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It’s not easy being a mutant in the Marvel Universe. While superheroes like Captain America and Thor are celebrated and adored, the public has made mutant heroes like Cyclops and Nightcrawler into pariahs. Since their debut in 1963, the X-Men have been persecuted by society. Multiple storylines involve the team being hunted and imprisoned by government officials.

Readers and scholars have compared the mutant experience to the civil rights movement, noting that the X-Men face the same type of persecution as minorities. However, longtime X-Men writer Chris Claremont says that it’s more nuanced than that. In fact, he doesn’t agree with the X-Men being labeled as minorities. During a panel at CCXP 2024, the legendary X-Men writer spoke about the relationships mutants have with society.

“The challenge is to see themselves at the school as minorities, That’s Charlie’s job. That’s Magneto’s job. From my perception what they are is a half-dozen, maybe a dozen kids, young people living together, but looking on themselves as ordinary people.”

“They have abilities, yeah. Leonard Bernstein had abilities. From their perspective, it’s not much different. He composed and played brilliant music. They save the world. You know, A and B. The key is to think of them as people, not as heroes. Not, ‘Yes, I am a minority.’ No, you’re a person who is trying to live a normal life. Other people may see you as a minority. You may react to them as a minority. You may look at yourself objectively as a minority, but as a person, you’re a person.”

“Nightcrawler is the most dynamic non-human physicality in the team. But his attitude is, ‘I am the person God made. Who am I to argue with God? I’m just going to live my life like a normal guy and see what happens next.’ Yes, he used to hide the way he looked, because he’s not stupid. Blue skin, two fingers, two toes, and a tail definitely make you stand out from the crowd. It took Logan to challenge him to take off the mask and be a normal person and see if anybody else notices to get him to do it. But other than that, he just tried to live a normal cool life as someone who loves acting, who is a theater performer, and who is a stuntman.”

“That is the way you should look at these characters. Not as characters, not as objective concepts, but as ordinary normal really cool people. The rest of it falls into place, but you can look around this room at the people around this table. Oh look, that’s an X-Person! How do you know? Well, it looks sort of like Colossus. How do you know? Well, doesn’t he? It may be Peter Rasputin, but who knows. You just see him as a person. Not as Colossus.”

Claremont raises some interesting points, and if anybody could speak with authority about mutants in the Marvel Universe, it’s him. However, it’s a nuanced issue, and there’s a lot to unpack. Do you feel that mutants are minorities? Sound off in the comments section.

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