So why are mutants feared but Superheros are mostly okay?

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Its never made sense to me how these two concepts can co exist in the same Marvel universe

[Kevin Hamilton]

I mostly agree, though Kurt Busiek had an interesting take on Twitter recently. He said something like people can be fine with rich people, but some people really hate say Jewish rich people.

So essentially racism. His argument was that racial hatred doesn't make sense, so Marvel universe civilians being illogical and inconsistent isn't that hard to rationalize.

Put that way, I see his point.

[Deleted]

Mutants were believed to be the next evolutionary step for mankind and theorists like Boliver Trask depicted them in propaganda as monsters bent on enslaving their genetic inferiors in the coming future. It's one thing to have a brilliant scientist like Reed Richards galavanting around the world with his media maven wife or a living legend like Captain America in a commercial telling his fellow citizens to vote and something completely different to watch grainy footage of a man that shoots lasers from his eyes or a person who tried to switch the magnetic poles in order to create a situation where only the fittest survived.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Nov 6, 2017 17:08:27 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

I mostly agree, though Kurt Busiek had an interesting take on Twitter recently. He said something like people can be fine with rich people, but some people really hate say Jewish rich people.

So essentially racism. His argument was that racial hatred doesn't make sense, so Marvel universe civilians being illogical and inconsistent isn't that hard to rationalize.

Put that way, I see his point.

The only problem is how the hell do I truly know the non mutant origin of Captain America, the Thing or Ms. Marvel from just looking at them

[Baby, it’s Jes outside]

Because those damn muties are going to take over the world and enslave us normal folks! (Seriously, the X-Men were created by Stan Lee as a morality play on the evils of prejudice and bigotry. Storyline-wise, Magneto did a pretty good job convincing the Marvel Universe that mutants were in fact dangerous. Then came the graphic novel Dazzler: the Movie. She revealed herself to be a mutant. Her secret revealed, the general public realized "Hey mutants look just like us! If they're hiding what they are, they MUST be evil!" Superheroes in general tho got a free pass because there's no way Captain America for example could be a mutant. Also mutants such as the Morlocks didn't help themselves by basically trying to be as bad as humans made them out to be.

[Fade]

Spider-Man and Batman haven't always been publically adored. Couple others too.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

This is one upside of X-Men being at a different studio than the other Marvel superheroes. They really function better in separate universes.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

"Because f*** you!" - some asshole from Marvel comics. Probably.

[Kevin Hamilton]

Nov 6, 2017 17:12:43 GMT -5 Vice honcho room temperature said:

Nov 6, 2017 17:08:27 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

I mostly agree, though Kurt Busiek had an interesting take on Twitter recently. He said something like people can be fine with rich people, but some people really hate say Jewish rich people.

So essentially racism. His argument was that racial hatred doesn't make sense, so Marvel universe civilians being illogical and inconsistent isn't that hard to rationalize.

Put that way, I see his point.

The only problem is how the hell do I truly know the non mutant origin of Captain America, the Thing or Ms. Marvel from just looking at them

Well, those 3 are public figures; but I get your point. That might be an interesting story, a mutant who the public thought was a 'normal' hero gets "outed", what is the public response?

[Deleted]

Simple media perception:

Superheroes: Rich, upper-class, (sometimes) govt affiliated.

Mutants: Vigilantes, often poor/working class, fringes of society.

This is generally speaking, I'm sure you can find exceptions to both but generally that's probably what the population sees in those universes.

[Kevin Hamilton]

Nov 6, 2017 17:31:36 GMT -5 @personman01 said:

Simple media perception:

Superheroes: Rich, upper-class, (sometimes) govt affiliated.

Mutants: Vigilantes, often poor/working class, fringes of society.

This is generally speaking, I'm sure you can find exceptions to both but generally that's probably what the population sees in those universes.

And generally your 'normal' heroes look like celebrities: Cap, Thor, Iron Man etc. Thing is an obvious exception, but he has been shunned a lot.

Mutants are way more likely to look different than the norm.

[Cyno]

The X-Men were created smack-dab in the middle of the Civil Rights movement, with Xavier meant to be influenced by MLK Jr. and Magneto meant to be influenced by Malcolm X, on top of also being a Jewish Holocaust survivor.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Nov 6, 2017 18:01:39 GMT -5 Cyno said:

The X-Men were created smack-dab in the middle of the Civil Rights movement, with Xavier meant to be influenced by MLK Jr. and Magneto meant to be influenced by Malcolm X, on top of also being a Jewish Holocaust survivor.

Well yes but that doesn't really answer the question of why people care so much about how they got their superpowers rather than the fact that they have superpowers to begin with. Marvels always tried to have its cake and eat it too in regards to the X-Men, and it doesn't really bare up under scrutiny at all.

[Johnny B. Decent]

Also, wouldn't the real existence of Thor and Norse Mythology cause a massive existential crisis about religion?

[Mozenrath]

Nov 6, 2017 20:30:16 GMT -5 Johnny B. Decent said:

Also, wouldn't the real existence of Thor and Norse Mythology cause a massive existential crisis about religion?

I am not sure if the main universe has really gotten into that, but I remember the Ultimate universe did have Thor having some followers, so at least some people think he's the real deal, while I imagine a lot of other people either think he's just an alien or is just really going for a theme there.

[Kevin Hamilton]

Magneto wasn't a holocaust survivor till way, way later.

Hell the MLK/Malcolm X thing wasn't grafted on till well into the series.

All of that worked, and added to the narrative, but none of it was there at the outset.

[Mozenrath]

I think even bigger than the mutant issue is how, in Marvel with the registration act, and DC with Checkmate or Cadmus, no one seems to ask, "Wait, why do you suddenly have FAR more resources to handle superheroes than you've ever devoted to dealing with supervillains?"

No, really, what the f*** is the explanation for that?

I'm also curious why someone like Doctor Doom wouldn't have taken advantage of the House of M mutant crisis or the Registration act and gone on a recruiting spree. Someone who could trivially grant powers to the newly powerless or give amnesty to fugitive heroes would probably benefit immensely.

[Kevin Hamilton]

Thor/religion they didn't address all that often though at least one villain was based on being a Christian that was offended that Thor calls himself a god.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusader_(Marvel_Comics)

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Nov 6, 2017 20:37:35 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I think even bigger than the mutant issue is how, in Marvel with the registration act, and DC with Checkmate or Cadmus, no one seems to ask, "Wait, why do you suddenly have FAR more resources to handle superheroes than you've ever devoted to dealing with supervillains?"

No, really, what the f*** is the explanation for that?

I'm also curious why someone like Doctor Doom wouldn't have taken advantage of the House of M mutant crisis or the Registration act and gone on a recruiting spree. Someone who could trivially grant powers to the newly powerless or give amnesty to fugitive heroes would probably benefit immensely.

That last one is easy. Doom probably thinks it's beneath him.

[Johnny B. Decent]

Nov 6, 2017 20:37:35 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I think even bigger than the mutant issue is how, in Marvel with the registration act, and DC with Checkmate or Cadmus, no one seems to ask, "Wait, why do you suddenly have FAR more resources to handle superheroes than you've ever devoted to dealing with supervillains?"

No, really, what the f*** is the explanation for that?

I'm also curious why someone like Doctor Doom wouldn't have taken advantage of the House of M mutant crisis or the Registration act and gone on a recruiting spree. Someone who could trivially grant powers to the newly powerless or give amnesty to fugitive heroes would probably benefit immensely.

For example. The prison built inside the Negative Zone that debuted in Civil War. So, uh....what the f*** was preventing you guys from using that before this happened, Stark and Richards?