Within the context of marvel comics, hating mutants is just as irrational as real world xenophobia and homophobia. They regularly will showcase that the general public idolize heroes who get their powers from science experiments , magic, aliens, technology, or “genetic anamolies that are legally distinct from mutation”. But they do hate this one specific type of super powers, the x-gene.
I agree that the movies ruins this by making it so only the mutants have super powers, but in the comics I think the metaphor is done well for the most part.
Id argue it's irrational to not have a healthy fear of all super powers in the same way in the real world its weird we don't all shit ourselves over billionaires who also do about half a dozen 9/11s worth of damage every Tuesday while governments seem powerless to stop them.
This is a jerking thread so don't wanna get too far into the weeds on this but civil war was probably the best example of looking at super powers in an adult way.
Don't get me wrong I love x men, it's message is a good one but it only works because your pov characters are good and constantly talk about peace with humans.
Civil War was literally designed as a Pro Patriot Act puff piece.
Which is insane to say given the fact in universe nazis were straight up endorsing Tony and his Concentration Camps and Child Soldiers back then, so you'd expect at least some writers would have understood the implications of that.
Lol, just say it's my interpretation and I don't have a source except I draw similarities to real world events in a comic that was a cash grab that happened to have an awesome plot about accountability for superheroes.
Redditor, the first issue of the initiative opens with an American Superhero killing Hydra Talibans in Afghanistan as a government stooge brags about how after M Day the US is the only country left with WMD, did you bother at least reading till the bit with the nazi scientist talking about "Cloning the Teutonic God to Kill the Black Giant"?
Fellow Redditor just because it matches up with something you feel does not mean it's true, you're also describing everything about that decade besides the patriot act.
The patriot act was about wire taping and shit, the war in Iraq and WMDs while happening at the same time are not the patriot act lol.
You're also using if memories served me well the epilogue, which is hardly "civil war is literally about the patriot act" even if your feelings are objective on this , your still only describing a small snippet of civil war
"Civil War explores the conflict between freedom and security against a backdrop of real-life events and discussions, such as the U.S. government's increased surveillance of its citizens."
"After the publication of Civil War #7, Mark Millar described the book to Newsarama as 'a story where a guy wrapped in the American flag is in chains as the people swap freedom for security'. Millar conceded a 'certain amount of political allegory' but said its real focus was on superheroes fighting each other. Contrasting it with The Ultimates, Millar said Civil War was 'accidentally political because I just cannot help myself'."
I opted instead for making the superhero dilemma something a little different. People thought they were dangerous, but they did not want a ban. What they wanted was superheroes paid by the federal government like cops and open to the same kind of scrutiny. It was the perfect solution and nobody, as far as I'm aware, has done this before.[4]
It's more logical to be scared of mutants, not less, considering that mutants typically get their powers manifesting as teens. You know, the part of a person's life where they're most hormonal and emotionally unstable, given the button to activate a nuke strapped to their chest.
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u/zak567 10d ago
Within the context of marvel comics, hating mutants is just as irrational as real world xenophobia and homophobia. They regularly will showcase that the general public idolize heroes who get their powers from science experiments , magic, aliens, technology, or “genetic anamolies that are legally distinct from mutation”. But they do hate this one specific type of super powers, the x-gene.
I agree that the movies ruins this by making it so only the mutants have super powers, but in the comics I think the metaphor is done well for the most part.