The X-Men Trope: Why People Would Hate Superhumans, and So would You.
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2024
- Here's a topic that's sure to make me popular and not backfire ate all.
Just ranting about a trope that bothers me.
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Also, realistically, if superhumans had existed always existed from the beginning of civilization, they would have been the aristocracy. And it would have never ended.
True, but aristocracy has trouble keeping things in their pants. Powers would have gotten into the general population sooner or later.
@@talexratcliffe What I mean is that Monarchy and Aristocracy ended in real life because the ruling class were just regular humans in the end. With Superhumans, that would not have been the case. Basically anyone with powers would be in the upper class.
I would say even if it did get into the general population, it would just create another class of the ruling. The most powerful would rule all, and likely keep it among a select few 'pure' people, and the other people will powers would become like their lesser lords.@@talexratcliffe
@@Historyfan476AD
Honestly that sounds like a cool set up for social hierarchy for world building.
Like maybe one cool that happens is that it turns out sometimes Super powers just mutate into the population, but because them having powers and the weak don’t, the aristocracy likes to “claim” kids with powers as their made out of wedlock, rather than risk there being an extra faction of power users running around.
Or social climbers would always try to argue that their power is in actuality better than everyone thinks it is and as such they should be put in a higher social class, since they obviously are purer than others
@@qtar1984 The main reason for various civilizations to fall is the fact that in the case where it doesn't come from outside forces (disasters, invaders), its that the ruling class has a tendency over generations to become decadent and stupid. They become so myopic that their powerbase rots so other groups can begin plotting to take power themselves.
Interestingly this could lead to a sort of cycle where you have dynasties with powers being swapped out for Dynasties without and vise versa over and over again.
I have a story on the back burner based off a prose roleplay I participated in roughly ten years ago. The start of the story was supposed to feature a vigilante hero who wanted to try and help as his city fell into chaos and barely escapes a ‘hero trap’ with some kids pretending to be in trouble with the intent of beating up the mutated person with a conscious enough to try and help anyone in trouble. I also wrote my character being wary of a government man coming to try and control them, even if it meant her friends were disappointed in her. Being autistic she had trouble properly articulating her points so she tried to evoke X-Men as her reasons why because it’s easier to relate situations and thoughts to media.
That actually makes sense, articulation can be hard. Something ubiquitous like the xmen is actually a good explanation.
I will say the past decade has burned me out somewhat to supers.
@@talexratcliffe Yeah the group rp was first done in 2012-2015ish back when the MCU was still fresh. It's partially why I put the story on the backburner. But I think now that it's just me still clinging onto the story with all my old friends moved on and I don't talk to them anymore, I was planning on focusing more on the human element rather than the fights. The powers would be the excuse, the catalyst for the events to unfold and how the characters adapt and struggle with the situations as well as their powers. So I guess my story would kinda be superheroes but dramatic slice-of-life shoujo?
Hi Twilight!
It's me from the stream. Sorry for being a bother, and thank you for your kind words.
Can't wait for the next stream.
I love this. I felt the same way about True Blood. Made no sense whatsover. It's like saying you shouldn't fear the serial killers next door. You never read the X-Men comics. Good, because there has been so much overpowering of certain characters over the years that they're practically Gods. They would rightfully be worshipped or feared.
I grew up reading the X-men and never saw the race allegory, they are walking weapons.
I watched a fight scene where the xmen were fighting mr sinisters mutant goons and thought "if this were happening in my neighborhood, I would probably be pro sentinel."
Insurance company says, "act of God, no payout"
I agree that in today's world most people would be at least a little afraid of super humans. They are extremely powerful and most people don't stand a chance against. However I think there'd alot more goodwill if SUPER HEROES existed. Superman, Captain America, and the Flash would be adored. Even vigilante esque heroes would have some fans like Spidey and Batman.
I think media coverage would make or break superhuman acceptance. How many atrocities do villains pull off vs the amount lives heroes save? What would it matter that Super man saves the earth from meteor showers if Magneto floods New York?
The entire actual point behind mutants was Stan Lee wanting a way to introduce new heroes without needing to come up with a new science accident every time. Civil Rights was just a topical issue he thought it beneficial to weigh in on with new characters around the same time. Both perfectly good motives, but damn has it gone sour since then where now X-Men=Mutants and they're all in a racist island sex cult.
In Xavier's defense, I don't think Cerebro is common knowledge to ordinary people in the X-Men series. I do agree it would be a gargantuan problem if it got out, but it very rarely does.
Wouldn't the CIA, NSA, FBI, etc. be paranoid about Cerebro though? Also: Cerebro is like nuclear weapons, every government has to have one.
@@the11382 Xavier would be a CIA asset
The story I can think of that shows realistically how this would go down in tge anime Shiki. While most of the people of the town react as you'd expect it does a good job showing just about every way someone would react to the situation they're in, from being happy their loved one is back to being more then happy at having an excuse to kill someone they thought was dead and had gotten off easy the first time they died, with the monsters also being shown in the same light of having those that see humans as only food and a means of spawning more of themselves to trying desperately to return to the life they had before dying, or begging an old friend to kill them because they can't do it themselves. Its first half is a slow burn setting things up but the last 6 episodes really earned it.
Shame it still has the message of "humans bad, monsters good" because the village is destroyed by the end instead of thriving.
@@JonCrs10 the village was destroyed physically like the monsters destroyed it metaphorically.
Still bad writing for implicitly saying that the monsters were victims and the village was bad for killing them. Monsters are not victims, they're monsters. If it IS a victim, then it needs to be genuinely a non-threat and therefore cannot be a monster, only ugly. The only possible way a vampire can be a victim is if the worldbuilding is dedicated to making them objectively worse than humans and also a complete non-threat. I for instance like having vampirism as a legal punishment that makes you perceive night as as a chilly day and day as sweltering heat with overly high bloom, it makes you functionally immortal while giving townsfolk a free pass to assault you for sport as part of the punishment, and the only people who need to fear a vampire sucking their blood are other vampires which is also the only way to actually kill a vampire.
No capacity for them to be a threat when you make them utterly pathetic and miserable weaklings.
@@JonCrs10 Doctor Oozaki was a badass and did literally nothing wrong.
I find myself at odds with the analyses so often, but they're always well-reasoned and evidenced. Real thought-provoking stuff. Please, keep up the good work!
Thank you. I maintain I or anyone else could be wrong, because there just so many factors.
Might be a sidestep from the topic, but the reasoning you use to explain ths trope also goes pretty well to explain why a number of fantasy works include anti-magic factions even in more fantastical settings where magic and its use is an established part of the world.
A good counteridea to Harry Potter is Little Witch Academia. VERY similar history of magic vs mundane, but after the witch burning period in LWA, the magical world decided to actively benefit the mundane world with magic and it created a golden age...until a tech boom happened that outpaced magic entirely resulting in a world where everyone knows magic exists, but is slowly dying out because smartphones do everything a crystal ball does and more. Even dragons converted their treasure hoards into crypto investments.
I never got around to watching it. I may have to now.
There's a tactic a step worse than rejection, and that would be shunning. I've heard it referred to as a living death.
Sometimes the important thing is the desire to have acceptance more than hate or tribalism.
It can be, but human are funny creatures. It can be very hard to predict what a group will do.
@talexratcliffe I will say that certain things like military members are treated like both honored members of society and outcasts because they seem to have both a benefit from being military members and a detrimental situation. For example military members receive substantially worse sentences during court proceedings even if they are the party that was harmed there are other groups that share similar things but the idea remains the same regardless that unfortunately things that people fear have a tendency to cause them to attack the fear especially when dealing with large groups of people. There is also an occasional strange situation where the very powerful are turned into God's of a sort.
@@jedstanaland2897 we are judged by our ability to cause violence. Such knowledge and skill are revered and feared.
@talexratcliffe I will only say that most military members in the western world have never received true combat training or experience. When I say that I'm including self defense courses and so much more. These things said that isn't exclusively something that the western world has as a monopoly on. I will also say that I have enjoyed the conversation and that I understand that humans can be tribal and can be extremely distrustful of outsiders especially when they feel that they have a majority to back them up or that the outsider(s) is the biggest danger.
I read most of the Charlaine Harris books(Sookie Stackhouse). I refused to watch the tv show. I was burned out on vampires by that point. I prefer my vampires the old fashioned way: monsters.
There was a Netflix special on Dracula a few years ago that did the old monster right. He was depicted as a gluttonous psychopath that had no problem eating his way through a crowd. The writers dropped the ball toward the end of that series, but it was chilling at the start.
I agree with you to an extent about the X-men. I thought the first Deadpool movie was spot on as to how mutants would be created/used. People want to believe they'd do the right thing or make the noble choice when bad things happen. I've found they'll do anything to ignore/avoid/ escape responsibility. Having a spine and standing up against overwhelming public rejection is tough. (but never impossible.)
Good talk.
I would have thought Deadpool close to accurate too, until I looked at what governments do in their own countries during war.
- you might have left it out intentionally to avoid the delicate nature of it, but another fear of Mystique would be sexual in nature. From imagining that she would use her power to manipulate them sexually to being attracted to her true form but not wanting to admit to it, she would hit a lot of people at their most insecure. In the Eberron setting, the entirety of the changeling race has a version of Mystique's power, and yes, some of them do practice the world's oldest profession, and yes, that is one of the many reasons people hate them.
- in Harry Potter, there are plenty of Death Eaters who seem to be lower class coded (Snape), and as for the Weasleys, Molly can make better food with magic than the Dursleys can buy, and culture differences would prevent them from perceiving their possessions as being valuable. The nicer Muggle clothing? Those poor dears mustn't be seen in public like that! That said, I personally suspect that in Harry Potter, a few smart wizards could easily pull a Palpatine and establish a behind the scenes Wizard rule over Muggles. It's just that Harry Potter wizards are idiots who have to be told that a gun is a metal wand that Muggles use for killing.
I feel like if Muggles went to war with wizards they'd win due to having sniper rifles.
Wizards need to be pretty close to each other to attack each other, and they need to say their spells out loud unless they're exceptionally skilled. Muggles just need to pull a trigger silently, and they can be a fair distance away.
@Nemo12417 but a gun basically IS a metal wand for killing, all muggle technology is effectively magic substitution; its why Arthur loved interacting with muggles and muggle tech.
I do like that part of Harry Potter; wizard society as a whole is portrayed as being problematic insofar as it's dismissal of it's "lessers".
Voldemort would've been quite literally immortal, with how greatly his power and magic elevated him, and championed the very worst aspects of wizard superiority.
But he simply trusted in these things and nothing more, and it was his downfall. Two of his horcruxes, direct containers for his soul, were destroyed simply because he viewed house elves and less potent wizards as inferior and dismissable.
He left Kreacher, a house elf, to die, not even thinking of him, who subsequently revealed the location of a Horcrux to the first person to show him kindness.
And Neville Longbottom, categorically the most incompetent and unskilled magician in the series, beheads Nagini, another horcrux, with sword an not one iota of spellcasting or innate wizardry.
Furthermore, the metal sticks and other misconceptions about muggles are always portrayed as foolish and close minded. That wizards routinely dismiss the intelligent beings outside their own society, human or otherwise, as ridiculous and inconsequential, always served to make them seem close minded, blinded by their supernatural powers. Obviously, we as readers know guns are a great deal more dangerous than the average wizard may believe, and that equally makes everyone who reads that sentence see how foolish and closed off they can be.
Again, with Voldemort as an example. Terrifyingly, terrifyingly skilled with magic, quite possibly the most fearsome wizard to ever live, but utterly blunted to what his actual character and view of the world may cause him harm and disadvantage. Very case in point, killing Harry's parents.
Often times, when I write for situations like this (not anything like a book, just a few small things for stuff like roleplay), people born or given power greater than others, eradication is the goal of the protagonists. Something like controlling metal shouldnt be a power in the hands of any individual and the ability to control minds is unacceptable in its entirety. The main character always understands this and uses the unfair power disparity to wipe out the powerful few, oftentimes themselves included because my protagonists, much like myself, believe that unfair scales will *always* lead to abuse of those powers, and the main characters have resolved to not allow it to happen, letting themselves go down in the process to finally resolve any remaining unfairness
I liked this. You should discuss the mutant apocalypse next!
He is one of my favorite.
@@talexratcliffe likewise!
what about the Jedi approach? The powered group forms a mostly secluded or separate order. Keep separate but still close enough to be used. Especially since the Jedi are older then even galactic records.
That maybe sometime worth exploring. The Jedi are checked in other ways. While they are tremendously powerful there is a balance to the religious like nature of their power.
Plus there are other groups keeping them in check.
Likely such groups would end up being controlled by the governments for their own purposes.
6:11 The Chinese did develop gunpowder weapons. They used gunpowder as an incindiary weapon and developed the first cannons and handheld firearms, though it is true that China fell behind in later firearms development which was led mostly by europeans.
I think that in Harry Potter those who can use magic don't try to dominate over muggles due to technology. By the time of the books, spells are downright obsolete when it comes to combat. I suspect that over time the two sides will unite only because of the promise of power and advancement gained from merging magic and technology. However, it will take a long time and would be very difficult. I would also like to point out Elder Scrolls for responses to different things. It has groups dedicated to wiping out different groups like vampires and werewolves which originate with the Daedra. Then there's one that aims to wipe out anyone and anything connected to the Daedra. There's also the issue of wars between the human populations and elves. Not even magic is entirely safe from prejudice due to the Nords and their own views on the subject. Even then you can easily understand it as culture plays a role in the prejudice along with events like the Oblivion Crisis. Magic is only accepted there because it can be used to enhance weapons or heal injuries and cure diseases.
Boy am i glad i subscribed to you, well written thought pieces!
Great job explaining this trope. My friends and I always have this debate on if mutants existed why would people discriminate against them? Wouldn’t they be excited about it? And I always say no because think about it how many parents would be happy to know their normal child is going to school with a bunch of kids that can fire lasers from their eyes or control your mind. In the X-Men movies, cyclops continuously loses control of his laser eyes, causing mass property damage and injury. If that happened, one time at a public school, there would be demand for mutant children to be separated from regular children. You can make the argument that they are a good kid and would never do such a thing, but how many parents are willing to trust their child’s safety in your kids hands?
Young mutants unable to control there powers would be a major point t of conflict.
Imagine being the principal having to deal with the fallout of one of your students melting another.
I recently became interested in writing and stumbled across your channel by chance. Your style of content is pleasant and matches with some of my sensibilities. I haven't read a lot of the books you've reviewed so I may not watch the videos as I like to make my own judgments, but will definitely keep an eye out for whatever you upload. Best of luck to you.
I'm glad to have you here.
I'm hoping to put out more content than just book reviews. I'm just working around my job. So it may take a bit to in the right groove.
15:31
This is true.
Based on information given in the books there can’t not be more than 20000 witches and wizards in Great Britain, with the actual number being likely closer to 10000 or below. And based on other context clues it is unlikely that the total wizard population would reach even 300000 people world wide.
This number is a joke. Were a conflict between muggels and wizards happen, they would be outnumbered almost one to a million.
This makes it even weirder how the arguably most important part of the wizard ing ministry, the department focused on hiding magic where Mr Weasley works at is so comedically small. Underfunded, sure it’s a government institution and they will gut whatever they can. But so small that only 2 people work there is at best really dumb at worst a world building error that borders on a plot hole
Regular people may be scared, but governments would want to acquire their power. Instead of purges, they become slaves. Cerebro is like a nuclear weapon, every government has to have one. Instead of X-men, you get Final Fantasy 16.
The military would be trying to find out how those powers work and how to give them to other soldiers
This is a great video, loved it. Subbed!!
Thank you, kindly.
The "skittles are poison" thought experiment is often criticized due to the ridiculous disproportion of risk to reward. A skittle is a very very small reward compared to death. This makes it a poor example of how people deal with more typical risk/reward proportions. When more realistic risk/reward proportions are present, humans have a variable aversion to risk based on their life experiences.
While it's entirely theoretical, I'd say this distribution of reactions would be similarly represented in a "some people have powers, how do I feel about that?" scenario.
Parasyte: The Maxim is perhaps the best take on this. Shiki and K Project also directly tackle the topic.
Parasyte was a really interesting show. It's nice to see a protagonist in actual danger.
Hell yeah, Parasyte is awesome both on the level of avoiding tropey stuff and just a fantastic piece of writing generally
@@mandos6145 Nn... not entirely in agreement on the tropey part. I might agree to it having a lower overall reliance, although it is certainly in there, and I would contend it does occasionally detract from the work. Note that the relatively recent anime adaptation is based on a decades-older manga from a different ethnic and cultural diaspora than most of us English-speakers are; some tropes that are established for them are bound to differ from our own. And, tropes are tools; the misplacement or execution is bad, or perhaps a specifc trope is bad, not tropes writ large.
Rather, Parasyte's subject and thematic matter is inherently somewhat novel as it directly deals with the perspective and ontology of beings profoundly different from the reader's/viewer's own. Truly grokking the series outright requires expanding one's ability to perform cognitive empathy beyond oft-assumed limitations and self-absorbtion past that of the differences among individuals of a comparatively homogenous group to something fundamentally other. While obviously some have achieved this prior to that series, it is a quite rare thing to really understand cognitively, let alone affectively. While there are plenty of what I consider to be mistakes and weaknesses to Parasyte, that it not only understands but successfully conveys (however many or few really hear it) that premise and with the responsibility and kindness that it does, I can only call it a profound masterpiece for, however flawed.
Well, what I meant is the series avoids falling into retreading tropes that aren't necessary or beneficial to the story
Now Imagine a world that despises a certain group of superpowered people, now add into the mix from that group was born someone who was immune to all Human weaponry and biological/chemical and radiation weapons as well. Humanity could never accept someone like that at all, no Government could accept for example Someone Like Thor, Superman or Even The Hulk being alive, because they're powerful enough to do whatever they want.
This was one of my many reasons I disliked The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin when I was forced to read it in my 3rd year of Creative Writing. It makes no sense at all that the Orogene can be slaves they aren't just horribly OP they're also absolutely intrinsic to not just society but the existence of the human race. The normies have no real way to control the orogene as we're shown time and time again. It's terrible world building made to display a theme and because it was inspired by a dream rather than actually telling a story.
Love your video. What do you think about Disney's Gargoyles and how would a scenario like that work out? How would regular humans react to the idea of another sapient species who was thought a myth?
That could be a fun subject.
Gargoyles would be tough. They're strong, but not overly so, not so inhuman as to be unrelatable but still very different.
I feel it could go either way. I could see them integrating due to a lack of mate and prey competition, but I could also see incidents arising that may cause hatred and fear.
@@talexratcliffe a video on that topic would be cool.
Just replace Gargoyles with something Elves. In the Gargoyleverse, there is even an island with descendants of mythical creatures from Greece called New Olympus. Might even be like Monster Musume
If you'll forgive me for lowering the quality of source material, I'd like to point out that Twilight also has this issue (buried under all the weird socio-romantic ones).
You you look at a group of beings that
- are supremely strong, fast, and tough
- never sleep
- never die of age
And you very quickly start to wonder why they haven't conquered the world yet.
This video is so good
Thank you kindly
In defense/critique of the X-Men, they weren't originally meant to be an allegory about racism. It was just Stan Lee and Jack Kirby being lazy as they developed the original Marvel comics and realized they couldn't just have everyone getting exposed to fantastical forms of radiation or being gods or being skilled inventors, etc. Mutants were just a case of "well what if they're born with it?" That was it. It wasn't until Chris Clairmont's run of X-Men that the undertones about discrimination were established, and we had things like the revelation that Magneto was a Holocaust survivor that simultaneously wanted to prevent mutants from experiencing a similar culling while unwittingly hitting many of the same ideological beats as the fascists that persecuted them.
This doesn't mean that the concept hasn't been fumbled more often than not, since endangered minorities are not commonly known to have amazing superpowers. Last I checked all of mutant society is living together on a sentient island in a quasi-functioning society but there's still tons of (at least now intended) red flags about hypocrisy.
I think it's also worth taking into consideration the sheer irrationality of humanity as a whole, which is readily demonstrated whenever you hop on social media and see what passes as an "influencer" nowadays in certain circles. There is no shortage of e-celebrities with all the charisma of a pile of rotting fish in the middle of your living room and rap sheets of douchebag content or active bastardry that skirts illegality or even plunges straight into it, that still command sizable fandoms. And yet you still have people like Andrew Tate, a misogynist and straight-up human trafficker with a fairly convincing recording of him beating his then-girlfriend (which he swears was just pretend) still having brigades upon brigades of fans who look up to them and vicariously live power fantasies through them.
10:30
Uh, I think in a world where 95% of earth wants magneto dead, he still wins
If this is x-men lore exclusive, no avengers, no stark, no fantastic four, I think a Magneto with his usual kit counters all known military applications and is smart enough to deduce and sabotage plastic and rubber arms productions
Interesting proposal. Have to sit down and think about it.
I have a short indie book I enjoyed for you if you find yourself completely out of recommendations to review. John Stephen Walsh's Moon Baby: A Tale Of Road Tripping, Friendship, and First Contact.
I may have to look it up.
Personally I'm not gonna lie I would probably fear superhumans but I am not sure if I would hate them
Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering
@@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim I have arachnophobia but I don't hate spiders, they didn't choose to be spiders and even if they did they don't do anything to me
@@realdragon Fair enough. Just thought quoting the funny little Green dude would be fitting. :p
"hatred" is wanting something bad to happen to the subject.
It is almost impossible to fear something for an extended period of time without developing a hatred for this subject.
@@realdragon are you upset if a spider is killed near you?
I think "trust" is the most important factor in this kind of scenario. For example, Trump is one of the worst presidents we've ever had, but some people STILL trust him to lead the country for some reason. So, in Xavior's case, all he would need to do is earn the people's trust that he wouldn't use his powers against them. This would be a monumental task, to be sure. But it's not impossible.
I never understood this kind of spite. If a guy has superpowers, that's very cool of them.
Good video. Humanity would definitely react the way you described.
I think so, we're not as rational as we think.
@T Alex Ratcliffe this may be a bit of a wierd question but could you direct me to some reading material on why China did not develop guns when they invented gunpowder first? I would find learning about this very interesting. Just discovered your channel today and Ive been very much enjoying your vids.
I've seen that in several places over the years. I know I've read the same conclusions in some books I read over a decade ago. I may still have one, but it's old.
I was reminded of it recently from a video on the politics of envy, which was one of the inspirations to finally make this video.
fair enough. Im sure i can find something on the topic if i look hard.@@talexratcliffe
I only have one book left from the time I did my reading on China over a decade ago. That's "A History Of China" by Wolfram Eberhard, but I don't think it has what you're looking for.
It may have in the "Outline of Knowledge" books I have from the 1920s, but I'm afraid to read through them too much as their 100 years old and very delicate. I also only have about half the set as they keep falling apart.
@darthswagins9056 if it helps the channel that reminded of this theory is
youtube.com/@WhatifAltHist?si=R6BI03zWbG12mFJz
I can't remember the video, but he does put up some text walls and mention his sources (sometimes). It may be quicker.
will give this a look. thank you@@talexratcliffe
What about the idea that x men exist in a wider universe? Where is seems almost anyone can get powers?
A few points about the video, one I would like to see people relating x-men with shinsekai yori, since it has the premise of the minority with superpowers but it has the tesis that a prrtty small minority of people like that woukd end the world as we know it on the basis that if himans are already capable of so much destruction with their minds and hands then adding superpowers like that would put humanity at risk of extintion on their own hands
So what us the solution, not using this trope?
Do as you please. This was just my take on the trope. I personally don't like it, but that doesn't mean others don't. I even enjoyed stories with it.
We're just talking about storycraft.
I just think it's always dumb to make analogies between real life groups and fictional races
Exactly. Based on the description of True Blood, the anti discrimination message comes off as "Q Anon is real and the Jews are definitely involved, but please don't hate them".
You caught my attention
Little add about Spartans: Helots (slaves/lower class) were known to adopt rejected/found babies. The wolves got the rest.
Gets you right in the feels, and the wolves right in the digestion.
So funny thing, Pretty Much everything Discussed in this vid about the X-Men Specifically, HAS Happened in X-Men Stories at one point or another.... The only Main Difference is that Magneto is so powerful, that even IF All the Armies of the world WERE to Unite against him and his Brotherhood, they couldn't Beat him, not without the Help of the X-Men(Or other Superpowered beings)... Which means that the Masses of Normal Humans CAN'T even TRY to Kill the X-Men, because "What if another Magneto Shows up, and we've Killed off the only people on our side that could stop him?"... (Seriously, Magneto's power over Magnetism means you can't Fight him with ANYTHING Metalic or with any Kind of Electronics in it, and he can Sense these things over several Kilometers around himself, so he's Impossible to Sneak up on with those things as well, and as First Class has shown us, even an entire FLEET of Warships Firing EVERYTHING they have at him he can Just STOP it all on his own and Take out the whole Fleet... Now Imagine what he can do with a small Army of Loyal Mutants like Avalanche who can Turn entire City Blocks to Rubble by Directly Shaking the Earth beneath them, or Blob who's basically just Immune to Injury)
I should also note that Though Magneto often ends up as a "Mutant Supremacist", it's not really what he wants, all he wants is for him and his people to survive, No Matter the cost... And as a Jewish holocaust survivor of WWII, he's Seen the ABSOLUTE Worst of Humanity, so he EXPECTS it in everyone... So he Landed on the Sad Conclusion that the ONLY way to Save his people, is probably to Subjugate the Humans...
Finally, here's a bit of Historical Precedent for Humanity Turning against something that's Different and Stronger than us, and Wiping it Off the face of the Earth... Neanderthals, though we use their name as a Synonym for "Primitive" and "Stupid", were actually Bigger, Stronger, and most importantly, SMARTER than Homo-sapiens(Us)... But all those Extra traits that Just Straight up made them better than us, cost more Energy, so they had to Hunt and Eat more to sustain themselves, which also Mean they couldn't Quite Breed as Fast as us, so we outnumbered them... And Finally Unlike them we were Weaker, so he NEEDED to Invent Long Range Tools for Hunting such as Spear Throwers and their Projectiles, which we then turned into Weapons against the Larger, Tougher, Smarter Hominids that we Competed with... End Result, the Smaller, Weaker, Dumber Species Wiped out the Stronger one...
I certainly get why people would hate superhumans. I've always found aspects of lex luther rather understandable and relatable, for instance. He's usually just a sociopathic narcissist who opposes superman out of personal insecurity at the end of the day... but the bullshit he makes up as justification is often solid. How can you accept a being like superman's existence?
They're basically dragons. And I mean this in the narrative, Beowulf sense.
Though I somewhat doubt humanity would unite to oppose them. I largely suspect that superhumans would find themselves at the top of society, and less capable humans would largely exist as an underclass.
Though this depends on the nature of the setting. If superhumans suddenly appear, such as in the x-men, within existing societies and power structures, then sure I can see it. Existing elites aren't exactly going to let that happen if they can help it. But in instances of the trope in a setting with super-humans that are more endemic to society, IE having always existed, I suspect that people would just treat it like people do for power structures like monarchy or modern billionaires. We already have what are effectively demi-gods, you see, and have since likely before we cultivated the first edible plant. They just hold political office or own those in political office, and can do practically whatever they want, and people will bend over backwards to justify their power and wealth. Pretending that a being with the power and wealth of a modern billionaire is a result of meritocracy and hard work, for instance. Do people hate these people, as you noted? Yes. But no one is doing anything about it, and far more people argue that this is simply how things are meant to be. People see the way the world is now(ANY 'now', not just NOW), and assume that it should be that way. So they justify it. Make up a mythology only so much more sophisticated than the divine right of kings. Humans are exceptionally good at just living through the way things are, and assuming that that is the way it should be. As it is far easier to accept the state of things than it is to change the state of things.
People see power as self justifying, because, in a mechanical sense, it is. People are very happy to submit themselves to, and defer to power. People are happy to accept injustice if they find themselves on the side of injustice. The way vampires behave in trueblood is not too far from how many humans have behaved throughout history. People with loyal followings of less powerful humans. Give a King the ability to read minds, or shapeshift, and you have a King with a visible justification for his place above other people.
but yeah if it's some like, 'secret world' type setting that spills into the current way of things, it'd likely get ugly for said superhumans, if they aren't super enough to gain societal control through violence, that is. Where I suspect things would eventually wind up as my reading went.
To be fair to the X-man, aren't mutants a relatively new thing? I also never got the impression that it was depicting a world in equilabrium. The theme seems to be for the most part that things will change, but how depends a lot on the actions of individual mutants, although an open war is often depicted as unavoidable. Or at least, that seemed to be the case in the movies that I saw.
Mind you, I find you fairly optimistic when it comes to the chances of the common man to win against these supernatural entities (whether mutants, wizards or vampires) at least on a grand scale. Although that doesn't change what I think is your main point: you would not have (or up with) a modern Western society under these circumstances. I am curious with what kind of society you would end up? A new aristocracy? A society where the borders constantly shift depending on the power of the upper person or at least the people that support said person (so a bit like countries ruled by individual warlords)? A group who manipulates society from the shadows, policing their own at all costs because open warfare against society is just not worth it?
No. Mutants in x men are as old as civilization itself.
Mostly it would depend on whether you think humans are rational or not, up until recently mutants in marvel might have powers that could be weaponized but very few were invulnerable gods, most dont have healing factors any better than real people do and fighting is just as dangerous as for real people.
For the u.s. combine this with the understanding that people who have concealed weapons permits are amongst to least likely to engange in criminal activity (cause they would rightfully require registration of destructive powers) & that there are more guns than people in the u.s. with around 90% of violent crime being tied to the illegal narcotics trade and it should become apparent that simply having ready access to destructive power doesnt make people intrinsically wantonly violent, and the vast majority of violent crime has easily understood rational motive: lots of easy money.
I dont need super powers to start fires, cause explosions &, cause havoc, I could do that with a lighter, gasoline, household cleaning chemicals &, a few bottles- anybody could.
I dont need super powers to be bullet proof, you can buy rifle armor readily and easily make pistol armor at home- anybody could but, most people dont do things like that cause its just not worth to trouble and even if you were superman do you love even 1 person who is not invulnerable?
That person will be leveraged against you, yes there would be outlier cases but as long as regular people dont freakout and start persecuting mutants I think mutants would just become a novelty with some individuals being hired by various governments for military purposes but assuming a homogeneous distribution of mutants with highly destructive capabilities around the world they would be treated like nuclear weapons: as deterrents to invasion.
It wouldn't be the first time governments weaponized something only to have the whole world turn against it.
I wouldn't hate them
I appluad your ideals, I hope we never face a senerio to test this issue.
@@talexratcliffe i know, im a mechanical puppet that's living in a human world it makes sense i follow the same rules, IRL part of the comment: im a hikikomori with social anxiety and agoraphobia I'd hate for anyone to go through this especially because of others, there is a difference between not trusting someone and racism, if you meet someone new you don't trust them instantaneously they earn that trust, but you should never assume someone is evil just because you don't know them, you should be on guard but not be blinded by hatred
@@scarameowSucksAtGaming it’s not about believing they’re evil it’s about believing they’re dangerous, even if they don’t mean to be. In the X-Men comics, there’s multiple scenarios where mutants have awaken their abilities as children and killed their parents or entire communities. there’s mutants who have powers that are actively harmful to people around them. I often compare it to, would you be OK if every teenager had a loaded 45 in their back pocket? Just imagine a kid with the ability to fire laser-beams from his eyes having a bad day. Or, if a mutant authority is found, abusing his powers to control others? You can fear something without hating it, and many times there’s actually a reason to fear it.
@@keenari0470 everyone is dangerous i could delete you with just my fingers, but just because someone is dangerous doesn't mean their a threat, dangerous is being capable of causing harm whilst threat is actively causing harm simple as that
*No.*
A lot of the X-Men and the subtext within relies on the great replacement theory. Of course racial issues have always been injected into the X-Men, but the presence of a group of people who can spontaneously develop super powers would make human beings without them feel redundant. There is actually a line in Deadpool 2 in which a character says "I will not be replaced" personally, I feel that you do yourself a massive disservice by not reading the X-Men comics.
The bigotry the X-Men face is really applicable to any minority group.
A US senator, in the real world, compared trans people to mutants. And framed it so the mutants (trans people in this scenario) were the villains, totally missing the point of bigorty of any kind is bad and he would be the villain of the X-Men.
Eh, mutants as the Replacement doesn't work there. GRT is more focused on an idea that the Replacement group are imported to create a more government-dependent underclass that can be politically curried easier than the more independent native population. The entire point is that the Replacement is in some way lesser-in-potential than the Replaced by design. Hence why proponents always specifically cite how fast and loose the immigration standards are, social welfare that outwardly puts new arrivals in a higher priority than people born here, high criminality rates with high leniency etc. Meanwhile, mutants are closer to something like the fears that China could replace America as world hegemony because of various factors that make China more militarily, financially and culturally capable than America. If anything, Men in Black would be better as a vehicle to criticize GRT since its a better fit for the power dynamics.
@@JonCrs10 that's one part. Aa second part of GRT is interracial coupling which is more applicable.
Not really. Immigrants don't miscegenate when they don't need to, and ethnic enclaves ensure they never would feel a need to if there's plenty of people of like identity, language and culture. Natural language barriers alone prevent racemixing. If anything, high interracial intermarriage would be a sign of mass assimilation as the barriers keeping enclaves from integrating with the majority would be disolved. Unfortunately there's also modern cultural incentive to condemn full immigrant assimilation as racist cultural erasure which makes that highly unlikely unless theres a wind shift. Then you have the religious angle that, unless you have a particularly strong religious conviction yourself, you're not going to see as the insurmountable wall it actually is for assimilation since unlike language, religion isn't something people casually replace with another one because that involves a LOT of unpleasant social consequence. ESPECIALLY if its in a tightknit enclave where religious uniformity is one of the core aspects keeping everyone together.
Jim Crow segregation and the New Spain casta system only worked because of unity in religious and linguistic heritage removing barriers that otherwise would naturally be there with newer immigrant populations
I don't believe in the ideology though.
One of the worst comment sections on RUclips
Why?