The world needs the X-Men. The franchise has spent decades attempting to teach readers the importance of social inclusion, while warning of the horrific, hateful ideologies that are born through the fear of the unknown. Now, decades after their debut, the franchise’s message rings louder than ever as the world faces a worsening form of the exact problems that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby warned to avoid.

Whether audiences like it or not, the X-Men were built on the backbone of inclusion. Debuting in X-Men #1 (1963) - by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby - the X-Men spoke about inclusion and preached that we should accept those that are born different to us; we were taught to accept who a person is, not fear what they are.

While a comic book’s goal is ultimately to entertain its audience, the X-Men stood for something greater in a time of staunch social injustice. But, while the world has become more interconnectedly chaotic in recent decades, the X-Men’s original intent especially resonates today.

How The X-Men Became About The Others And The Outcasts

X-Men #1 (1963) - Written by Stan Lee; Art by Jack Kirby; Inking by Paul Reinman; Lettering by Sam Rosen

When the X-Men first debuted, the United States of America was embroiled in a heated civil rights movement that saw people of color in the country take a vocal stand against institutionalized segregation. While Stan Lee has itted that he never intended the likes of Professor X or Magneto to be stand-ins for civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X, he did acknowledge in an interview with Rolling Stone that “I think it was certainly an unconscious feeling.” Regardless of Stan’s intention, even he its that the X-Men symbolized the cultural movement at the time.

“Let’s lay it right on the line. Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today. But, unlike a team of costumed super-villains, they can’t be halted with a punch in the snoot, or a zap from a ray gun. The only way to destroy them is to expose them - to reveal them for the insidious evils they really are. The bigot is an unreasoning hater - one who hates blindly, fanatically, indiscriminately. If his hang-up is black men, he hates ALL black men. If a redhead once offended him, he hates ALL redheads. If some foreigner beat him to a job, he’s down on ALL foreigners. He hates people he’s never seen - people he’s never known - with equal intensity - with equal venom. Now, we’re not trying to say it’s unreasonable for one human being to bug another. But, although anyone has the right to dislike another individual, it’s totally irrational, patently insane to condemn an entire race - to despise an entire nation - to vilify an entire religion. Sooner or later, we must learn to judge each other on our own merits. Sooner or later, if man is ever to be worthy of his destiny, we must fill our hearts with tolerance. For then, and only then, will we be truly worthy of the concept that man was created in the image of God - a God who calls us ALL - His children.

Pax et Justitia”

Stan Lee (December 1968)

Before anyone says “Death of the Author,” the X-Men continued to explicitly lean into its social commentary when writer Chris Claremont took over with X-Men #94 (1975). Claremont re-utilized the X-Men to take a harsher stand against bigotry as the United States continued to see more fights for social justice for marginalized communities. Claremont was the first author to begin to normalize the plight of the villainous mutants (i.e. Magneto becoming a Holocaust survivor), explicitly unifying every character under the same socio-progressive cause. These narrative choices only cemented what Stan Lee had begun as the X-Men transitioned into the 1990s.

In Ages of the X-Men: Essays on the Children of the Atom in Changing Times (2011), Claremont cited, “If you wanted one book to summarize all that the X-Men is about… I’d have to say that - “God Loves, Man Kills” - was it.”

God Loves, Man Kills (1982) is a stand-alone story that saw televangelist William Stryker wage an anti-mutant campaign, where he believed God’s plan was to wage genocide against mutantkind. Not only did the story take a staunch stance against the dangers of televangelism, but served as an allegory for ongoing racial discrimination and antisemitism in the United States.

Intersectionality In The X-Men: A Message Of Greater Co-Existence

The Fight For One Group’s Social Justice Is A Fight For Everyone’s Justice

While the X-Men have always showcased diversity, it wasn’t until more modern narratives that the franchise began consistently, explicitly bringing up matters of intersectional social politics. Chris Claremont once said, “Every character should have a voice that matters.” Just like our world, there isn’t any singular fight for social justice. Modern fights against racism, sexism, televangelist extremism, and the discrimination of the LGBTQ+, the disabled, and the neurodivergent are all independent problems that messily weave together to create a tapestry of social suffering.

Writer Scott Lobdell’s Alpha Flight #106 (1992), for example, showcased the complicated relationship between Northstar’s fight to openly express his homosexuality while also having to maintain the additional fight for mutant rights. These types of intersectional conflicts likely apply to most of the X-Men, each of whom must face real-world bigotry in addition to fictionalized hate. This reflects modern activism’s emphasis on inclusive solidarity rather than single-issue politics. The Krakoan era, for a time, showed that inclusive solidarity and cultural multiplicity eventually form stronger, more self-sustaining societies than any other form that champions mono-culturism.

The X-Men’s Failed Fight For Autonomy Exploits Real-World Fears

Marginalized Communities Don’t Exist Without Hate From The Outside

However, while Charles Xavier’s dream of peaceful coexistence once anchored the X-Men’s message, the franchise was eventually forced to it that these utopic ideas don’t last. Sometimes it’s because internal politics degrade, but in many cases, attempts to create a separate, isolated community from those who despise said community still fall to the oppressor. It was with Genosha’s collapse that we saw the franchise embrace a greater stance on global peace and multi-cultural acceptance. The event, which saw the extermination of over 16 million mutants, can’t help but be compared to modern events such as the Gazan or Masalit genocides.

The desolation of the two mutant nations proved that neither Xavier nor Magneto’s politics mattered in a world that would see mutantkind dead regardless, echoing a modern fear that a contained community of marginalized people cannot exist without external oppression.

Genosha and Krakoa’s collapse resonates with an aire of fear that persists in modern marginalized civil rights movements, as those same groups have to weigh the potential value of autonomy against the vulnerability to a unified counter-movement. For example, some see the “Blue Lives Matter” movement in America to be an intentional counter to the “Black Lives Matter” message. The desolation of the two mutant nations proved that neither Xavier nor Magneto’s politics mattered in a world that would see mutantkind dead regardless, echoing a modern fear that a contained community of marginalized people cannot exist without external oppression.

The X-Men Chose A New Family In A Fractured World

The Franchise Delivers A Message Of Hope

Beyond their bid for survival, especially in the face of political and ideological extremism, the X-Men embody the power of the “chosen family.” No matter where the conflict they face may be, the X-Men continue to prove that having a community is what matters most, regardless of size and shape. With over 122 million refugees in the world, this message of hope can resonate with large swaths of the global population. Even though Genosha and Krakoa both saw their demise, the X-Men and mutantkind have once again found new homes where Xavier’s dream can once again flourish.

Modern series like NYX, X-Factor, and Exceptional X-Men all show that community is an immortal concept that can be reforged regardless of previous atrocities. It’s a grim message of hope, especially in the face of real-world isolationism, cultural extermination, and genocide, but still, it’s hope. As we the readers face an unstable global environment and an onslaught of injustices that impact every marginalized community, the X-Men give us hope. Hope that the world may learn to love. Hope that one’s value isn’t determined by what they are. Hope that, even if we have nothing material, we will always have community.

After 62 years of comics, the X-Men continue to do exactly what Stan Lee and Jack Kirby originally intended - inspire hope and proactivity against oppression of any form - even in the face of modern conflicts so extreme that neither creator could have guessed what would be in store for humanity.

Source: Rolling Stone

Source: UNHCR