X-Men, an Excluded Universe: the Changing Cultural Indication of ‘the Superhero’

With over 3 billion gross dollars at the Box Office, the X-Men movie franchise has occupied a favourite spot in the recent decade among comic readers and movie lovers. The X-Men, from their charismatic leader, Professor Xavier, to ferocious and turned-villain Magneto, have equally impressed both comic readers and moviegoers, but for some, over the years, the X-Men have become more than just heroes and villains with genetically mutated powers. The creation of two great comic minds, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, in the 1960s, the X-Men comics were not purely a source of entertainment, but rather represented the changing pop culture in post-modern North America and a society which continuously dealt with prejudices, racial disharmony, exclusion and assimilation.

Equally symbolic is the movie trilogy. Based on the 1982 issue called, X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, from the initial movie trilogy, the films presented the life of mutants and their struggle to be accepted in a society that felt threatened by their existence; not so different from the 1960s’ experiences of many “excluded groups” who felt their human and civil rights violated. This article explores the cultural indication of superheroes, by looking at the X-Men as representation of social prejudice and exclusion. Perhaps, Professor X’s narration in the beginning of the second instalment in the X-Men movie trilogy is the best way to describe the 1960s’ North America when he says,

“Mutants, since the discovery of their existence, they have been regarded with fear, suspicion, often hatred. Across the planet debate rages, are mutants the next link in the evolutionary chain or simply a new species of humanity… fighting for their share of the world? Either way, it is an historical fact: sharing the world has never been humanity’s defining attribute,” ¹.

Why A Shift in Perspective Toward Superheroes?

Comics in general in the turn of the century became a source of youth culture transformation, as the younger generation began demanding a different kind of a hero, one who would not only conquer and “tame the savage frontier”, but one who could deal with the contemporary issues facing a consumer driven America ². The role of superheroes in comics was a “fantasy” in the midst of a post-modern world, which was quickly changing and facing new tensions and conflicts. While the young generation as consumers and fans feared powers of the superheroes, they also “fantasized” to be like them. Superheroes were capable of solving and overcoming problems that the concerned young generation could not easily do so ³.

One of the major creations of the 1960s, Theodore Maiman’s first successful LASER (Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation), revolutionized comic book graphics and significantly increased their popularity ⁴. In the 1960s, the comic world caught up with the golden age of scientific and technological innovations. Such scientific ideas gave rise to superheroes with technologically enhanced and genetically borne powers (eg. Cyclopes with LASER eyes), but the storylines still reminded the readers of how the characters continuously dealt with common societal concerns like any other “normal” human.

Superheroes, however, were more strong and knew how to be ethical, even when they used violence and force. Superheroes faced discrimination and hatred, yet unlike “us” they coped with it and moved on ⁵. The early comics, prior to the 1960s, by contrast, were greatly influenced by the ideologies of WWII and the Cold War; thus they promoted “conservative” or somewhat “traditional” ideas that “normalized” various prejudices ⁶. Therefore, the ‘60s and ‘70s “comics became a site of contestation over the meaning of America” ⁷. The X-Men were not any ordinary superheroes. They “were born into circumstances beyond their control, thrown into a world they did not choose…[searching] for authenticity and self-hood,” ⁸. The X-Men comics represented a period of search for self-actualization, civil rights and resistance to old traditional beliefs, a few themes that marked the 1960s in North America ⁹.

The Uncanny X-Men and Social Prejudice

In America, where close to half of the population consisted of youth less than 18 years of age, ideas of exclusion, civil rights, political oppression, race, lawlessness and class disparity became significant domestic issues ¹⁰. Between 1960 and 1968, crimes against persons went up by 106 percent, including hate crimes. It is possible that Lee and Kirby unintentionally wrote about the issues of prejudice and tolerance but, because the X-Men were despised for no reason other than being different, they became “allegories of oppression” ¹¹.

Comic books became a celebration of the common men and their struggle to deal with issues of corruption, greed, violence and discrimination that the North Americans were facing for centuries. For instance, the 1963 and 1964 issues of the X-Men comics, show the mutants working with the government to eliminate evil mutants, but at the same time neither people nor the government treats them like normal citizens. When the team is called to help battle a group of evil mutants, who are trying to invade the U.S. Missile base, the government still does not consider their legitimacy as “rightful” citizens. Not so different in North America, many “minority groups” including blacks, Aboriginals and the Chinese fought during the war, but were still deprived of their citizenship rights ¹².

X-Men in an Exclusionary Society

Representation of America as an exclusionary society in the X-Men comics is a dominant feature. Mutants in general have to keep their existence and identity a secret in fear of persecution. In one instance, Professor Xavier tells Jean, “…when I was young, normal people feared me, distrusted me! I realized the human race is not ready to accept those with extra powers! So I decided to build a haven…a school for X-Men ¹³. Even if they are not always in a state of tension, the human-mutant relations in the “X-universe” are often uneasy and in a state of conflict ¹⁴. In one episode, members of the X-Men, Beast and Iceman, save a child from falling off a tall building; nonetheless, the crowed gets angry that mutants were “hiding” among them and become violent. Consequently, Beast (Hank) temporarily leaves the group because he is tired of being discriminated against ¹⁵.

Some social scientists have compared the X-Men’s fight for recognition and acceptance similar to the Civil Rights movement and have associated government policies against mutants to Jim Crow laws. While the severity of racism is not exactly the same, hatred, fear and violence are dominant concepts in both cases, such as prejudices against the excluded “others”, which violated civil and human rights ¹⁶. For instance, people with Down syndrome have “historically” been prejudiced and put under the care of state, because of their genetic differences with other human beings who were considered “normal” ¹⁷. In a similar manner, in the X-Men, the government creates the Sentinels who are programmed to detect and eliminate mutants, because they were considered to be genetically “abnormal”. Deep within, “the X-Men comics are less about superpowers and more about human tendencies to fear and hate those who are different” ¹⁸.

The Opposing “other” Superheroes

The concepts of multiculturalism and quest for racial harmony become evident in the series as the writers unite a cast of characters with different ethnic and racial diversity, for example, Canadian (Wolverine), Russian (Colossus), German (Nightcrawler), and African (Storm) ¹⁹. It is possible that such bold statements and the comic’s unique “class” of characters resulted in the X-Men never receiving the same popularity as the Superman and Captain America during the ‘60s and ‘70s. While the X-Men spoke of mutant rights, social justice and tolerance, other characters such as the popular Captain America and Iron Man, took part in conflicts that were more conservative and ideologically close to state policies ²⁰.

Within the comic books, Captain America and Iron Man were raised to the status of heroes, while the X-Men were discriminated against. Like Superman, these two heroes dealt with every day social and political issues, but at no point questioned the “integrity” of the federal state ²¹. For instance, Captain America was created to protect United States from foreign invaders; thus many of the episodes dealt with his duty as a super soldier and promoted the image of an ideal warrior ²². Iron Man, although not a soldier, was wealthy, arrogant and a businessman who profited from warfare by making weapons. Symbolizing the era of Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the creation of defence weapons, Iron Man became an icon of technological change in the American state warfare ²³. These qualification and their patriotic images of the “Americans”, made Captain America and Iron Man famous in their time period, rather than the X-Men, who opposed state policies.

A Different Kind of a Superhero As a Cultural Icon

It was not until the 1980s that the X-Men finally came back to public’s attention. John Byrne, who took over the project to organize and re-market some of the failed Marvel and DC comics, believed that the 1960s and 1970s comics were too gloomy. The new comics Marvel created had to be more fun and feel good stories even if they were dealing with real life problems. In the 1980s, the conservative Reagan years called the 1960s and 1970s the eras of unfortunate developments that damaged the American morale and patriotism, a position that Byrne agreed with. Consequently, Byrne and Chris Claremont introduced Magneto’s Brotherhood in the X-Men, which became a major success in the story line. The series still retained its dominant themes of prejudice and toleration, but in the context of a post Cold War and post Vietnam War era. It was not a surprise that the collector’s edition of the comic sold over eight million copies in the 1980s ²⁴.

Moreover, this popularity brought the X-Men to film production, by joining the ranks of the Superman and Batman franchises. Twentieth Century Fox began the production of the first movie in 1999, but stayed true to the themes of the comic. The X1 (2000) deals with mutant registration as foreign subjects, X2 (2003) speaks of genetic “correction” and elimination of mutants, and X-Men: The Last Stand or X3 (2006) focuses on a “cure” sanctioned by the state against the mutants. Although there was an uncertainty to the success of the first film in the beginning, given the nature of its themes, the film was a box office success. Lifetime gross success of the X-Men trilogy according to Box Office Mojo is estimated at $607,611,873.00. The first movie’s production was at a budget of $75,000,000.00 (Mojo).

Following the same pattern as the comics, the X-Men films focused on the mutants groups demanding recognition and legitimacy in a society where they belonged. X1 begins its opening scene with Magneto as a young boy in a Nazi concentration camp where he gets separated from his parents and becomes aware of his ability to generate and manipulate magnetic fields. In this scene, director, Bryan Singer shows two things, one that Magneto has come to the United States to live a free life and secondly that he has felt the pain of discrimination and prejudice from the time he was very young. Magneto, like so many others, experiences the reality of the “American Dream”. He feels that the society is not ready for those who are different, like mutants. At the end of the film, symbolically, Magneto is standing on the top of the Statue of Liberty revealing to Rogue,

Magneto: It is a matter of time before mutants are herded off to camps.

Referring to Mystique he says, “I first saw her in 1949, America was going to be the land of

tolerance. Peace.

Rogue: Are you going to kill me?

Magneto: Yes.

Rogue: Why?

Magneto: Because there is no land of tolerance. There is no peace. Not here,or anywhere else that women, children, whole families are destroyed, simply because they were different from those in power,” ²⁵.

In the modern historical timeline, Nazis were not the only regime that discriminated against the “other” ethnic or social groups, although not in the same exact manner. For example, the U.S. sterilization program toward the socially “unfit” was close to Nazis’ policies to eliminate the Jewish population ²⁶. In a similar scenario, the film shows that Senator Kelly proposes the Mutant Registration Act and declares to the president that, “the Mutants are dangerous … why are they afraid to reveal their identity, what are they hiding? We give people license to drive, not to live,” ²⁷.

Mutants are often misunderstood for their powers, assuming that they would hurt other humans. Magneto rightfully states, “Mankind always fear, what it does not understand,” which is a similar fear experienced toward groups such as the Aboriginals and blacks who were often considered a threat to societal harmony and purity ²⁸. Unlike Xavier, Magneto does not see any hope in humankind and it is evident in his actions when he punishes senator Kelly by turning him into a mutant through exposition to magnetic field. After taking his revenge, he points to Kelly, “Who would take you in, now that you are one of us?”. Ironically, Kelly takes refuge in the X-Men mansion in fear of being mistreated by “humans” ²⁹. Here, the filmmakers are showing the ethical and moral behaviour of the traditional superheroes. Even though Kelly advocates mutant registration, the X-Men do not deny to help him. Such types of “social registration” is not unheard of in our own modern world. While registration of Jewish population under the Nazi rule is mostly known, there have been other ethnic groups that suffered a similar faith in North America, of course with different intentions and levels of severity in policies. For example, in 1917, the United States’ government passed an Immigration Literacy Act, which required all immigrants over the age of 16 to register and take a literacy test ³⁰. In Canada immigrants, such as Chinese-Canadians faced head tax and Japanese-Canadians were forced to register in internment camps or else exiled back to Japan during the war years. In recent years, the registration and treatment of the Aboriginals in the Canadian residential schools have been acknowledged officially by the state as an act of genocide.

In addition, the writers in a sense are bringing awareness to the violation of human rights, a problem that historically people of “different” race, culture or ethnicity have faced. In Canada, in the turn of the 20th century, people feared and hated immigrants. The belief that white population possessed more character than blacks, Jews or Natives or even Eastern Europeans was dominant. Racial and sexual purity, according to state regulated policies, became the only acceptable social existence. The Social Reforms Council was created to “control” the unfit, a common policy that is often seen toward the mutants in the X-Men films ³¹. Also, in 1914, Social Service Congress of Canada declared that the only way to solve the “defective” children issue was to educate or medically “correct” them. The Eugenicists argued that they had a scientific explanation and justification for sterilization in order to modify or stop the spread of the “imperfect” genes. In a way, they justified the exclusion of those who did not fit the state definition of accepted human beings, just as did the government against the mutants ³².

Genetic Mutation and Social Exclusion In Comics

The concept of genetic “correction” appears in all three films. For example, Worthington Laboratories in X3 creates what they call a “cure” for mutants in order to change them to “normal” human beings. While the state claims that the “cure” is only a “voluntary” procedure, most mutants see it as a way to change their identity. For example, Magneto as a Holocaust survivor views the “cure” similar to the sterilization process in the concentration camps ³³. In the first film, both Magneto and Wolverine are shown with marked numbers on their wrists. While Magneto was marked in the Concentration Camp, a secret State lab in the United States stamped Wolverine. In one scene, Magneto says to Xavier, “Let them pass the law, they will have you in chains with a number burned to your forehead,” a direct reference to his experiences in the Nazi camps.

Some X-Men, like Rogue, who finds her power threatening to others, agrees to get the cure, but others like Mystique are proud of their own existence. When Nightcrawler asks Mystique in X1, “They say you can imitate anybody even their voices. Then why not stay in disguise all the time? You know, look like everyone else.” To which Mystique responds, “No. Because we shouldn’t have to,”. Mutants do not see their mutation as a threat, but rather as a gift. In another instance, Storm asks Beast, “Why are we still hiding? … they cannot cure us, you know why? Because there is nothing to cure,” (X3). In the same scene, the audience is shown a news broadcast covering protests by mutants and non-mutants against or for the “cure”. A narrator suggests that mutants should be loaded in trucks and cured or maybe the state should declare war on them (X3). However, the X-Men do not give up and try to convince the government to call off the war. A sense of hope is given by Xavier’s speech which declares, “this is a moment, a moment to repeat the mistakes of the past … or to work together for a better future,” (X3), a direct reference to the mistreatment and prejudices toward the exclusionary “others” in the society, and a demand for toleration to create a racially and socially harmonious society.

X-Men and State of Terror

Since the tragedy of 9/11, the films no longer retained their popularity with heroism, but rather explored the existence of the superheroes as a fit image for a world in fear of terrorist attacks. Superheroes again became “cultural icons”, and the new films contained social and philosophical messages to spin a message of hope in a society that was occupied by fear of terrorism ³⁴. The 2003 production of the second X-Men trilogy (X2) deals with the matters of detecting and eliminating mutants. The movie starts with a white house tour guide quoting Lincoln’s inaugural speech, “we are not enemies, but friends,” (X2). One can argue that this is a message pertaining to the discrimination of the state against ethnic groups, such as Arabs and Muslim after 9/11 and a plea for peace. For example, Colonel William Striker uses illegal injections to torture mutants, detain and eliminate them (X2). The President says to Striker, “the last thing we need is a body of a mutant kid at six o’clock news. You arrest, detain, and question, that is it,” (X2). But Striker declares, “We are already in state of war,” a concept that filled the screen images post September 11 attacks (X2). Striker indicates to Xavier that he does not have any problem with mutants as long as he can control them (X2). For example, making a direct reference to Wolverine, Striker holds the same belief until his death when he reveals to Wolverine, “You are just a failed experiment . . . you were an animal then and an animal now,” (X2).

The evolution of Action Comic books marked an era of change and heroism of the common men. While these comics were based on superheroes, the characters lived and dealt with real life issues of a postmodern society. The X-Men comics were created in a time period of dissent and revolution against conformity. It was a time that people demanded civil and human rights. That is what made the X-Men set apart from the other superheroes of their time. The X-Men brought forward issues of prejudice, discrimination and demand for socio-political tolerance. Although it may or may not have been intentional, the X-Men stories criticized past discriminatory policies and asked for change in the future.

The adaptation of the X-Men comics into films began in the 1990s, which was an era of discriminatory attitudes toward the “minority other” due to threats of terrorism. Specifically X2 and X3, speak to government’s discriminatory policies against its own citizens, based on their genetic differences. Storylines aimed to bring awareness to the mistakes of the past, such as genocide, eugenics, discriminatory immigration policies and sterilization. On the other hand, the X-Men are willing to forego the past and look for a brighter future together. While other superheroes were national icons, like Spiderman, or Superman, X-Men had to hide their identity without any masks. X-Men became symbolic in their genetic differences in a society that still is class and racially based. This is the “cultural indication” of the X-Men as modern superheroes.

What do you think? Leave a comment.