If Iceman and Shadowcat had a kid (purely hypothetical; I don’t know if they’ve ever been a couple), that kid would probably be a mutant, but their powers would probably not be related to cold or to phasing… Iceman and Shadowcat _have_ dated. And then Bobby was retconned into having always been secretly gay but overcompensating, or something, so he and Kitty had a _rather awkward_ conversation about their dating history. Anyway, mutant heredity seems to be that powers _often_ inherit, but not always. Jean Grey’s (alternate timeline) kids seem to inherit her telepathy/telekinesis, and not Scott’s optic blasts. But Ruby Summers inherited the optic blasts. And Nocturne inherited Nightcrawler’s + Scarlet Witch’s mutations, sort-of. And Polaris was retconned into being Magneto’s daughter and inheriting his powers, whilst Wanda + Pietro were retconned into _not_ being his children explaining why they don’t have his powers. I’m sure there’s other examples of mutant powers being inheritable that I’m forgetting. And also there’ve been related groups of mutants – the Summers brothers various with “energy blaster” powers. And there’s the angelic-mutants-like-Warren and demonic-mutants-like-Kurt that’re probably best forgotten as bad retcon jobs. On the other hand, there’s the Guthrie kids who’re all mutants with different powers. So, basically, mutant powers seem to be mostly inheritable, except when they’re not. And I think retcons push continuity more in the direction of them being inheritable than in them being completely random. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/65 "2018-06-28T15:43:29Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > And Nocturne inherited Nightcrawler’s + Scarlet Witch’s mutations, sort-of. And Nightcrawler got his abilities from [his father](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azazel_(Marvel_Comics)), so 3 generations there. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/66 "2018-06-28T16:26:06Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Similarly, I loved how the _X-Men_ movies have attempted to make audiences understand, if not sympathize with Magneto. [Magneto’s revenge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z09qIekuFg) in _First Class_ is still the most satisfying scene in all of superhero movies. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/67 "2018-06-28T16:36:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Iron Man would. This is a cogent point. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/68 "2018-06-28T16:41:32Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Not that the average person has any way to tell if a powered individual is a mutant or not, but an “altered human” is a one-off – there’s no race of spider-men or human torches coming. However, there’s a segment of mutants who claim that they are _Homo superior_, and that they represent the next step in human evolution. And, by extension, some mutants of a more evil bent feel that this means that _Homo sapiens_ must die out, so that the world can be ruled by mutants. That’s certainly enough of an incentive for normal people to be afraid of mutants. OK but it means you have to finesse it a little, and rely on the kindness of readers to ignore the fact that Dr Doom, Red Skull and every other clown says the same thing (I will rule your world forever by super powers that are reproducible or renewable. Nyah Nyah!), and ostensibly and practically, means it, yet there is no public outcry of hatred. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/69 "2018-06-28T17:10:45Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > OK but it means you have to finesse it a little, and rely on the kindness of readers to ignore the fact that Dr Doom, Red Skull and every other clown says the same thing (I will rule your world forever by super powers that are reproducible or renewable. Nyah Nyah!), and ostensibly and practically, means it, yet there is no public outcry of hatred. Doom, for example, is pretty much feared and hated by _everyone_, so don’t assume that there’s no “public outcry of hatred.” Also, there’s a difference between, “I will rule you all!” and “I will kill you all!” ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/70 "2018-06-28T17:59:26Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Doom, for example, is pretty much feared and hated by _everyone_, so don’t assume that there’s no “public outcry of hatred.” > > Also, there’s a difference between, “I will rule you all!” and “I will kill you all!” Well my point is that no one was willing to condemn him as a “generic” threat to humanity. (A fear of his children) And he was indistinguishable from a mutant. The anti-mutant bigotry was a good moral aspect to the x-men story but it doesn’t hold up well in a universe with other super powers. I don’t understand the point about ruling and killing. I didn’t choose my word to exclude the other meaning. I don’t think anyone, in the marvel universe or the readers made that distinction too severely. It’s in the category of “not good.” Who was doing which of these things? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/71 "2018-06-28T22:11:19Z")
I think some people are making the mistake of thinking of everything that we find “weird” in comics would be weird to the people actually in the comics. We’re approaching this thinking of mutants, and wizards, and space aliens, and all this other stuff as being in one big box marked, “comic book stuff” that’s added to the “normal” world. But people actually living in this setting wouldn’t consider it that way. There’s no particular reason why they’d think of a wizard, a mutant, and a guy in power armor as all being part of the same root issue, no more than we think of, say, instability in the Middle East as part of the same issue as street crime in the US. There’s absolutely no reason anti-mutant hysteria would touch Dr. Doom. “Some people are wizards,” is an established thing in the Marvel universe. It’s a fact of life for the people who live there, and always has been. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/72 "2018-06-28T22:30:26Z")
The fear and hatred of mutants makes sense to me, and I think that guns _are_ a good analogy. Imagine for a moment that your teenage friend/child/whatever suddenly started carrying around loaded weapons. But, of course, since carrying a weapon is a choice, imagine that he magically _had to_ somehow (I realize this is a stretch). He couldn’t stop it. How would you feel about that? The fact that he can’t _not_ carry around guns doesn’t make it any less frightening that he has the power to kill everyone around at his fingertips. All the time. Sure, there’d be an initial infatuation with the power, but power like that is scary. On an individual visceral level. And it’s extra scary with a teenager, not known for strong impulse control. Sure, mutants who have non-killy powers are less frightening but those are a small minority in the world of the comic books. I can easily imagine them getting painted with the same brush of fear. And as someone pointed out, even positive powers are still frightening due to their power. Power corrupts, and can be easily misused. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/73 "2018-06-28T22:33:25Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I think some people are making the mistake of thinking of everything that we find “weird” in comics would be weird to the people actually in the comics. We’re approaching this thinking of mutants, and wizards, and space aliens, and all this other stuff as being in one big box marked, “comic book stuff” that’s added to the “normal” world. But people actually living in this setting wouldn’t consider it that way. There’s no particular reason why they’d think of a wizard, a mutant, and a guy in power armor as all being part of the same root issue, no more than we think of, say, instability in the Middle East as part of the same issue as street crime in the US. There’s absolutely no reason anti-mutant hysteria would touch Dr. Doom. “Some people are wizards,” is an established thing in the Marvel universe. It’s a fact of life for the people who live there, and always has been. I think you need some small amount verisimilitude in any drama even comics or else you don’t have a drama. The problem is inconsistency: The mutants are not any different from the wizards, or the bite victims. The social message is very much diluted. How is Dr Doom not a functional mutant? How would anyone know to exclude him or not “touch” him with this concern? It is a good description of bigotry but it leaves me feeling a little insulted as a human being. The bigots in the books are much stupider than even human bigots. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/74 "2018-06-28T22:59:16Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > [Magneto’s revenge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z09qIekuFg) in _First Class_ is still the most satisfying scene in all of superhero movies. The ending of ROBOCOP, though. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/75 "2018-06-28T23:25:40Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > [Magneto’s revenge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z09qIekuFg) in _First Class_ is still the most satisfying scene in all of superhero movies. My personal favorite of comeuppance scenes in a superhero movie is when Clark Kent returns to the diner in _Superman II_ and beats up the guy who bullied earlier in the movie when he didn’t have powers. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLilfvSdw4Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLilfvSdw4Y) “I’ve been working out” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/76 "2018-06-28T23:29:27Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I think you need some small amount verisimilitude in any drama even comics or else you don’t have a drama. The problem is inconsistency: The mutants are not any different from the wizards, or the bite victims. The social message is very much diluted. Black people are just like white people, but racial prejudice is still a thing that happens in the real world. Actually, I’d go so far as to say that having mutant exist in their own, separate world fatally undercuts the prejudice metaphor. In a world with only normal humans and mutants, it makes a lot of sense to treat the people who can shoot lasers out of their eyes, or read minds, or derail trains with a gesture, differently from everyone else. That’s still prejudice, but it’s rational prejudice. If you have a world with mutants, and aliens, and gods, and science accidents, but only mutants are targeted for special treatment, you have something a lot closer to real world prejudice, where one group of people is treated differently for arbitrary and culturally biased reasons, and not because they actually present a unique threat to society. There’s no rational reason to treat Wolverine any differently than Spider-Man, but the whole point is that prejudice isn’t rational. > [@](#): > > How is Dr Doom not a functional mutant? How would anyone know to exclude him or not “touch” him with this concern? This is exactly my point. You’re approaching this from the “all of this weird stuff is the same because it doesn’t exist in the real world” perspective, but that’s not how people in the Marvel universe see things. Magic is a real thing that people know exists, and isn’t terribly uncommon. It’s existed throughout human history. Merlin was a real dude in the Marvel universe. He’s a known historical fact there. People know magic is a thing, and they know that it’s different from being a mutant, because they exist in a culture where these things are common knowledge. Specifically, people know Dr. Doom isn’t a mutant because he’s a public figure. He’s the ruler of a small but politically significant country, and makes no effort to disguise his identity or history. (The mask isn’t for anonymity, but because of his horrific facial scars.) Anyone in the Marvel universe who reads a newspaper or watches their version of CNN probably knows who Dr. Doom is, and has a rough idea about what his deal is and where he came from. Hell, canonically, Marvel Comics exists inside of the Marvel universe, and publishes mostly the same books, except they’re technically “true crime” comics because they’re relaying actual events. People in the Marvel universe know who Dr. Doom is the same way people in the real world know who he is: they read the comics. > [@](#): > > It is a good description of bigotry but it leaves me feeling a little insulted as a human being. The bigots in the books are much stupider than even human bigots. I… didn’t give a description of bigotry? At least, not in the post you were replying to. But thanks anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/77 "2018-06-28T23:31:02Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Sure, mutants who have non-killy powers are less frightening but those are a small minority in the world of the comic books. I can easily imagine them getting painted with the same brush of fear. And as someone pointed out, even positive powers are still frightening due to their power. Power corrupts, and can be easily misused. One thing I’ve seen some writers do - Grant Morrison comes to mind - is postulate that the vast majority of mutants actually don’t have useful powers. They just look [weird](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/d/d5/Ugly_John_%28Earth-616%29_from_New_X-Men_Vol_1_115.png/revision/latest?cb=20141102024119) [and](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/6/64/Robert_Herman_%28Earth-616%29_from_Extraordinary_X-Men_Vol_1_8_001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160701114614) [gross](https://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel//universe3zx/images/4/41/Beak.jpg). I think this helps the metaphor a lot - people aren’t reacting to them because of their powers, which a lot of non-mutants have, but because they look like monsters. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/78 "2018-06-28T23:55:08Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Black people are just like white people, but racial prejudice is still a thing that happens in the real world. > > Actually, I’d go so far as to say that having mutant exist in their own, separate world fatally undercuts the prejudice metaphor. In a world with only normal humans and mutants, it makes a lot of sense to treat the people who can shoot lasers out of their eyes, or read minds, or derail trains with a gesture, differently from everyone else. That’s still prejudice, but it’s rational prejudice. > > If you have a world with mutants, and aliens, and gods, and science accidents, but only mutants are targeted for special treatment, you have something a lot closer to real world prejudice, where one group of people is treated differently for arbitrary and culturally biased reasons, and not because they actually present a unique threat to society. There’s no rational reason to treat Wolverine any differently than Spider-Man, but the whole point is that prejudice isn’t rational. > > This is exactly my point. You’re approaching this from the “all of this weird stuff is the same because it doesn’t exist in the real world” perspective, but that’s not how people in the Marvel universe see things. Magic is a real thing that people know exists, and isn’t terribly uncommon. It’s existed throughout human history. Merlin was a real dude in the Marvel universe. He’s a known historical fact there. People know magic is a thing, and they know that it’s different from being a mutant, because they exist in a culture where these things are common knowledge. > > Specifically, people know Dr. Doom isn’t a mutant because he’s a public figure. He’s the ruler of a small but politically significant country, and makes no effort to disguise his identity or history. (The mask isn’t for anonymity, but because of his horrific facial scars.) Anyone in the Marvel universe who reads a newspaper or watches their version of CNN probably knows who Dr. Doom is, and has a rough idea about what his deal is and where he came from. > > Hell, canonically, Marvel Comics exists inside of the Marvel universe, and publishes mostly the same books, except they’re technically “true crime” comics because they’re relaying actual events. People in the Marvel universe know who Dr. Doom is the same way people in the real world know who he is: they read the comics. > > I… didn’t give a description of bigotry? At least, not in the post you were replying to. But thanks anyway. No, sorry, I meant the Marvel depiction of bigotry. Why do the marvel universe citizens hate mutants but not others? Is it depicted in any way? I think it could be a good story arc to get this issue out and told. I can’t consider the Marvel universe as a special magic one that convenently allows powers and denies them based the need to keep making sense. Marvel comics are set in NYC. I read them and not DC, which were based on fictional towns. That was the whole Marvel mode. I’m one of the readers too. It didn’t make any sense to me. SHs, SVs, and mutants, they are all running the same game. Magic being allowed doesn’t change that does it? Is the bigotry “They were born that way and I can’t abide that”? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/79 "2018-06-29T00:49:11Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Doom, for example, is pretty much feared and hated by _everyone_, so don’t assume that there’s no “public outcry of hatred.” > > Also, there’s a difference between, “I will rule you all!” and “I will kill you all!” I’m no expert but I think Doom was quite loved by his subjects in Latveria. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834/80 "2018-06-29T01:10:02Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > No, sorry, I meant the Marvel depiction of bigotry. Ah, gotcha. > [@](#): > > Why do the marvel universe citizens hate mutants but not others? Again, because prejudice isn’t rational. Why was so much of America’s history marked by white people’s hatred of black people? Black people don’t have superpowers. They’re exactly like white people in every significant way. Why were they the target of so much racism? Because prejudice isn’t rational. > [@](#): > > Is it depicted in any way? I think it could be a good story arc to get this issue out and told. Yes, repeatedly, and at length. I mean, you literally have an organization called “The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants,” who explicitly tell people that they intend to wipe out humanity, specifically because they’re mutant > [@](#): > > I can’t consider the Marvel universe as a special magic one that convenently allows powers and denies them based the need to keep making sense. Marvel comics are set in NYC. I read them and not DC, which were based on fictional towns. That was the whole Marvel mode. I’m one of the readers too. It didn’t make any sense to me. You lost me there. > [@](#): > > SHs, SVs, and mutants, they are all running the same game. Magic being allowed doesn’t change that does it? Is the bigotry “They were born that way and I can’t abide that”? They aren’t running the same game, is the point. Magic and mutants and aliens are all distinct things in the Marvel universe, and the people in the Marvel universe understand that these are distinct things, because they’re standard features of the world in which they grew up. Imagine an alien watching a movie about Nazis, with no context for who they are or why they’re the bad guys, and he assumes it’s because they’re running around using guns on everyone. “Guns make you a bad person on Earth,” he concludes - but then he watches a John Wayne movie, where the guy running around with a gun is a good guy. “This doesn’t make any sense! Why would they hate one group of people with guns, but revere this other person with a gun?” That’s the mistake you’re making. You’re assuming that it’s the superpowers that make people hate mutants. It’s not. It’s prejudice - and like real-world prejudice, it’s not rational. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-that-always-bothered-me-about-the-x-men/816834.md?page=5)