X-Men and the Mutant Metaphor (11 page)

After reading GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1 I was proud to see one of my people, an American Indian—America’s First Citizens—become a member. But to my dissatisfaction, in X-MEN #94 you started to oppress him. The story and art were good, but I was angry to see Thunderbird treated harshly. But the clincher was in X-MEN #95. You killed him. Why was he chosen? Why Thunderbird? (125)

The published response reads:

A serious question, Tom; and one which deserves a serious answer. [. . .] Why Thunderbird? Because he was the weakest potential character in the X-Men. He had no powers which weren’t duplicated by other members of the team—by Colossus, or Nightcrawler, or Wolverine—and, harsh as it sounds, duplicated better. But worst off all, his character—as a character—had nowhere to go. All he was, all he really ever could be, was a wise-cracking, younger, not-as-interesting copy of Hawkeye the Marksman in the Avengers [. . .] Proudstar deserved a better deal than that, and he could never get it, which is why he had to die. Because, when you think about it, it was better that he die with honor rather than spend the rest of his comic-book life trying to force himself into a person he wasn’t. We’re sorry Thunderbird had to die too, Tom, but we also think it was for the best. (125)

To be blunt, many parts of this explanation make little sense. Certainly the writer may have felt that Thunderbird was the weakest potential character, and Wein and Claremont’s opinions as writers were what led to the story of Thunderbird’s death. And his powers were similar to Colossus, who has super strength, and Wolverine, who has heightened senses. But there are no similarities with Nightcrawler’s powers, so it is odd that Nightcrawler was included in the list of characters Thunderbird too closely resembled. The comparison to Hawkeye, a member of the Avengers, another popular superhero team comic book published by Marvel, is odd. Hawkeye is a white expert archer who has no superpowers. He often fights with his teammates, which is similar to how Thunderbird is shown in his three appearances, but that is the extent of their similarities.

Also, to imply that there was nothing the writers could do other than kill the character is disingenuous at best. The writers and editors can do whatever they wish with the characters. There are myriad examples of characters undergoing radical personality changes, some with narrative impetus, some without. The writers were under no obligation to prevent Thunderbird from evolving as a character. Whatever the reason chosen to kill Thunderbird, be it to show the heightened stakes the team now operated under or because the Claremont wasn’t a fan of the character, the idea that “it was better” that a fictional character who had been published in only three comic books “die with honor rather than spend the rest of his comic-book life trying to force himself into a person he wasn’t” rings false.

Logan (Wolverine)

In terms of popularity in comic books and media adaptations, Wolverine has by far been the most successful character added to the X-Men’s roster. Wolverine first appeared in
The Incredible Hulk #180
(Oct. 1980), which was written by Len Wein and drawn by Herb Trimpe, though John Romita Sr. is credited with designing the character’s costume. Wolverine has headlined several monthly comic books and many miniseries, and he appeared on several other teams in addition to the X-Men. Two feature films have been made about the character, and Wolverine has been the focus character of several cartoon series adaptations of the X-Men. He appears in more issues of
The Uncanny X-Men
than any other member of the team.

Wolverine, who simply uses the name Logan for his real identity, is a short, muscular Canadian mutant.
4
He has enhanced senses and a healing factor that quickly heals any wounds. He also has three claws that can extend from each hand. Though not one of his mutant powers, Wolverine’s skeleton has been coated with a nearly indestructible fictional metal called adamantium.

Wolverine is something of an outsider on the team, often butting heads with the team leader and preferring to do battle his own way. He is, at this point, one of the only X-Men willing to kill in battle. Interestingly, Logan adopts many of the classic markers of the cowboy. When not in costume, he often wears a cowboy hat and western-themed bolos and belt buckles. In the other comic book titles in which Logan appears, he is often shown as a lonely figure riding into a sunset on a motorcycle, a modern version of the cowboy’s horse.

Even on the team of societal outsiders, Logan is an outsider. His adoption of the cowboy persona has little to do with his heritage, but may be one reason for his popularity. The cowboy is one of the most significant and enduring figures in American popular culture, and Wolverine is a superhero version of this classic figure. An outsider hero, he does the job others don’t want to do to protect society, even though he never truly fits into that society.

Kitty Pryde (Sprite/Ariel/Shadowcat)

Beginning with
The Uncanny X-Men #139
(Nov. 1980), Kitty Pryde becomes an official member of the X-Men. She was introduced in
The Uncanny X-Men #129
(Jan. 1980) as a thirteen-year-old girl who is very intelligent. Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Kitty Pryde has the ability to “phase,” or pass through solid objects. She was much younger than the other members of the X-Men when she joined the team, but quickly developed a crush on Colossus, which would be reciprocated. Though his age is not made clear at the time, it is implied he is almost twenty.
5
She will use several code names on the team, including Sprite and Ariel, before she settles on Shadowcat.

It is very clear that Claremont and Byrne wanted Pryde to be a strong female character in the mold of Ripley from
Alien
. In fact, one of her stories lifts very heavily from
Alien
. Kitty is alone in the X-Mansion when a demon attacks. With no training in fighting, Kitty lures the demon to the hangar where the X-Men’s jet is stored. She kills the demon by burning it with the afterburners of the jet. Byrne has said:

We wanted to do an homage to the movie
Alien
, and I don’t know whether I was demented or what in those days, but I honestly thought when I was drawing it that people wouldn’t instantly realize where we got it from. I thought I was being really clever, how I was making little twists and turns to change it. Only the ending where she used the Blackbird [jet] to blast the N’Garai to death was the same. And then Chris kind of wrote [the script] even more like the movie. By the time I actually read it, it was like, “Oh well, wait till the lawsuits come . . .” But they never did. (DeFalco “Byrne” 113)

Whatever else was lifted from
Alien
, the strong independent portrayal of a female lead certainly is reflected in Kitty Pryde.

Unlike many female characters in comic books who have hypersexualized and exaggerated body features, Pryde is drawn to resemble a very young teenage girl. Much like Marvel Girl in the 1960s, Pryde is drawn with a very modest costume and with a body type that does not accentuate her breasts or butt. At least one reader took note of this portrayal of Kitty Pryde. Julie St. Germaine’s letter was published in
The X-Men #136
(Aug. 1980) and read, in part:

I’m even more thrilled about Kitty Pryde, however. She’s young, unsure of how to handle her power, and most amazing of all: she’s not pretty! I like that skinny, flat-chested kid. I like her suburban corniness and her resourcefulness [. . .] One request: please don’t call her “Cute Kitty Pryde” again—her lack of beauty is good; don’t ruin it by giving her the cutes.

Kitty Pryde is one of the few female characters that has, in almost every iteration, worn a costume that was not overtly revealing of her body and consistently been drawn without an exaggerated body type.

Close Reading

Although the first period of X-Men comic books generally lacked racial or ethnic minorities, this period is much more inclusive of nonwhite characters. The portrayal of these characters in one of the most popular comic book series is significant—and not simply for the sake of inclusion. Michael Omi and Howard Winant explain that “[t]he power of the media lies not only in their ability to reflect the dominant social ideology, but in their capacity to shape that ideology in the first place” (16). A comic book series likely to be read by adolescents who are still forming their understanding of social structures has the opportunity to shift thinking away from old, damaging stereotypes. Conversely, entertainment can certainly reinforce and strengthen stereotypes if those tropes are presented uncritically and unquestioningly. Omi and Winant identify the need of storytellers to convey as much information about characters as quickly as possible as one reason stereotypes are so commonly found in narrative entertainment. Caricatures of minority characters “serve as shorthand” for storytellers, and too often these stereotypes are used lazily. The relaunch and reimagine period of X-Men comic books uses some stereotypes as shorthand, but also challenges others. It’s something of a mixed bag in terms of how it uses minority characters.

Despite the fact that some stereotypes are embraced, it is clear that the overall theme of this period is a condemnation of prejudice. The first page of the
Giant-Size X-Men #1
(1975) opens with an establishing shot of Wietzendorf, Germany, then shows a mob with torches, with one villager calling out, “This way, men! The monster went this way!” The next panel reveals Nightcrawler, a creature with blue skin, yellow large eyes with no pupils, three large fingers and two toes, a pointed tail, and pointy ears. His thoughts condemn the villagers actions: “Monster is it? The fools! It is they who are monsters—with their mindless prejudice!” (12). The townspeople risk burning their entire city to capture Nightcrawler.When they do, they hold him down, prepared to drive a stake into his heart, but suddenly everyone except Nightcrawler becomes frozen in place. Professor X has used his psychic powers to stop their minds. Professor X invites Nightcrawler, whose name is Kurt Wagner, to come to his school. Kurt asks, “Can you help me to be normal?” to which Professor X replies, “After tonight’s misfortune, would you truly want to be?” Kurt’s reply signals an early acceptance of his mutant nature: “Perhaps not. I want only to be a whole Kurt Wagner! If you can make me that, teacher . . . I will go with you” (14).

The gathering of a new team of X-Men ushered in a new era of much greater diversity. But how was this diversity used in the comic book? Chris Claremont, who has had the most significant role in producing the X-Men adventures for the longest tenure of any creator, explains:

The intent when Roy Thomas and Len Wein and Dave Cockrum got together in ’74 to relaunch the series [. . . was to] restructure things with a new group of characters and a more varied and international team. [A team that was] broader in terms of visual presentation, in terms of racial presentation, in terms of gender presentation. It would not be five upper-middle class white kids. It would be a mix of ethnographic and regional characters from around the world. (Claremont interview)

Nonetheless, simply having a diverse cast, though a welcome change from the status quo of superhero comics, did not ensure progressive portrayals of minorities. And, despite the diversity of the initial group, that diversity is short-lived.

Giant-Size X-Men #1
features a Japanese hero and an American Indian hero, but both are gone within two issues of the bimonthly comic book. Sunfire refuses to join the team, and Thunderbird is killed during the team’s next adventure. This leaves a team that, with the exception of Storm, looks just as white as the original X-Men. Even Nightcrawler, who looks like a demon, uses his image inducer to appear as a white male (most often as Errol Flynn).

Similarly, Chris Claremont explains that “[y]ou take each character as they are, you shuffle them together, you see what works for them [. . .] and also gives the other characters to react to, to relate to, to deal with. At that point you’re off and running to building a story or building and resolving a conflict” (Claremont interview).

But when exploring a character’s background, it can be difficult to balance honoring a cultural tradition and using stereotypes as a shorthand explanation of the character’s motivations. Claremont also addressed this concern, expressing his belief that “[i]deally you avoid stereotyping the character by dealing with each person as an individual. What makes them who they are” (Claremont interview). Some of that may be elements of their culture that some may interpret as stereotypical, but there must be more to the character than simply those elements.

One interesting aspect of the group dynamic in the X-Men is that initially the new members of the team do not get along, and much of their problems have to do with their own prejudices. Though they seem united against the prejudice they experience from normal humans, they use pejorative terms based on nationalities. Thunderbird, an Apache Indian, calls Professor X “white eyes” when he first meets him, and when Professor X asks for help he replies, “The white man needs me? That’s tough! I owe him nothing but the grief he’s given my people!” (23). Cyclops refers to Thunderbird as “Geronimo” (30), Thunderbird calls Sunfire “the Jap!” (30), Storm “the Chick,” and Colossus “the Ruskie” (32). Banshee is referred to as “Irish” by Wolverine (35) and as “Shamrock” by Thunderbird (55).

Claremont wanted to include flawed individuals who find a way to struggle through life in an adopted family. These early prejudices are part of the rough edges the characters had but that are softened through their bonding. Claremont has said:

[A]t its core [
The X-Men
is] a book about outcasts, people who are so screwed over in their lives that they have no family but the one that they built for themselves. It’s a quest for family. It’s a quest for a place to belong, a place where you are welcome among people who believe deep down inside that they would never be welcomed anywhere else. To me,
The X-Men
works best when it says to the reader “You are welcome here. We are your guides. You’re an outcast, we’re outcasts—Let’s bond!” (Claremont interview)