X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
God Loves, Man Kills (more fully, Marvel Graphic Novel #5: X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills) is a graphic novel published in 1982 by Marvel Comics, starring their popular superhero team the X-Men. It was written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by Brent Anderson.
The novel concerned a minister, the Reverend William Stryker, stirring up religious anti-mutant fervor and kidnapping Professor X in an attempt to eradicate all mutants. It is one of the most clear-cut examples of X-Men comics using mutant relations as a metaphor for race relations.
Several elements of the novel's plot — most notably the name of the villain and the use of Professor X to kill mutants — were used in the second X-Men film, X2; the main difference between the two being that, in the movie, the villain was a military scientist rather than a minister. These elements came from screenwriter Zak Penn who was hired to write drafts of the film.
There was also a semi-sequel to it in X-Treme X-Men by the same name in which Stryker returns. Prior to the publication of this sequel, it was unclear whether the story was considered part of Marvel canon.