Being a mutant isn’t as great as others may think in the Marvel Universe. Although they’re born with special abilities and have the opportunity to join the X-Men ranks to fight the good fight and reach glory, things can be very difficult for their community due to their differences from the rest of the world.
From lack of control to right-down being discriminated against, mutants have a hard time even if their powers also give them great advantages. Considering they didn’t choose to be born with the X-gene, it must be very difficult to have to deal with all these circumstances — sometimes from a very young age.
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Physical Mutations Can Range Wildly
While some mutants look like regular Homo Sapiens, others have very obvious physical mutations that won’t allow them to blend into the human community they were born into. This means they have spent their whole lives feeling different and isolated from others.
Characters like Beast or Nightcrawler are literally blue, which means they don’t “pass” as Homo Sapiens. This puts them in a vulnerable spot against anyone who doesn’t like mutants or simply grabs the attention of nosey people in the street. That is one of the main reasons some of the most obvious mutants resent humanity.
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Resurrection Has Its Moral Problems
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One of the biggest additions in House of X/Powers of X was the mutant resurrection and the Resurrection Protocols created by the Five: Egg, Proteus, Elixir, Tempus, and Hope Summers, alongside Professor X. While this was great news considering mutants often die as X-Men, it also brings a philosophical Pandora box.
For starters, there’s the Ship of Theseus Paradox. Are these new mutants still who they were, or are they clones? Additionally, is it valid for a depowered mutant to kill themselves to regain their abilities? All these questions make it so resurrecting isn’t a straightforward path for mutants — especially if they are religious.
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They Can’t Always Control Their Abilities
Few mutants are born with their abilities. Instead, they develop them at some point during their teenage years. Given this, it isn’t uncommon for some of them to have zero control over their power. Some of the unluckiest mutants have even hurt people by mistake, like Rogue, who almost killed Cody Robbins when she was only a teenager.
Fortunately, figures like Charles Xavier work hard to ensure that no mutant will have to go through this downside of their mutation alone. Unfortunately, not even the mighty Professor X can sometimes help them all in this complicated milestone of their mutant lives.
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Some Powers Are Villainous No Matter the Spin They Put On Them
There aren’t any rules when it comes to mutation in the Homo Superior race, which means there are very weird mutants out there. Some look like Homo Sapiens but happen to control the weather or an element, like Storm and Pyro. Others have animal-like characteristics, like Beak or Wolfsbane. Others like Wither, Elixir, and Rogue can kill with their touch.
Even if these characters devote their lives to helping others, when it comes to their mutation, they are extremely dangerous. Sadly, mutants can’t choose the way their X-gene will influence them, which means they have to live with the fact that they are a living weapon.
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They All Have to Take a Side
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One of the main problems with being a mutant is that the many political stances in the community have severely fractured it. In recent years, they have managed to coexist at Krakoa, an island designed for them especially. However, before that, they had to decide where they stand regarding the relations between the Homo Superior and Homo Sapiens race and join either Professor X or Magneto.
Since these two leaders have very different ideas regarding humanity, polarization is impossible to avoid. This means that mutants have to practically decide between being part of the X-Men or being against them, which means becoming villains. Fortunately, as time has passed, there’s a better relationship between both fractions and plenty of space for many shades of moral gray between them. Of course, even once the choice is made, smaller factions led by X-Men like Wolverine and Cyclops or Brotherhood led by Mystique or Daken that mutants will still have to choose between.
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All Governments Feel Threatened By Them
If mutants found a way to cooperate in a war against humans, humanity would lose in only a few days. Their sheer power — and the fragility of their political leader’s ego — is the main reason why official institutions, the military, and the government resent them and fear them.
This isn’t really a problem for the sanctioned Avengers, but the X-Men are a constant threat in the eyes of the global leaders. This is why they have created ways to exterminate them, like Sentinels, dangerous experiments, and even a “cure” for the X-gene that many didn’t want in the first place.
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They Can’t Live Regular Lives Unless It’s In Krakoa
The Krakoa Era was a game changer for mutants in the Marvel universe, but its most basic plot evidences one of the saddest realities for the Homo Superior race: they aren’t welcome on Earth. To live a peaceful life, heroes, allies, and villains put their differences aside and grouped together on a sentient mutant island to form a new nation.
This change finally gave the mutant community what they wanted: sovereignty, political power, and a united front against other countries. Additionally, it allowed them to make way more technological progress than before. Humanity had definitely been holding them back. Unfortunately, as always, it also made mutantkind a target.
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Some Powers Are Cooler than Others
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There are thousands of mutants in the Marvel Universe. Some of them share the most universal abilities, like telepaths, but others have such a specific power set that they’re probably unique — at least on Earth-616. Some have a mutation that makes them superpowerful, others not so much.
This genetic lottery means things aren’t fair in the mutant community. While some heroes get mighty powers, such as Gambit’s ability to harness kinetic energy, others are almost useless, like Forgetmenot, whose only ability is to be completely forgettable.
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They Could Lose Their Abilities Any Day
One of the most catastrophic things to ever happen to mutants was House of M. After a nervous breakdown following her sons’ deaths, Scarlet Witch ended the mutant race forever. By simply uttering three words, “No More Mutants,” she completely changed reality. Known as M-Day or Decimation, this event killed or depowered almost a million mutants.
If Scarlet Witch wanted to relive M-Day, she could easily take the mutant race abilities away from them any day. For mutants who are used to their abilities — or even need them on a daily basis to survive — the possibility of losing them at any moment is quite scary.
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They Face a Lot of Discrimination
In addition to feeling different and often risking their lives as heroes, Marvel mutants have to deal with the whole world’s hate. Whether it is because they fear them, envy them, or simply don’t like different people, many humans campaign against mutants. This has led to things like the Mutant Registration Act or forced “cures” for their abilities.
Marvel readers know mutants are a Civil Rights allegory, but it’s still quite sad to see the discrimination they often face. The Krakoa Era allowed the mutant community to live a better life, far from the anti-mutant philosophies, but this doesn’t mean that hate isn’t out there.
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X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men
Since their debut in 1963, Marvel’s X-Men have been more than just another superhero team. While the team really hit its stride as the All New, All Different X-Men in 1975, Marvel’s heroic mutants have always operated as super-outcasts, protecting a world that hates and fears them for their powers.
Key members of the X-Men include Professor X, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Wolverine, Iceman, Beast, Rogue, and Storm. Often framed as the world’s second strongest superheroes, after the Avengers, they are nonetheless one of Marvel’s most popular and important franchises.
