If Martin Luther King were alive today how would he be
viewed? A man disappointed with his people like that Boondocks episode or an aging out of
touch leader who the world entertains out of necessity like
Jessie Jackson? What about Malcolm X, would he have remained relevant had he lived, or would he have transformed into an Al Sharpton like wind bag whose seen as more of a caricature than
a voice of his people? I bring this up because two of the most politically
charged Marvel comics characters, Professor X and Magneto were modeled after these
two great leaders back in the early 60’s when they were at their political peak
and at their biggest divide in terms of politics. Unlike their real life
counterparts, Charles and Magnus have lived on, and like most great thinkers
who aren’t taken away too soon, their respected dreams have lived on long
enough to become flawed.
Charles Xavier had a dream that mutants and humans would one
day learn how to coexist peacefully. His goal was to gain acceptance for his
people by teaching young mutants how to control their gifts and turn the other
cheek. Erik Lehnsherr was on the opposite end of the spectrum, the early comics
portrayed him as an elitist who felt that Humanity was outdated and that
mutants were not human’s but homosuperiors who had evolved in order to rule the
outdated homosapien species. In those early days, Stan Lee was trying to do his
part to preach tolerance, and of course, Xavier’s point of view was portrayed
as the proper way of thinking. However, as Marvel comics changed with the more
diversified world, the way the mutants were shown in comics never really
changed with our times. Honestly the only thing different from the initial
world that hated mutants to now is that Magneto, like Malcolm X before him, became
less radical and more sympathetic. Xavier on the other hand became a man out
of time, his co-existence message became lost, and his dream seemed to stall
out. Xavier’s real mission boiled down to training his students to stop other
mutants from stepping out of line. In essence, Xavier and his X-Men became more
like a mutant police force, hell bent on apologizing for the actions of “evil
mutants” rather than changing the way they were viewed by the world that still
feared them. Whenever sh*t went down with
a rogue mutant, there were the X-Men to clean up and apologize to the humans
like some kind of super powered sambo: “Wesa
sure is sorry about Apocalypse leveling half this here city, Mr. Homospaian
sir. Wesa swear not all mutants want to enslave you. Turn your eyes to our barely
dressed Asian girl with the British accent, she’ll love you long time”. In
short Xavier outlived his dream and became an Uncle Tom.
Xavier was clearly wrong about humanity. In the grand scheme of things
Humans will never accept mutants because mutants represent a future where
they are obsolete. How do the rich stay rich? They pool together to help each
other stay there. How did the Royal families of yesteryear maintain monarchies?
They intermarried cousins and siblings, to keep it an exclusive club based on
bloodlines. Humans are a dying species in the marvel universe; the only way
they can survive is to band together and make mutation seem like a disease as
opposed to an evolution. Magneto knew this, but he went too far over the edge,
and with Xavier around, he was never going to gain the upper hand. Face it, the
Brother Hood and Acolytes respectively were about as intimidating as the Miami
Marlins starting lineup. Xavier cornered the market on the best mutants, then
neutered them, ensuring that his so called dream would always be in the hands
of the most powerful of his people.
Enter Cyclops. Last year’s AVX crossover saw Xavier finally put out of his misery by his favorite student. In the aftermath of Xavier’s death, Wolverine and Cyclops were poised as the new voices of mutant kind, the new Erik and Charles so to speak. Xavier's death was a great moment in mutant history. After years of drinking that cripple’s
kool-aid like a true follower, Scott Summers finally figured it out. Magneto
and Xavier were both idiots. They lost their way due to their constant
fighting, and in the meantime human beings became even more distrusting of the
mutant menace, to the point where Scarlett Witch, a mutant herself, went crazy
tried to wipe our her own race. Mutant kind became a dysfunctional sub-culture
and she decimated it into less than 200. Like the great dinosaur extinction
that turned their species into modern day birds, mutants needed to be reset in
order to evolve into something better. Cyclops used the Phoenix Force to
jumpstart his race, and this time he was determined to do it better than Xavier
and Magneto. No more fighting about good vs evil, and kissing the ass of
humanity so they can be allowed to open up schools. Judgment day is coming, but
there is no need to throw the first stone, instead Summers has taken Xavier’s
idea of stockpiling the best mutants and training them. At the same time he’s
interlaced that with Magneto’s “push me and I will push back harder” approach.
No longer are mutants going to be shucking and jiving for the public. In every future Scott has seen mutants
end up becoming a controlled group, kept in check by Sentinels, because humans
will hate mutants today, tomorrow, and forever. Xavier was never going to
get coexistence from those flatscans, he was just trying to keep his own people
in line so they wouldn’t all be thrown in concentration camps. From day one Professor 'Sell Out' was pretending to be some kind of saint, but he was just some obedient puppy afraid to confront the truth. I mean the man had some deep dark secrets, it was revealed that he was jerking off to Jean Grey since she was 16 years old, he was willing to sacrifice is precious students for a human cooz named Moria, and that entire Onslaught thing... c'mon. Xavier wasn't sh*t! Cyclops is no
longer a sell out bitch wagging his tail for Master X's approval, he’s a man who sees the storm coming. Along with
Magik, Emma Frost, and a smarter Magneto, he’s creating an army ready for the revolution. Humans
have shown that no matter how many times they save the world, mutants will
always be the enemy.
Xavier was a fool, he allowed his naïve world view of the
universe to slow down the process of mutant rights, and trained a bunch of kids
to be servants to those who would never accept them. Magneto was a lunatic, his
own rage compromised what could have been a successful plan, and turned him
into the very man who had taken his family from him—Hitler. Cyclops isn’t about
master race or separate but equal, nor is he about playing the good house mutie
and bowing down every time Captain America needs something like his brother
Alex does. Wolverine can play the part of the house broken ex-killer trying to
Follow in Chuck’s footsteps as a pacifist mutant police officer. Kitty Pryde can put
on her big girl panties and play the part of tough and fair teacher, but she’s
just as lost as the original X-Men who weren’t smart enough to think past
Xavier’s propaganda. In the end, the other X-Men are still going down the wrong
path. Scott Summers is the mutant Savior. Scott Summers is the only leader
worth following. Scott Summers is Right.
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