You got to remeber that there are a lot more mutants than superheroes. Mutants get their powers by pure random genetics, there's no way to know. A lot of superheroes are tied to specific events, whether controlled or not. Think of it this way, what would you be worried about? A genetic disease that can randomly kill people when they hit puberty, or getting bit by a radioactive spider and dying? Anyone could be a mutant, and any mutant could have immense power. Ultimate X-Men had an issue that's relevant, where suddenly a kid wakes up one day as a mutant and kills everyone by accident within a wide radius of their locations. That is terrifying.

Then Wolverine has to go and slaughter him

Did end up talking to the kid a little and threw him a beer before doing the deed off screen. Solid moment of Ultimate Wolvie.

Having seen the boys and read numerous reconstructive super hero fiction I can honestly say I actually get why people fear and even hate the X-men because with out the intimate knowledge we the readers have they are kinda horrifying. And honestly unless I knew the super human on a personal level and therefore had confidence there’s no risk of them going full homelander I’d be horrified of mutants and prone to supporting anti mutant legislation.

And we would also be in favor of superhero registration too. Having a super power is like owning a gun, but really a nuclear weapon that can do a ton more damage. We'd want that to be regulated in some way.

> Having a super power is like owning a gun During the Acts of Vengeance crossover Reed Richards notes the NRA is against the Superhuman Registration Act, for the reason you noted.

Yes. Not in reality, but the actual NRA would vote to kill all superhumans, because they always play the victim card. They show up when children are killed by the only thing they love.

The right to my mutagenically enhanced bear arms shall not be infringed.

I want The Boys to have a crazy redneck with actual bear arms now.

Could you imagine living in a world where the Hulk actually existed? Or Magneto? Or Juggernaut? Or Franklin Richards?

honestly this comment and even the others in this thread got the gist to me perfectly. A random kid getting a random genetic power at a random time in his life that can wipe several people at once *by accident* is freakin scary someone else said it’s like owning a gun on a more nuclear level, that’s a pretty good way at looking at it honestly, i’d be scared af too. Some others mentioned it’s logical to want regulation on a group of people that can manipulate reality like holy shit, like i said im just getting into x-men lore so this type of perspective is pretty new to me, but it reminds me of the registration act in the MCU, the sokovia accords i think they were called, i thought superhumans were scary enough, now imagine mutants. Mutant characters can be cool but id be lying if i said i wouldn’t be scared too💀😭

The Comic Book "Civil War" is DRASTICALLY more Indepth than the Civil War we got in the MCU. The Civil War was basically saying: ANY SUPER POWERED ANYTHING, HAS TO REGISTER WITH THE GOVERNMENT, OR BE LOCKED UP. And if you read the beginning, you'll see where it spreads not just to Mutants, but any super power. When an Event occurs because some untrained Super Powered TEENAGERS get into a scuffle in the public. If you haven't read it yet, I won't spoil it because there is A LOT to take in.

Not gonna lie. If I lived in the 616, I'd be fucking terrified of those muties...

"Wait, there are mutants who can control our mind and re-shape reality to whatever they want? And we have technology to take away their powers? Yeah, let's do that".

I suppose as an older reader who only checks in occasionally now, my reaction that a lot of people who were die-hard capital V "Villains" when I read are now part of the family would be a lot of ordinary people's too.

Part of it is also jealousy. Genetics gave mutants powers while humans got nothing. They claim fear of what mutants will do when really they want the power for themselves.

Not sure how much of it would be jealousy overall. There's probably some jealously involved with being the "next step in evolution". But the reason is that being a mutant isn't a clear positive. While it's nice to have a cool power like healing or flying, a lot of mutant powers probably wouldn't be too positive. And some of them come with some serious negatives. Getting turned into a humanoid elephant might be fun for a day or weekend, but once that is your life it's a different answer. Not gonna find another humanoid elephant to date, or reproduce and have kids. There's probably not a great future there.

I think it's hilarious that the top comment is literally just anti-mutant rhetoric. People fear mutants because they can be convinced to believe bullshit like this. The Sentry is one of the most dangerous mutates made by the hands of men, but let's leave the Morlocks to rot in the sewers.

I mean he's explaining why people are afraid of mutants, obviously it's going to be an anti mutant argument

Yep. All they’re doing is regurgitating the “super predator” rhetoric of the 70s and 80s. Which is super ironic given that mutant struggles are meant to mirror irl civil rights struggles.

If the MCU was smart (and these days, I don't think it is anymore), they wouldn't introduce X-Men as heroes. You have a whole Avengers movie ("Avengers: Mutagenesis") where people are mutating, with no explanation, and by the movie's end they're fighting Magneto and the Brotherhood. Then, "X-Men" is a TV show, with Xavier gathering mutants with Cerebro, slowly building up the team and the school, with mutant violence and craziness happening as a backdrop to it all. I really don't want a whole "the X-Men have always been around, in secret" like I know they're going to do for the millionth time

I was just telling my best friend about that last situation. He sides with magneto and said he would if he had mutant powers. I was like I get it for the very same reason you stated - more or less.

The whole "Homo Superior, next stage of evolution" thing doesn't help, especially when the good guys say it, and *especially* when anti mutant groups use it to fan the flames. Plain humans don't want to go the way of the neanderthal, now or ever. And really, humanity already has made up so many reasons to hate one another... what's one more?

> Plain humans don't want to go the way of the neanderthal, now or ever. There’s a great speech  by The Director in the first Weapon X comic where he uses that analogy to explain why mutants are a threat. I loved The Director, as he had perhaps the most sympathetic backstories ever.  I do wonder if editorial decreed he had to become hypocritical, possessive ex-husband to keep him from being too sympathetic, and making readers empathize with him over muties..

Heck something similar to that speech was in the latest 97 episode. >!Bastion explains that it's basically impossible for people to compete with mutants. What happens to the Taxi business in NY if a teleporter decides to set-up shop? And that Mutants are an existential threat to humans because they'll replace them within 2 generations!<

I mean sure they don’t want to go extinct, but I never understand why they care so much about it. I mean it’s not like they would just fall over someday, they still live out their lifes and then someday there will only be mutants. As Long as the general mutant community isn’t out there actively trying to kill humans then it should be fine right? Like yeah there are Homo sapiens and there are homo superiors but both kinds still are human so it’s not like the human race will go extinct

Marvel built a lot of it around the reality of people fearing what they don’t understand. Something that we have done often and continue to do.

Exactly. Jack and Stan very much hated Nazis and their general persecution of people. They were adults during WW2 and Jack was even drafted into WW2. They understood the fearmongering and hatred generation by people craving power. They would be so disappointed in today’s world and the regression in this area.

[My Reddit homepage just now](https://i.imgur.com/KN0y9Hu.png)

>“I’m looking at society today and it’s like I’m watching an ‘X-Men’ movie. When you watch the ‘X-Men’ movies or Marvel comics, it’s like we have mutants living among us on planet Earth. This is the planet Earth where God created men male and women female. I’m a proud Christian, conservative Republican." -Republican legislator Webster Barnaby, answering OP's question

So fucking gross. Taking the point and missing it entirely. Unless he's knowingly comparing himself to the bad guys.

Not all conservatives are the bad guys, but damn if many politicians basically are at least while in office.

First people like Hulk is pretty much as feared as mutants, while people like Tony Stark are not because one control his suits and others causes a ton of damage and death without even realizing. Second while they are a metaphor of discrimination, I also can get why regular people could get afraid. Imagine you are sleeping in your apartament peacefully when sudenly all is on fire and you have to run or die, all just because your neighbor is a mutant and had a bad day, is drunk or an emotional teen having a tantrum. Also mutations dosen't differentiate betwen good and bad people, imagine that your bully sudenly got powers, and is using them to torment you, imagine a terrorist gets powers. And Thirsd as has been said mutants are supposed to remplace baseline humans eventually, imagine having a child and know that he would be always be in disadvantage because even if is healty and hardworking he has no superpowers.

I mean, being a mutant isn't really objectively better than being a human, even without the social pressures. It was said in a book (idr where) that the mutants powers on average are about as effective as a mild smell. (although I kind of doubt this given that there are like 20 mutants who could probably conquer a small country on their own and that has to raise the average even if there are millions of mutants right?). But assuming that that's accurate... yeah I feel like it'd be an outlier if your job got taken by a mutant with a very effective power. Not even counting the mutants whose powers are actively detrimental to themselves like Rogue or whatever.

Ironically, Xavier's teams, while meant to do good, probably inflate people's perceptions of what mutants can do.

And also, don't you think regular mutants who have useless power should be afraid of other mutants too? Like there's actually mutant like Sabretooth who's just inherently evil and strong. And let's not forget the telepaths who can actually read your thought and what not😱 Man i mean, if i'm a mutant with useless power (and there's a possibilities that i can hide it from the rest of the world), i rather it be stay hidden rather than hanging around with those people

Gotta keep in mind, the X-Men tend to be generally attractive and normal looking. Most mutants get physically changed, some so much so that they're ostracized by other mutants. Like the attractive non-cosmetically changed mutants aren't the norm. So that also skews people's view on mutants further

Because waking up one day as a walking bio weapon that is so dangerous your own species sends a geneticly perfect killer after you to make sure you're silenced and the news of the event never gets out

Because the idea that anyone could have dangerous super powers just because they were born different is scary for normal people without powers. Atleast that's how the moderate bigots in marvel would justify it, but the real reason is a lot more primal. Simply put mutants are different and different is scary of a instinctual level

To be fair, we see in some of the Orchis notes that the plan would have been to go after pretty much any meta-human next.

I thought that was an interesting bit, too, but this really makes no sense. Isn't Feilong a meta-human?

Bigotry doesn't make sense. A lot of the Orchis meta-humans would consider themselves better, just enhanced normal people. Not like a guy who is part spider or a vampire bat-man or some rando who can turn into fire.

You're so right about that. I feel like it would be harder for Orchis to actually persuade the rest of the world to actually get rid of the supers who saved the world many more times than Orchis ever did, but Orchis did have the trojan horse in a lot of the world's pop. I'm surprised the next step wouldn't have just been full mask off.

You have to do it slowly or people will think you're nuts.

Yeah. Now that I think about it more, Orchis would need to take out more supers before going mask off, otherwise their plan is harder.

Because they can destroy reality just by sneezing wrong

I just want to say that people are hated IRL for far, far less. The existence of the KKK, for one, people being hated for simply the color of their skin. Or hate crimes in general just because someone is gay, or trans, etc. On top of that, there is the fear that is even present in real life, the fear of being replaced. Humans in relation to mutants are scared of being replaced by them for being inferior. “Homo superior” and all. “The ___ are gonna come in and take all our jobs and blah blah whatever replace us” is not a new mindset at all, sadly. Ultimately, it boils down to the fear of being replaced, like humans to the Neanderthals. Also, a lot of other heroes are fairly known to have gotten their powers later in life and are just making the most of their situation, whereas mutants are born with it, and it’s impossible to know who is or isn’t one. Bigotry is inherently stupid, but it’s also the fear of what people don’t understand. Mutants are a complete anomaly and not much is known about what they really are, and that’s going to scare people.

"They're gonna take our jobs" is a pretty legitimate concern when one mutant can do the work of ten people with the right power.

The infamous “They”. It's the boogieman we use for the things we fear and don't, or can't, understand.

Pretty much, yeah.

I enjoy all the people here just explaining the plot details without the obvious comparison to irl bigotry. Like, we all know right?..... right?

That’s why I said what I did in the beginning.

Oh yes I agree! And you're one of the shocking few pointing out the very very obvious intention of the primary story. Surely everyone else realizes that and are just answering in more of a lore perspective

Yeah, I hope so. Professor X put it very nicely in episode 6 of X-Men ‘97, “That we must pillage worth from one another. That for me to be more, you must be less. Your existence against mine because… Why?” It’s primarily an Us vs Them kind of thing. Me vs You, my own worth vs yours, etc.

What would be the reaction in our real world to Nitro accidentally killing 900 school kids? If in our real world vast people with powers were very prevalent? Would we start super power concentration camps? Would we just do the registration a la Civil War?

You're getting way too far in the weeds. Yeah that's where we are with the stories but it all started with one very obvious concept and parallel.

Think if some OUTLANDISH person, or better yet, some mildly educated person who has a strong personality/thinks VERY highly of themselves; Got Mutant Powers. Some Narcissist, or some Serial Killer gained mutant powers. (Sabertooth, Mr. Sinister) Unchecked, it could be worse than a disease, they can methodically wipe out multiple people with out batting an eye. You could be looking a Xenomorph Alien type; a Predator who only knows 2 things: Killing and Eating. Now say you're some suburb no-nonsense family, with no training, no technology to house a 3 year old, who if they don't get chocolate milk, will Zap fry and decimate your kitchen/front door/the next door neighbor's house with eye lazers and kills 2-3 people in the process. How do you cope with this? What else BUT FEAR do you feel when your child is basically a Nuclear Warhead strapped to the mind of a toddler? That isn't even in the SAME BALL PARK as a Super Soldier, when its a controlled concoction used on a GOOD Natured Mature Adult in a Lab some place. Also: A green raging Goliath <------They feared him for over 30-40 years now. The Military opens fire on him with ammo meant to punch holes in heavy armor in broad daylight, on the middle of San Fransisco busy street. The Hulk is basically something of a "Mutant". He became the Hulk through Gamma Radiation which mutates his body. But he isn't a "Mutant" because he wasn't BORN with said powers. The Hulk is wildly NOT praised by any of the citizens because he causes MASS DAMAGE. Talking entire City Blocks wind up in piles of Rubble from 1 fight. A lot of Regular Average Joe's HATE the Hulk when he is younger because he will use anything he gets his hands on, to stop a threat. Which can cause massive amounts of Property Damage and HIGH Risk of Debris/Falling Buildings Domino Effects. Do you think a some where in the ballpark of 10' monster chucking Toyota's at ANOTHER 10' Monster is "Cheered"? It's only when later people realize, he values LIFE over PROPERTY, they stop caring. They NOW KNOW the Hulk is a Hero. And he is only participating when shit hits the fan (So to speak). That all of his feats of strength is also (Partially) backed by a scientific mind that calculates things. Hulk won't just pound shit when theres bunch of kids near by, hell even cats are safe. He causes massive amounts of damage that can take months if not years to fix. Imagine that's your home he smashes into because a big bad shows up? Now people don't fear THE HULK, they fear THE SITUATION THAT REQUIRES THE HULK. OH SHIT, IF HULKS HERE, THEN WHO IS COMING AROUND?!? Yeah, grateful you're still alive afterwards. But now your life is on pause until things get better. Some people don't get that, that might not happen for you. The Landlord might not be able to pay up, and tell you "Sorry, but I can't get it fixed...You're on the street." Places like Harlem where Luke Cage is at. Peter Parker's Aunt May look what she does? She looks out for the Homeless, I believe some of those homeless came to the Homeless Shelter after wide spread attacks from Villains. I think a villain is spawned like this. I can't remember if they are a Punisher, Spidey, Daredevil or Luke Cage villain (I might also be thinking DC Comics). Meanwhile, X-Men also have problems with Religious Zealots the Friends of Humanity. or "The Templars" Where they try to burn hospitals when they find out a "New Mutant" was born there. They see Mutants as "Devils" That need to be stamped out. These people have politics wrapped up in their hatred and "Fear" and they make the common public pleeb afraid of mutants too. They make parents of mutants afraid their little "Freak" might eat them, or destroy their whole lives. X-Men have a long time problems with Villains having Government backing to spew hatred about them.

One of the best fucking answer here, well said.

Because they have power that can’t automatically be countered. In a purely political sense, they could easily attempt to take power. Thst threat alone puts crosshairs on them.

X-Men '97 explains it pretty well. Humans don't like the idea of evolved humans (mutants) taking over the population,making them feel inferior as they're not genetically evolved.

this was also addressed in the Days of Future Past movie AND Hickman’s run of X-Men

I also like how he explained why take a cab to your destination when a mutant can just teleport you there. I love that fucking show. Blood is blood. Family is a choice.

Something something "next step of evolution", something something "replace Homo Sapiens just like Homo Sapiens replaced Homo Erectus" and something something "we can't trust random people with so much power". But I think it makes a lot of sense, some people in real life give a bigger shit about gay neighbors than neighbors with guns, so it makes sense people in Marvel stories are more afraid of Beak and Angel than Iron Man and the literal God of Thunder.

Ya but there also mutants that make thor look like a chew toy.

Yeah but that's just cherry picking on one extreme end of the spectrum, don't you think? It's like saying that "there are dangerous *insert ethnic group here* people, so we gotta be wary of all of them!".

There aren't really extremes of ethnic groups where the individuals at the extreme end could wreck a country by thinking it. I mean, I'll point to Sins of Sinister where Sinister didn't really upgrade the existing mutants, he just made them want to take over the universe - and they took over the *whole fucking universe.*

Mutants are a far more random occurrence than most other super power sources, and those powers don't have a generalized intent. For every weather controller or telepath, there's someone who randomly explodes or their body projects radiation. And unlike most super humans, this random occurrence can happen and sometimes be hidden for years on end. Unlike Captain America, Ironman, or others who are in the public eye, if someone can walk through walls as a mutant power, there's no specific individual to look for. They could rob anyone, walk right into a safehouse panic room and shoot the occupants, and there's no conventional way to prevent them from doing this or worse, and then they can disappear back into society. As for socially, come on. Post 9-11, people of Middle Eastern descent were feared and scrutinized left and right. During the pandemic, there was briefly some major anti-Asian stuff going on. In Europe, the Romani people experience racism, for reasons I don't even know. If people can be that fearful and prejudice that recently, over little to no justification, how do you think society would react to people who it's actually rational to be wary of? I can't imagine they would take it well.

Because you can never know if you're talking to one. The Boys encapsulated it pretty well in [this scene](https://youtu.be/KZVAFPPMZY4?si=odUAkouVj5YIAHXp) here.

Prejudice. Granted, some mutants are bad or others can't control their abilities, all mutants are seen as the same threats. Thus, they have no option but to protect themselves or, worse, retaliate.

Mutants are powerful individuals. What do normal humans have to defend themselves in the event that a mutant lost control of their powers or decided to use them for evil? There are some detractors who just hate mutants because they are different and they can't be controlled. Others are just skeptical and have doubts that they can peacefully coexist in a way that doesn't result in conflict. I think it is understandable to be skeptical and slightly fearful of mutants. The powers activate during puberty, meaning any youth can secretly be a mutant, and you have no idea who is a mutant and who isn't. You also have no self defense measures put in place in case mutants decided to use their powers for evil. What do mere humans have to protect themselves from someone like Magneto? The X-Men serve a purpose but even they can't stop every evil mutant who causes problems. Mutants shouldn't be hated. They should be looked at with general skepticism, because not every mutant is good or bad. Magneto and the evil mutants ironically prove the anti-mutant people's point about how they are dangerous and a threat. Magneto is proven correct when people revile in hatred to mutants because of this. It is a cycle that never ends. The only way it can end is if Charles Xavier managed to convince more people to send their mutant children to his school to be taught how to use their powers in a safe and productive manner. I can imagine people hiring mutants to do tasks that are difficult for normal people to do. Charles Xavier could help bridge the gap between humans and mutants if he got his message across better.

First of all, people hate Hulk. He’s incredibly despised in practically every storyline. People hate Spider-Man as well. Second of all, the first episode of X-Men 97 put forward the feeling of those who hates mutants really well, with producer of the Sentinels, Bolivar Trask, saying “you don’t know what it’s like to be left behind by evolution”. Most other hero’s are either experimental accidents or controlled hero’s. They aren’t “the next step of evolution”. By the view of regular humans, mutants are tying to phase them out and bring in a new area, where humans don’t exist. The only ones to keep them in control are other mutants. But, even with all these excuses upon excuses, why do any bigots discriminate. They’re different. Look different, sound different, act different. Bigots don’t like what goes against their status quo.

>First of all, people hate Hulk. He’s incredibly despised in practically every storyline. People hate Spider-Man as well. But there *are* specific reasons for that. Hulk is known to cause MASSIVE amounts of damage, equivalent to Magneto. And Spider-Man was the victim of a deliberate yellow-journalism campaign to sell papers that tarnished his reputation. These are specific cases, relevant to specific individuals. It would make sense for those same circumstances to apply to specific mutants, but is different then the entire class of people being in that situation.

It wasn't just the Bugle tarnishing Spider-Man's reputation in the public's eyes. A lot of people/citizens in the Marvel Universe genuinely find him weird compared to the F4, Avengers, etc. Pretty close to the X-Men in terms of immediate reception (think he has creepy costume, don't want to be "saved" by him, etc). The movies make it seem like he's always beloved (unless a specific event like NWH), which I never liked. Feels like a Sony mandate across the Raimi/Webb/Watts movies that he always needs to be shown as beloved or something, lol.

> It wasn't just the Bugle tarnishing Spider-Man's reputation in the public's eyes. A lot of people/citizens in the Marvel Universe genuinely find him weird compared to the F4, Avengers, etc. It overall isn't remotely as bad as the average non-combatant mutant gets.

Mutants keep creating their own nations, even claiming Mars recently. Non-mutants aren't welcome there, even with super powers, which I guess is a blessing since it always ends in disaster. They granted themselves immortality and said that it only works on mutants but when they needed a diplomatic win suddenly it could work on humans. But they'll only share it with a few charity cases, not everybody. In short, they expect humans to embrace them while they hold us at arms length.

This is also true. Post-Krakoa, hate and fear of mutants is *entirely* justified by their own actions. They set up an ethnostate and started bullying everyone else. It wouldn't be entirely justified to have prejudice toward mutants that wanted no part of Krakoa, but it certainly would ingrain this concern that it could happen again, similar to how people felt about Germany after WWII.

Bigotry is stupid and senseless, that’s it.

I hear you, but Mesmero and Apocalypse?

Proteus is better case. His power is too big, so his body died. He became a monster because of his powers.

I mean, Apocalypse's base powers aren't especially scary.

What are they?

Essentially think of Mr. Fantastic, just a lot more durable. And his blue lips and grey skin

I mean, mutants like Matthew Malloy exist. Fear of a random mutation that can cause massive amounts of damage unprovoked certainly isn't senseless.

Yeah I mean they had to go back and time and stop his parents from ever meeting just to stop him.

They were created in times people hated and feared gay/black/other ethnicities. With all that hate around it was clearly easy to accept that people hate someone who is different than them while not being a publicised superhero

It's because they are born that way. Their powers are purely genetic-based. It creates a worrisome atmosphere among the people. One second you're out for lunch with your buddies. The next second, he is spitting acid from his mouth. And the fear does not only affect normal humans, but the mutants as well. It's part of the whole idea of mutant teenagers finding out their powers in a shocking manner. Imagine you're at school and your skin changes colours, or you wake up one day and accidentally blow up your house. It's part of the reason why Prof X set up a school to mentor and guide these kids. If we bring it back to the real world (our world), humans have always been scared of what is different from them. Different races, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, etc. This xenophobia is like the basis of the story of X-Men. And to top it all off, there's also Magneto who shouts the idea of mutants supremacy, taking over the world, and enslaving/destroying all the non-mutants. This is a complete contrast of, let's say, the Avengers, who gained their superpowers from heroic journeys and events. Then, people see them use their powers to save the world. They are celebrated, in a way. This could also be a problem in the MCU where people adore and celebrate the Avengers (particularly Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man, etc). So to set the atmosphere for the new upcoming X-Men story, something major needs to happen where people will see mutants as strange and dangerous.

Tbh I’m gonna drop the most hated take on the planet. Humans have every reason to genuinely fear mutants. Let me cook rq. Mutants in all honestly are no different from humans personally wise. So it only takes one omega level dickhead to ruin the whole shit for mutant kind. Shit not even a dickhead. Imagine if one of yo homies hit puberty and killed most of the people around them because they happened to hit puberty and get the “murder everybody power.” It’s a genuine concern. Mutants are actually a problem for society because they have unpredictable abilities that can manifest at puberty and you will have absolutely no idea. In a real world scenario would you ant to put your child in a room with a kid that has the ability to lower the temperature of the world around him, especially knowing that kids are stupid. It’s a genuine concern. Now is it a good idea to actively hunt and antagonize these people? Absolutely fucking not, but it’s definitely a reason to be afraid.

Some are crazy people who want to kill everyone Some want to live alongside humans Some can't control their powers Mutants can never be trusted by humans because no one knows who side they are one and since they're so powerful the humans could risk extinction

Honestly because it’s random people turning up with superpowers with as much guidance in using their powers. Remember that one time a mutant activated that had such powerful reality warping powers they had to travel back in time to prevent his birth. Honestly with the x men and the avengers and such mutants would be a lot less feared than when they first appeared to the general public but marvel editorial doesnt really change the world for the better even when it makes the more sense than not (just ask spider man) Edit: also there’s the “mutants will replace humans stuff” but that’s always been bullshit considering the wider marvel world just look at the long list of regular people gaining powers who are aren’t even mutants and you get a picture of humanities evolution not being linear.

Imagine sending your child off to school, only for them to be in danger because a classmate unexpectedly manifests a terrifying mutant power. Picture a scenario where this classmate, perhaps feeling threatened or bullied, suddenly bursts into flames, engulfing the classroom in fire and costs, your child, their life. The thought alone is chilling, as such an event would be completely random and unpredictable. You'd naturally be terrified, not just for your child's safety, but because this could happen anywhere, at any time, without warning.

I don’t get why people of color / lgbt+ people are feared either. Prejudice isn’t supposed to make sense.

I understand why people are scared of mutants but honestly we should be scared of all superpower being not just segregated to the mutants but super humans mutants and inhumans homo novissama especially androids 🤖 and 🤖 robots . Honestly earth x 🌍 and kingdom come is so accurate everyone gonna be mutated eventually .

Replace xmen and mutants with black or trans and all your questions still stand. Sure some are bad and some are good, some are pretty and some are ugly, so why specifically are people angry and scared of them in particular? congrats, you have nailed the problem with racism/bigotry.

Because the mutants frankly deserve the distrust that's placed upon them.

Check out the opening scene of episode 1 of Gen. V

The same reason our predecessor were wiped out Essentially. A better, smarter, and MUCH better equipped version of human came around and wiped them out of existence

humanity fears what it can’t understand, you’ve got to remember that

A random teen who just hit puberty might have the power to kill everyone in a 5km radius around him. Just by standing there. And he needs to be killed by Wolverine Becuase he's the only one who can do it and we can't let people know.

I think the biggest difference is that "Mutant" is just sort of a catch-all for anyone without a proper origin story. (Except Wolverine, who has a *lo*t of origin-story for some reason. ;) ) Captain America went through a process involving a serum and some kind of rays, the Fantastic Four had some sort of weird experience they want to tell you about in the Van Allen Belt, Tony Stark built his stuff, Banner had an accident involving Gamma radiation, and so on. Even the Inhumans (though most people don't generally care about the Inhumans) have a sort of Terragen-Gas initiation. Mutants just... *turn up.* Could be anywhere, could be (in some cases) anyone. This is sort of a larger-scale version of one of Jameson's many problems with Spider-Man: the FF are public figures (it helps that Reed intentionally made them celebrities so they couldn't be hauled off for "research"), but their stuff tends to be big and easy to spot. Captain America doesn't exactly sneak around, he was made to fight nazis, and he keeps a high profile. Spider-Man can (and does) just swing by, or through, your window. (It's kind of like the proverbial Deer Scale, about how a deer across your lawn is an adorable part of nature, a deer that has burst through your porch-screen and currently in your living room is a *problem*. Likewise, the X-Men on TV or across a public square: fun! An equivalently-unusual looking mutant in your living room for some reason: OMG. ) Then there's the whole thing where Homo Sapiens is to Homo Superior what Homo Sapiens was to the Neanderthal or Homo Floriensis: *The End.* It's a bit much to ask people to be neutral about their entire species' end. (This is before we get to recent events, like the mutant ethnostate declaring that every mutant everywhere is actually a citizen of *their* country, not wherever they otherwise happen to live.) The out-of-continuity answer is that they were written by different people, and never really meant to mesh that much. (That's why "Where were you when \[whatever storyline\] happened?" monologues are dumb- if, in the actual storyline, some characters from a completely unrelated title just jumped in and fixed the problem, people would find that unsatisfying, as a story.) PS: I also have a pet theory that a side-effect of mutation is an uncontrollable side-ability to make non-mutants get songs stuck in their heads. If there's more than one mutant present, you get more than one song stuck in your head. If it's the X-Men vs whatever the Brotherhood calls itself now, you may be looking at up to a dozen songs at once, at different tempos and different parts of the song. I dunno, *I'd* hate that. ;) )

Dear God, that last part needs to be canon now!

I wonder why every civilian in the marvel universe doesn’t assume every superhero is a mutant or is it the case with racists who like certain rappers and athletes do they think a hero is “one of the good ones”?

This may be a dumb question, but how do regular people in the comic book world know the difference between mutants and superheroes? Like how can someone tell who was born with their powers or not?

They don't. The idea that everybody would know the identity and origin of every superhero and villain is ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is that people would only fear the ones born that way, but be okay with androids, mythical gods, and aliens.

I mean , they are more powerful than the Gods from the Greek mythology

The truth is: someone has atomic bombs strapped to their eyes it’s a reason to be afraid.

Mutant powers are awakened in teenagers at the most emotional points in their life. Sure, some mutants are just people with 4 toes and 8 fingers on each hand but there are also mutants who have the capability to wipe an entire continent off of the map just because of a breakup.

Issue 1 way back in 1963 has Xavier stating he created the X-men as a defense against evil mutants. Magneto clearly stating he views mutants as superiors & he uses his powers to try make humans subservient to humans. Magneto also tries to take over a military base. Evil mutants try to take over the world because they think they're superior. Stan Lee created mutants so he didn't have to think of so many unique Origins for super gross, they would just be born with super powers. The whole allegory to the Civil rights movement didn't really happen until Chris Claremont came on board during the 80's

not only could the mutants take over and make humans their slave bitches but they are also the next evolution of human, in a sense. so people have fear on that level as well, like if mutants keeps mating, there will be no normal humans left.

I don't get this argument though, because mutants are not separate from humans, they are an evolution of humans. Yes, there might be a point at which no "normal" humans exist anymore, but also it means that your grandkids might be able to fly! Generational fear typically comes from the idea that your own offspring will "fail," and end your family line, but that argument does not apply here, since your offspring will benefit from this shift as much as anyone.

not if they have normal offspring and then those kids are forced to work in some labor camp for their mutant over lords. of course i’m not saying that’s what would happen but it is what is feared. ppl don’t like being left out so when some are getting super powers and they aren’t.. they get jealous and resentful

>not if they have normal offspring and then those kids are forced to work in some labor camp for their mutant over lords. What use would normal humans have to mutants for labor? One strong mutant could do the work of a thousand normal people. Besides, eventually ALL the offspring would be mutants, a generation of humans is just an ancestor to a mutant. And I can understand jealousy and resentment of *current* mutants, just not why that would play into a generational fear. And if people hate and fear the *current* generation for *current* challenges, then that same fear should apply to non-mutant superhumans. There are certainly rational arguments to be made around this topic, it's just that the particular assortment of positions that Marvel has and has not chosen are incompatible with each other. Too much of A and not enough of B.

Think of it like this. You know how people aren't really scared of the military but are scared of a random public shooter? But in marvel it's random people that could be as powerful as a nuke.

People with powers are terrifying. If today we see jesus walking over waters we will shoot that dude in seconds. Freak.

Yes, but in Marvel, they would make a distinction between if Jesus were a mutant (ew), or if he were a guy bitten by a radioactive fish, or a literal god.

Tbh bigotry isn't supposed to make sense, which is part of the reason why it works imo. It doesn't make much logical sense to be afraid of one group of people with powers but be perfectly ok with a different group of people with powers. Just like it doesn't make logical sense to hate people for their race or their sexuality or whatever. People who are bigots don't use logic they are just bigots and trying to understand how or why they think the way they do won't work cuz it doesnt make sense.

Because they are extremely powerful individuals walking around with no supervision or anyone to answer to when they go off the deep the end. That's why the x men's so called allegory doesn't make any sense at all and is false equivalency to the highest order . Tell me when was the last time, a black man was able control minds or a gay man being able to nuke a city by accident? Yeah never happens

I was confused about this for so long until recently. I always wondered why the hell the marvel universe loves characters like Thor but hates mutants. It never made sense to me. Then I saw someone explain it like this: People hating mutants doesn’t make sense because Bigotry doesn’t make sense.

No one is giving the real answer. The real answer is it doesn't make sense in universe. If people are going to fear mutants, they would also fear a spiderman and I doubt they would make the distinction between random genetics vs radioactive spider. The real answer is X-Men writers write X-Men stories which have a core of dealing with mutant prejudice. Stories like spiderman mostly mostly only involve fear of mutants if the story just happens to have a mutant in it which isn't the norm.

I do agree, but we do see other marginalized groups have it pretty bad. Like monsters, who we see try multiple times to establish their own states. Even vampires-the normal ones-can be killed for no reason even if they aren't attacking people. Then you have the prejudice different aliens face, or the issues symbiote hosts can face even if the symbiote in question is being peaceful. Now keep in mind, you don't have to be doing anything wrong and you can get turned into a vampire or infected with a sentient piece of living darkness. And you can continue to not do anything wrong, but through no fault of your own, you are now not considered human and have few rights as a person. It's just a shitty situation

I feel like there's a moment/arc for almost every hero to be feared. So it's not like it's unique to mutants, it's just that it's probably a little more warranted with mutants (because there are many examples where they are uncontrolled and dangerous) and they have greater numbers. They're actually a demographic that can be identified and singled out. So it's easier to place the fear, and produce a target for it.

People have a tendency to distrust what is unfamiliar/what they don't understand.

Pretty much evolution! Humans fear that mutants can be the cause of their extinction....

That's the point. Discrimination and bigotry don't make sense. Bigots are just stupid and evil.

In this case it’s the lack of bigotry against the proto homelanders in avengers mansion and ff tower that doesn’t make sense. Being afraid of mutants is as rational as being afraid of someone sauntering down the street with an assault rifle in their hands.

"people fear what they don't understand"

Narrative reasons.

Homelander

I’m sure you already know that the X-Men and the whole mutant species is an analogy for racism, homophobia, and all sorts of discrimination. You’re right about how it doesn’t make any sense on why they’re feared and discriminated against, and that’s the whole point, bigotry itself doesn’t make any sense.

Because they're born different. Take race, the whole cause of mutant creation by marvel comics. Born different with no say in the matter yet 'feared' due to being different when in truth its the majority faking that fear just to get their way and make it seem the minority are the oppressor. Anything different in the minority, the majority want it gone.

Replacement theory: "we and our costumes will go extinct", you know the people that says that "gays want everyone to be gay?", or "white genocide" or something like that? yeah

One reason is it’s possible they end up like the kid at the end of this video https://youtube.com/shorts/ligpJ88gLN4?si=Z6nkA8DEYyQzKNmO

They're Italian.

I always thought that it was the comics' take on race relations in the real world. Humans were the "dominant" culture, and the mutants were the hated/feared minorities.

Because they are dangerous

Oh, the Xmen are the 1%. They look human and can pass as human! For the most part. There are actually millions of mutants and supposedly a lot of they look like classic monster mutants.

I’ve never understood it either. I mean, for the most part mutants look like normal humans. Sure, there are exceptions like Nightcrawler or Angel or Beast in his blue furry form, but if you saw Bobby Drake just walking down the street minding his own business you’d never know.

When the X-Men came out in 1963 they were supposed to mirror all the prejudice or minorities. So your not understanding why they are hated is exactly the point of their creation. Just because you are different doesn't make you a monster.

Because it’s completely random, who is a mutant and what power they get. It’s not like the government went through lots of applicants and bestowed the powers upon them or a divine deity is walking among them. It could be your a-hole neighbor who you have argued with with messing up your lawn now has superpowers and when they get pissed at you they now have the abilities to make your life miserable.

Two points. The first being that any random teenager can develop abilities that have the potential to make them as dangerous as an unpinned grenade. Teenagers are also not known for showing restraint or emotional stability. This heady mixture combines to create a public danger. The second is that of the two major mutant factions, one of them is headed by a genocidal Holocaust survivor. Magneto has also infiltrated the publicly accepted "good" faction, which if we're honest has regular issues with current and former members switching teams to go slaughter a school bus or eat an old folk's home.

But also any random teenager could be bitten by a radioactive spider, and that's ok.

I mean, we have J. Jonah Jameson expressing that it is not, in fact, ok.

Yes, but he is an exception, Spidey is generally well liked, despite his publicity.

True. His emergence into the public eye also didn't involve him becoming an involuntary laser cannon, or in the case of that one kid from the Ultimates run, evaporating an entire town.

This is the thing though, a negative reaction against *specific* mutants makes total sense, if any *particular* mutant did anything particularly bad (even accidentally), then it would make perfect sense for public sentiment against him to skew negatively. It just wouldn't make sense for that viewpoint to spread to *all* mutants, particularly if it did so without spreading to *all* superhumans in general. This is the problem, consistency.

That's where my second point kicks in. Magneto, the Brotherhood, and the occasional alignment with Apocalypse, might make your average citizen of the world suspicious. What's Magneto's stance this week? Apartheid ethno-state that leverages global mutants in one man terrorist attacks? Global domination of humanity by mutants? The resurrection of a continent killing super-mutant whose end goal is the death of our biosphere? "Oh, the man who pancaked three blocks in Harlem because he's sad about the Holocaust said he's sorry for killing 200 plus people? And bald Stephen Hawking said it's ok? Well alright then, I guess everybody deserves 7000th chances."

But again, there are *plenty* of good reasons to have negative viewpoints on *Magneto,* even if he is trying to be in a "good guy" phase this week. And obviously if anyone sides with Magneto, that should reflect negatively on them as well. It just does not make sense to hold all mutants accountable for Magneto's actions, particularly if that isn't expanded to other classes of superhumans.

Mutants seem to be the single largest homogeneous group of super beings, at least by origin. Maybe behind the Inhumans now, but still a large, homogenous group. Of the two available faces of mutant kind, one is *mulching* civilians with the stated end goal of uniting all mutants in a world domination scheme. Captain America doesn't have one hundred thousand super soldiers he's sending to blow up the Golden Gate bridge. There isn't the People's Republic of Ironmanistan. Mutants, at least a portion large enough and powerful enough to create multiple nation-states, are seeking systems of separation and governance for millions of individuals and they'll attack civilians to do it. "Are you a mutant?" "Yes." "Are you a bald wheelchair guy aligned mutant or Holocaust survivor super-terrorist aligned mutant?" "Magneto-al-akbar!" *mind-splosion*

>Mutants seem to be the single largest homogeneous group of super beings, at least by origin. Maybe behind the Inhumans now, but still a large, homogenous group. Eh, again, Krakoa muddies the waters here, but if we set that aside, as was the case for most of their history, they are *not* a particularly homogeneous group. They are very random. It's not like, say, Atlantians where you put a bunch of them into a lineup and they look mostly similar. You put a dozen mutants into a lineup with a dozen other superheroes, and people without prior knowledge would have a hard time picking between the two. Also, the size of the mutant population has been pretty inconsistent. Morrison's run exploded the population into the tens, if not hundreds of millions, but prior to that, it was probably less than ten thousand, with less than five hundred established mutant characters, and then presumably a much of smaller players. >Captain America doesn't have one hundred thousand super soldiers he's sending to blow up the Golden Gate bridge. There isn't the People's Republic of Ironmanistan. But there is Hulk, and Doctor Doom, and Green Goblin, and Loki, and the Skrulls, and plenty of other superhuman threats out there. If people can differentiate between "good superhumans" and "bad superhumans," then they should be able to do the same with mutants.

I mean I think you have to also consider it was a literal analogy for racism in the US. Or rather just fearing anyone that isn't us. So to answer that, why does racism exist? Why do we think people are less than because of their color or cultural/regional/sexual/spiritual background? It's a story that's as old as life on earth. We fear what we don't understand and the less experienced, informed, or open to learning we are, the more susceptible we are to such hatred towards people we don't even know.

I mean, if I'm walking on some back alley and 4 human-sized turtles cosplaying as ninjas just pop out of a manhole cover, I'd be terrified too.

You just posted a pic of a dude with knives coming out of him.

Yeah, I've always hated the "world that hates and fears them" narrative, at least as it is portrayed. ALL superpowered people should be feared, to some degree. Mutants should be no more persecuted than any other type of super powered person. Of course, that would make for a much more difficult superhero universe to play in, so they choose to make most superheroes "very acceptable" to the public, while for no apparent reason, mutants get the short end of the stick. It's the inconsistency that bothers me.

Wasn’t there a psychic field around the earth made by some super virus to make humans fear mutants because the virus couldn’t control mutants

Their powers are one thing, but what most people fear about mutants is that they're existence ultimately means humanity will be wiped out. The X-gene is a dominant trait that eventually will breed humans out of the gene pool. Philosophically mutants are the end of our species.  All that being said, some members of humanity has never really needed a reason to hate particular groups. Bigotry and racism isn't something that seems to need a good reason 

I think some humans like bastion fear that mutants will turn out to be the boys' supes like homelander etc

Reason 1 - Some of the Mutants are far too powerful, beings able to level towns, cities, countries, and even continents with just having to sneeze. Reason 2 - For whatever reason Mutants are considered a different species. They have a gene in their DNA called the “X-gene” which is an extremely dominant gene that gives them their powers. Which means that if you are born with the X-gene you are no longer considered “Human”. The fact that regular non mutant humans consider them a different species scares them into thinking that regular “Humans” would go extinct since the X-gene is dominant. (which IMO seems like it was meant to symbolize interracial mixing which was a big no no back in the day, but im not 100% sure.)

Is that a serious question? Let me paint the scene for you. You send your kids to school and you got a call. One of the student's glasses slipped off and now you son's classroom has a new skylight. I'm not saying that student is a bad person, but simply being around him is ***DANGEROUS***.

They’re dangerous. Think of Scott for example, he’s a good guy, but he could completely level New York in like an hour if he wanted to. And there’s hundreds of millions of mutants with powers just as dangerous. I think regular superheroes get the pass because nobody is afraid they’re going to level the world so that the mutant evolutionary line will be the only thing left.

Because they're assholes with too much power

Lack of control. There is no way to predict, control or decide who gets to be a mutant and what their power will be. The most common anti mutant argument out there is that "why would a world that idolises superheroes fear mutants?" Well most of the Marvel superheroes were adored by the (American) public when they started out as superheroes. Captain America was literally a product of the US Army. Iron Man was the son of a billionaire industrialist. The Fantastic Four were famous scientists and explorers. Thor was a literal God.If you look at other heroes like Hulk, Spider-Man, Daredevil etc they're seen as monsters and vigilantes. Mutants are seen even lower , because mutants gain their powers randomly.

You ever see that scene from American Dad where the kid walks into school with like a back brace or something on and he’s all smiles but then everyone looks at him and one kid points and goes “Different!”? It’s like that.

I haven’t really seen anyone talking about out how, for a lot of these mutants, when their powers finally kick in it usually happens in traumatic fashion and there’s usually a lot of collateral damage. I feel like, in addition to a lot of the points already made, would lead people to fear them.

They're *different* is all

Its irrational hatred, that’s the point

> You’re tellin me people like Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine and so on face discrimination for having laser eyes, weather powers and knives coming out their hands, while simultaneously praising beings like a super soldier who’s been frozen for decades and simply survived unscathed? I mean, Logan could probably also survive the freeze like Cap, and has claws to gut you with, and animalistic senses- on top of being even harder to kill from wounds than Cap, even without the Adamantium Skeleton. Cyclops has laser eyes- who wouldn't be scared of a guy who can destroy you with a look? Meanwhile, Cap has enhanced strength. Not even quite super-strength, technically. Way less scary looking. And Storm can make basically a hurricane. She was worshipped as a goddess and that moniker has not fallen entirely out of user. She can literally smite you like she's God in the Old Testament. > A green raging Goliath, I mean, Hulk was a founding member of the Avengers, and then left in issue 2 because **even other superheroes were afraid/not trusting of him**. The Hulk is very much a wild card and I imagine there's probably at mixed opinion of him on the best of day, and more commonly outright fear. > a flying suit of weaponized armor, a dude that can shrink and grow to sizes that are clearly not even close to normal, oh and yeah- I mean, those are technological. You can theoretically take those powers from them, or give them to someone else (heck, other people have been given them; War Machine and Wasp; not to mention Rescue, Iron Patriot, Ironheart [who partially replicated it on her own], the other Ant-Man, the other Wasp, the third Ant-Man, etc.) You can actually control, to a degree, these people having powers. And they also aren't hereditary. Mutant powers are something you can be born with, those. And the mutant population is usually depicted slowly catching up to and eventually overtaking the human population. It's an uncontrollable shift, with even the powers being random; some mutations are mundane, others horrifically dangerous. It's a lot more than just the X-Men, or even the X-Men and their villainous counterparts like the Brotherhood and the Acolytes. > a freakin Norse mythological alien god that’s somehow real (to them) and controls thunder??? Now, Thor is one I never know how people would react to. Because some would accept him as a god, others a super-alien or superhuman. he certainly is terrifyingly powerful, though he is also close to singular- Loki and Amora are the only other freqeuntly seen gods on Midgard, I think, and they're much different powers-wise. Thor also has the advantage of being vouched for by some of the greatest heroes, including **Captain America, a Nazi-punching war hero seen as a moral compass by many**. If the "thunder god" who seems decently honorable is vouched for by one of the virtuous icons of the world as a direct teammate, you're a lot more likely to look more favorably. > Spider-Man is a 5’10 dude in footsie pajamas yet can shoulder press a skyscraper I mean, one of the most famous dynamics for Spidey is his boss, JJJ, being vehemently anti-Spider-Man, seeing him as a menace. Spidey also spends most of his time bagging regular crooks or cooky super-villains, showing exceptional restraint. > A human can set himself on fire and not die? A humanoid talking rock, a woman that can manipulate light and space and a scientist who can stretch to seemingly no limit. Yet they’re world known celebrities lmfao Well, the Thing certainly hates his look (I forget if he still goes out in disguise or not). But as for the Fantastic Four, I think it's canon that Mr. Fantastic actively is trying to make them celebrities, to make up for making Ben a golem-man and Johnny a living fire hazard. The short version, really, is that Mutants are wide and varied, and the X-Men being mutants (and specifically mutants) makes them scary because mutants are an unknown, ever-changing demographic with high profile examples of destructive power being used (intentionally or accidentally). The Avengers, meanwhile, are a more... curated team, with government backing at times, with perhaps its most prominent member being Captain America, a weaker hero in many ways who is held in high regard. The very existence of mutants as a group leads to them collectively bearing the burdens of their worst (or of accidents), whereas other superhuman societies are either unknown or also disliked; and other heroes are not part of... an "ethnic" group of superhumans, and thus get judged more individually.

Because i do not want weapons of mass destruction with human emotion in my neighborhood. Guys like Cyclops or Wolverine are very much fine. They control their powers and even if they didn't, we could have some counter measures without killing millions. When it comes to Omega level mutants or close, it is terrifying. For example Xavier can take control of billions and force them to suicide. What if Storm decides to bring hurricane becase some dumbass rednecks tried something on her? I am sorry, i realize they are human being just as same as me, but i just can't allow to weapon of mass destruction be live beside me and only guarantee they won't start slaugthering us is "Trust me bro"

plot

Scarlet Witch can erase people with a whisper

For very good reason. Don't know when the dude next to you could accidentally sneeze and put an Ariana grande concert to shame.

I think there’s a curse or something on mutants so everyone sees them as a threat or instills a fear of mutants like with the Superd in Mushoku Tensei. It can easily explain why even supposedly open minded people turn on them so quickly. Deep down they’re afraid of mutants, but they can suppress that fear when human/mutant relations are good. The moment there’s a “mutant incident” all that fear comes back and they abandon mutants.

It’s a social commentary, think about the bullying and hate towards people with minor differences in the real world. Shit like skin tone or accents. Imagine if all of a sudden people were fully deformed or with weird powers. It would generate a ton of fear and it would manifest as hate, people hate what they don’t understand as a defense mechanism and it’s reflected in the X-Men

The reason the X-Men are a bad Civil Rights metaphor is because most mutant powers can first manifest at any moment a stressful situation arises, so a kid in a class can get stressed out and end up accidentally hurting or killing their entire class or more. Even worse are the examples when a mutant is born with their powers, basically zero self-control with powers that can maim or kill. That would cause people to be afraid, and mutants having powers and looking so different wouldn't help. Then throw in people like Magneto and just regular mutant criminals and of course people would be very afraid.

You can probably buy this on Amazon.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men:_God_Loves,_Man_Kills

There is a lot of mutant hate propaganda. Compare it to the hate that the far right has to Trans people at the moment.

Fear of the unknown and ignorance are a great recipe for bigotry . See real life for examples

Racism doesn't usually make sense to rational and kind-hearted people. Sounds like you're one of the good ones friend!

I loved the franchise and I found it entertaining when I was young but I had to come to the conclusion that I grew out of that nonsense. I hardly ever waste my time anymore with the "discrimination" aspect of the storytelling bc it's bollocks. Mutants are a different species and the x-men franchise at its core is telling an evolution story that should be meekly accepted by humans while they're slowly being replaced. An evolution war and co-existence CANNOT happen at the same time. Humans and certainly Homo Superior will never really believe in co-existence. The franchise is just planting a seed of an idea and straddling the fence between the survival or annihilation of either species. From the perspective of human I can see why they fear and hate mutants bc to them they are a living indicator that humans will be replaced.

The more crazy radicalized the X-men get the less I care, Charles original dream isn’t impossible it’s just not allowed to happen because then there’s no plot. So then when they start doing crazy shit it feels weak and forced. I liked them when I dipped my toes into X-men but know I’m agreeing with ultimate Peter when he cursed them out lol.

I roll my eyes so hard at all the posts lately about how the xmen are and always have been a working analogy for marginalized groups. It *sometimes has parallels* but it’s not a good analogy at all. And the story is worse when you try and make it be that. It often works better as a gun rights analogy than as one for marginalized groups

The civil rights movement

Because they are different, and people don't like things (or people) that are different.

People fear what they don’t understand.

There's actually an in-universe answer to this: it's because a sentient micro-organism from the dawn of the Earth which infected and mind- controlled all of humanity makes humans hate mutants because it can't control mutants (easily). That's the character Sublime from the Morrison run on New X-Men, which is probably of dubious canonicity at this point, same as their idea that humanity would be going extinct soon.

That is a better answer than the ones most people give, about how it should make sense just due to human nature.

Just look at how society treats people who are different than them NOW. It’s a certainty that Mutants would be the new boogie man and it would be a hell of a lot worse than what we’ve done to our fellow humans.

I love these threads because it just becomes a bunch of closeted bigots telling on themselves.

Humans have a long history of fearing “the other”. It’s who we are. For hundreds of thousands of years humans lived in small groups for protection against dangers that could end our lives. Animals, mostly, but as humans reproduced other humans became a danger—fighting over resources. After we created cities and countries we stopped needing to be afraid but started being manipulated by leaders who wanted us to be afraid. Hence racism, antisemitism, anti-Muslim people, trans and homophobic people, and I’m sure others I am forgetting. So it makes perfect sense that humans would be afraid of mutants. You could ask the question: what aren’t we afraid of?

Too powerful, white supremacy even in fiction

I compare it to the concealed gun argument. A person could be a mutant with powers that aren't obvious, to a reactionary flatscan human they are hiding a dangerous weapon. Then toss in some hamfisted racism corollaries and you have the Marvel mutant paradigm.

Yeah it really doesn’t make much sense, there are several characters in Marvel that can do crazy things but it’s the X-Men specifically that are feared. Mutates like Spidey are tolerated and even praised while the mutants are hated on, but for what? They both have powers. Both can hurt, both can help, both have their pros and cons. It’s just Marvel being Marvel I guess

There's probably about 1000 super-powered individuals whose power comes from radiation accidents or lightning or whatever. Just before Genosha was genocided by Sentinels, there were over 16 million mutants in Genosha alone. Towards the middle of the Krakoa era, it was stated that the population of mutants had already recovered up to 200,000 on Krakoa, plus however many never moved there. Then 1,000,000 more are on Arakki. Mutants are not the result of freak accidents or technological armor/gadgets that can be confiscated. They multiply, there's a shitload of them and even if the majority of them have completely harmless mutations like weird cheek tentacles or a baboon ass, they are still a distinct species, many members of which proclaim themselves to be humanity's inevitable successors. OFC I don't agree with anti-mutant racism but it's silly to act like people distinguishing between millions of members of a "rival tribe" and some rando who got bit by a spider is unrealistic. Not a single day has elapsed on this planet without someone dying for the color of their skin.

It’s because Mutants are essentially the next step in humanity, causing a fear of the unknown. With those fears thoughts such as “What if they band together to take over” or “Could they take away my job/life.” Due to that it causes an irrational hatred towards mutants

Make it make sense, the X-Men have saved just as many lives as the Avengers or the F4 or the Inhumans etc etc, yet they’re the ones singled out. If you ask me, if anything in Marvel should be feared that much, it’s the vampires, now those mfs are scary af😂 NOTE: tried to post this several times, i asked the mods for help but none of them respond to my dms😭

>Make it make sense, the X-Men have saved just as many lives as the Avengers or the F4 or the Inhumans etc etc,  A good many times, however, and when the general population has known about it, it's been from other mutants. It doesn't help that there have been various mutants throughout the years who have actively and publicly wanted to start a war between normal humans and mutants.

It's not supposed to make sense. It's bigotry, not reason.