Mutant (Marvel comics)
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In Marvel comic books, particularly those of the X-Men mythos, a mutant is a human being who is born with genetic modifications that allow for abilities not possessed by regular humans.
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[edit] Description
Although mutant powers vary greatly, the most common mutant powers include telepathy, flight, the ability to project energy, an accelerated healing factor, and enhanced strength, agility or senses at variable limits. Most mutant powers manifest during puberty and, for some mutants, several years of self-discipline are needed before they can control their powers, while others never gain full control of them. Mutants are supposedly the next stage in human evolution and are often called "homo superior" (Homo sapiens superior) as opposed to "homo sapiens" (Homo sapiens sapiens), although the supervillain Vargas who also seems to have been born with his powers (even if he lacks the mutant gene) claims to be a representative of the Homo superior. (The term "Homo superior" was originally coined by science fiction writer Olaf Stapledon in his 1935 novel "Odd John".) Children born from mutants are more likely to be mutants themselves than children born of human or mixed human/mutant parents, and as an unstated rule, mutant relatives will generally have similar powers and will sometimes be immune to each other's powers. There are also humans who are not mutants themselves but are genetically predisposed towards having mutant descendents.
[edit] Background
The idea of genetic mutants was concocted by Marvel editor/writer Stan Lee in the early 1960s as a means to create a large number of superheroes and villains without having to think of a separate origin for each one (though the Beast and Professor X appear to have acquired their powers when their parents were exposed to radiation before their children were born). The most prominent vehicle for the mutant concept is the superhero series X-Men, which debuted in 1963. As part of the concept, Lee decided that these mutant teenagers should, like ordinary ones, attend school in order to better cope with the world, in this case Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
[edit] Mutants in Marvel canon
A little known story in Amazing Adult Fantasy #14 (1962) was the first Marvel story to feature a mutant. There are also some who feel that a little known super-hero introduced in 1940, Toro, (the original Human Torch's sidekick and protegé), was in fact the first Marvel mutant super hero, and indeed, Toro is described in the canon as a mutant. However, he has never been identified as the same type of mutant that would later abundantly populate the Marvel Universe.
Officially, Namor the Sub-Mariner is considered the first mutant. However, his status as the first mutant is subject to some question. He was the first mutant to be introduced in Marvel Comics (in 1939) and has been described in-comic as the first official mutant, but there are actually a number of mutants that predate him, including Apocalypse (born in the 30th Century BC), Wolverine (late 19th Century CE), Mystique and Destiny (dates of birth unknown, but known to have been active at the "Dawn of the 20th Century"), and a group of mutants known as the Externals.
It was later revealed that the ultimate source of all mutations were the enigmatic Celestials, who had come to Earth one million years ago and performed genetics experiments on proto-Humanity, incorporating and altering DNA in the genetic code of the early Homo sapiens that would allow future generations of humans to gain superpowers. This genetic potential is sometimes activated through external stimulation (be it gamma radiation, the bite of an irradiated spider, cosmic rays or any of a myriad of catalysts), resulting in super-powers, but in many individuals who are born with a specific mutation (a genetic trait called the X-Factor) that gives access to these latent powers, the genetic potential has activated on its own, giving rise to those considered mutants (and in some individuals, like Hank McCoy/Beast, the influence of the incorporated DNA has increased over the years). Besides different powers (although some mutants appears to have no other powers than having a body that is not quite human) they are also born with a natural immunity against genetic infections like The Phalanx and Sublime.
In the Ultimate Marvel universe it has not been stated what the cause of mutations is. Although it was claimed in an Ultimate X-Men issue that the Phoenix, which is imprisoned inside the Earth (in fact the Earth was made as a prison for the Phoenix), is responsible for creating mutants and several other advancements in human evolution. However it is unknown if this statement will be supported by subsequent stories.
[edit] Mutants as metaphor
In the Marvel universe, the collective setting of most Marvel comic books, ordinary people often hate and fear mutants because they are afraid they may make normal humans extinct, because they simply fear what they fail to understand, or simply because they are jealous of them having natural superpowers, which would make living among them unfair. Bigotry and xenophobia are also given as reasons for hatred of mutants and normal humans by some groups. In the Marvel universe, anti-mutant sentiment has led to the alienation of mutants from society, mob violence, and a few government sponsored attempts to fight mutants, such as the robotic mutant-hunting Sentinels of Project: Wideawake and the anti-mutant military group "Operation: Zero Tolerance".
Throughout the history of the X-Men franchise, X-Teams have often been written as typical superhero comic books, featuring epic adventures and battles with super villains. Yet, the theme of mutants as a metaphor for real world minorities who face oppression has been a constant throughout the series. Some examples:
- Magneto, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who once lived in Israel has attempted to create a "mutant home state" similar to Israel. His first attempt was the fictional South American nation of San Marco. Later he became ruler of Genosha, a fictional island off the coast of Madagascar, recognized by the United Nations as a mutant state.
- The 1981 dystopian future storyline Days of Futures' Past portrays a mutant Holocaust, where mutants are herded into concentration camps and massacred.
- Senator Robert Kelly has proposed a "Mutant Registration Act" that would force mutants to reveal their powers and identities to the federal government (reintroduced and expanded to include all superhumans as the Superhero Registration Act in the "Civil War" story arc), similar to McCarthyism and other Red Scare-era acts of Congress that effectively outlawed the American Communist Party.
- The anti-mutant hate group Friends of Humanity (founded by Graydon Creed, himself the son of two Mutants, Sabretooth and Mystique) was inspired by the Aryan Nations, and Creed himself was inspired on Frank Collin, Chairman of the American Nazi Party but who also was the son of a Jewish man. Likewise, organizations such as Purity and the "Purifiers", led by Reverend William Stryker, are inspired by different groups and figures belonging to extreme Christian Fundamentalism and a number of hate groups. Such groups are particularly inflamed by the fact that, by genetic coincidence, some mutants have an angelic or demonic appearance.
- With most mutant powers manifesting at puberty and the large number of young mutants who are rejected by their families, mutation parallels the realization that many young gay people have of their homosexuality in their teen years and the rejection and ostracization from family they experience. For example, The X-Man Iceman has had a difficult relationship with his father, who is often portrayed as a bigot. The parellel is drawn especially sharply in the second X-Men movie with the line "Have you ever tried not being a mutant?"
- The Legacy Virus storyline of the 1990s was often seen as a metaphor for the AIDS epidemic. The Legacy Virus was a mysterious and deadly pathogen that affected mutant genes, however the larger world was not concerned about it until the first human victim was made public. Also, Genosha, the aforementioned island nation, was particularly affected, mirroring the spread of AIDS in Africa. (Additionally, the status of the legacy virus as an artificial creation may have been influenced by conspiracy theories asserting that AIDS was created by the government to wipe out gays and blacks.)
- Both Operation: Zero Tolerance and Weapon X (including its mother project: Weapon Plus) are government-sanctioned anti-mutant operations that mirror ethnic cleansing campaigns from all over the world, as well as witchhunts, state terrorism and political persecution.
- Writer Grant Morrison made significant changes to the nature and status of mutants in the Marvel Universe, during his stint on New X-Men, from 2001 until 2004. Morrison introduced a mutant "baby boom" that could potentially make mutants the dominant species on Earth within five generations.
- Morrison also introduced the idea of the growing mutant youth population developing a subculture with mutant bands and fashions, and the subsequent adoption of that subculture by rebellious non-mutant youth, the latter being similar to the concept of a wigger.
- Additionally, Marvel-esque mutants and mutations have been adopted as a metaphor for Transhumanism, an international intellectual movement which seeks the near-future creation of technology capable of greatly increasing human abilities (such as genetic engineering technologies, for example). Some transhumanists and bioconservatives (opponents of transhumanism) describe what they colloquially term the "X-Men Principle", where a new group of people arises as a perceived threat to the old grouping of people, and this perceived threat results in actual polarisation as both sides become afraid and convinced that the other side may attempt to pre-emptively wipe them out. Eventually this spawns radical organisations on both sides, which virtually guarantee mutual violence between the new and the old groups. In context, both transhumanists and bioconservatives fear that such a principle of fear could cause violence between groups of engineered and natural people in the near future if transhumanists succeed in their goals.
[edit] The X-Men
The X-Men, founded by Professor X, are mutant superheroes who defend a world that hates and fears them and who work for peaceful coexistence of the two races. Another primary character in the stories is Magneto who originally founded the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and later another villainous group called the Acolytes and, in militant fashion, continually seeks ways to fight back against the normal humans' oppression of mutants, arguing that mutants must conquer or be conquered.
Other villainous characters, such as Apocalypse, believe that mutants have a right to rule over ordinary humans, simply by virtue of being a more genetically advanced species.
The extensive popularity of the X-Men has led Marvel to create several additional mutant superhero teams, including The New Mutants, X-Factor, Excalibur, X-Force and Generation X. However, in the time since, Generation X and The New Mutants have gone defunct. (Both teams have, in essence, evolved into New X-Men.)
[edit] Non-X-Mutants
Outside the X-Men group of series, mutants play a smaller role in the Marvel universe. Most non-mutant superheroes are not affected by anti-mutant bigotry and mutants have been important parts of such traditionally non-mutant teams as The Avengers and The Defenders. Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four have a son, Franklin Richards, who is a mutant. Franklin's mutation may have come about due to his parents’ powers, granted by exposure to "cosmic rays." It is known that many of the genes which cause the particular types of mutation in the Marvel Universe are passed on through the parents' genes. Marvel editors draw a distinction between mutants born with the potential for powers, such as the members of the X-Men, and those persons who develop powers because of a mutagenic event, such as Spider-Man or the Hulk. Such persons are referred to as Mutates, a shorthand term for "mutated human." In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, mutates were briefly called "Unnatural Mutations". Persons who use magic, such as Dr. Strange, or who are granted powers because of magic, such as Juggernaut or the Absorbing Man, are different from both mutants and mutates.
Some mutants in the Marvel Universe have received celebrity or even icon statues due to their involvement with certain superhero teams, such as the Avengers or the Fantastic Four. Mutants such as the Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver for example, who incidentally are Magneto's children, haven't received the same treatment as other mutants have by the majority of the ordinary human population. This might be due to a number of possibilities. One possibility is that they have no physical deformities as a result of their powers, but are physically very attractive. In the Marvel Universe, a pleasant physical appearance often garners better treatment, just as it does in the real world. Another possibility is that they have both been renowned members of the Avengers, which is a team that has received praise and support from the government itself. Since the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver have been members of a government sanctioned team of superhumans, this gives them the appearance of being on the right side of the law or that they aren't involved in some conspiracy to take over the world. A considerable number of ordinary humans do fear a potential mutant/human war, partially due to the actions of mutants such as Magneto and Apocalypse. Since many mutants have joined various government recognized teams, the public at large view them as not being a threat to them or their existence.
[edit] House of M and Decimation
During the fall of 2005, the event House of M, changed the face of the Marvel-616 Universe, and resulted in what is known as the Decimation. At present, the mutant population is downsized to only a few hundred individuals, with all other mutants, among them A-list mutants like Magneto and Polaris, losing their powers completely. Because of this, mutants are no longer the primary line of evolution, and because of their dwindled genepool, may be considered an endangered species, on the brink of extinction.
Whether this latest development will stand the test of time, or if it will eventually be negated remains to be seen.
[edit] Earth X: Mutants as Planetary Antibody
The Earth X series stated that the Celestials reproduce by implanting an "egg" at the core of the planet, and use the genetically modified dominant species (in Earth's case, Mutants) to protect the egg until it hatches (namely from Galactus). However, Marvel editors officially declared that anything stated in Earth X would not necessarily be canonical.
