X-Men and the Mutant Metaphor (10 page)

Created by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum, Nightcrawler is the first character in the X-Men who is obviously and unavoidably a mutant. In this new group of X-Men, the majority of characters look like normal humans when not using their powers. Nightcrawler can never look normal, at least not until he is provided with an “image inducer,” which allows him to project a hologram giving him the appearance of a normal human.

Although most mutants have their powers develop with the onset of puberty, Kurt Wagner was born with blue fur, yellow eyes, a tail, fangs, and only three fingers and two toes. His mutant powers, besides his appearance, are to teleport short distances and to disappear when in shadows.

Nightcrawler’s appearances is often described as demonic. Claremont explains that:

The original concept of [Nightcrawler] was that he was an angry, bitter, tormented, soul. You know, “I’m trapped in the body of a monster.” Well, Dave [Cockrum] and I both felt we’d seen that movie before. It’s exactly what a reader would expect seeing someone who is blue and furry, has two toes, three fingers, fangs and a tail. But what if he wasn’t? What if he turns out to be the most rational person on the team. What if, more than that, he turns out to be the most traditionally religious person on the team. Why isn’t he bothered by the way he looks? Because “I am a child of God, and if God made me look like this it is serving a purpose. But to complain about how I look is to say that God made a mistake. Does God make mistakes? I don’t think so because I don’t think I’m a wrong person. I’m a good person. I try to live my life according to the precepts of the Lord.” This is Nightcrawler’s way of looking at things and from that perspective, what’s the problem? And once you cross that line and say, “It’s not my problem. It’s how you choose to look at me, not how I am. This is who I am. Accept it or not, but it’s not my fault.” That gives you, as a writer, a tremendous amount of freedom to comment on how people perceive other people and [. . .] to have a little fun along the way. (Claremont interview)

As a mutant who cannot pass for a normal human, Nightcawler introduces a new dimension to the series. A mutant who is identified at sight allows the mutant metaphor to be more closely aligned with a racial metaphor.

However, despite Claremont’s description above, Nightcrawler doesn’t always make his appearance someone else’s issue. This being a comic book with many advanced sci-fi gadgets, Nightcrawler often uses a “holographic image inducer,” which allows him to have any appearance he wants. In the narrative universe the X-Men reside in, the existence of mutants, aliens, and superpowered beings is common knowledge. Being startled by Nightcrawler’s demonic appearance would be a natural reaction, but other monstrous-looking characters are on teams who are accepted and loved by the normal humans of the Marvel universe. For example, the Thing of the Fantastic Four has an orange, rock-like body, and Tigra of the Avengers has fur and cat-like features. The general public is willing to overlook the nonhuman appearance of other heroes in the Marvel Universe, so the use of the image inducer marks a lack of willingness by Nightcrawler to accept his own minority identity.

Nightcrawler’s German heritage is most clearly shown through his use of German words. When surprised or excited, Nightcrawler is likely to exclaim in his native tongue. This is a trait, under Claremont’s scripting, that most foreign characters on the X-Men share. For many of the characters, the use of their native tongue is the defining representation of their ethnicity. It should be noted that the use of foreign words is not always correct. For example, Nightcrawler often calls Kitty Pryde “liebchen,” a term of endearment or care in German, but it is sometimes printed “leibchen,” which means “undergarment” or “bodice.”

Sean Cassidy (Banshee)

Sean Cassidy was originally created as a villain by Roy Thomas and Werner Roth in
The X-Men #28
(Jan. 68), but reformed in that period as well.
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He has a sonic scream, and he can ride the sound waves his scream produces so that he flies. He, like Sunfire and Wolverine, was a preexisting character brought in during the relaunch of the X-Men comic book. Banshee has many identifiably Irish characteristics. He has red hair, dresses in green, speaks with a thick brogue (depicted in comic books through expressions such as calling everyone “lad,” using “yer” and “ye” in lieu of “your” and “you,” or saying things such as “a foine broth of a boy”). Banshee inherits an Irish castle, which is infested with leprechauns, and his powers and name are derived from an Irish myth.

There is a difficult balance between recognizing a character’s ethnicity and embracing stereotypes. One problem for Banshee is that for much of this run his defining characteristics are entirely those Irish stereotypes. Initially there is not much more to the character other than a thick Irish accent. Banshee does become more interesting when, in the course of battle, his vocal chords are damaged and he is unable to use his mutant power for a time. His budding relationship with Moira MacTaggert and the family dynamics that develop when he learns he has a daughter add depth to a character who, for a time, was a caricature of Irish culture.

Ororo Munroe (Storm)

Ororo Munroe has become one of the most recognizable and iconic of the X-Men. She has appeared in most adaptations of the X-Men and appears in
The Uncanny X-Men
more than any character other than Wolverine. Importantly, she assumes the role of field leader for the X-Men when Cyclops departs, making her the first black team leader in Marvel comic books and one of the few female leaders of Marvel’s superhero teams.

Storm was created by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum and first appeared in
Giant-Size X-Men #1
. She has the power to control weather and is first introduced being worshipped by a group of indigenous Kenyans as a goddess. Storm does not know she is a mutant and accepts her role as a goddess until Professor Xavier comes and explains to her a reality that replaces her traditional beliefs. This aspect of the story is uncomfortably close to classic imperialism, depicting the natives as an ignorant and naïve group with no conception of the modern world. Rather than the scientific explanation of Storm’s powers that exists in the narrative universe, the African tribe embraces a superstitious one. A white man must come in and teach Storm about the world and her place in it.

Storm undergoes many changes in her character, but in this period she mostly functions as an extremely confident team leader. In a series that often revolves around the romantic pairings of characters, she is not one of the cogs in the relationship wheel. Although the male members of the team do sometimes flirt with her, she rarely flirts back, and in this period she does not form any romantic relationships. Despite this, she is often sexualized for the reader, frequently appearing topless with only her hair or wind lines obscuring her nipples. Claremont argues that this is to honor her African heritage, which has different sets of modesty, but it also was likely used to entice adolescent male readers (Claremont interview).

Unlike Nightcrawler, Banshee, and Colossus, Storm’s dialogue is not written with a heavy accent. If anything, she speaks with a heightened formal English dialect, perhaps reflective of her status as a goddess when she was recruited into the X-Men.

Although Storm is the lone female character in the new members of the X-Men, she is far from the token presence Marvel Girl had in the original run of the series. Her character is not defined by romantically pining for any members of the team nor as being the object of affection for the men around her. Also, although the only black character on the team, she avoids many stereotypes that were common for black comic book characters at the time. Mike Madrid notes:

Ororo was codenamed Storm, one of the first heroines to bear a modern
nam de gurre
that didn’t use “girl,” “woman,” or “lady. [. . .] Tall, stately and elegant, with a mane of long white hair, angular exotic features, and blue eyes, Storm eschewed the blaxpoitation aesthetic of the times by foregoing hot pants and giant afros. (170)

Madrid goes on to argue that she was not overly sexualized, but her body-baring costume and penchant for disrobing do invite the reader to objectify her body and distract from the more progressive aspects of her character.

Shiro Yoshida (Sunfire)

Shiro Yoshida first appeared as a villain attacking the United States capitol in
The X-Men #64
(Jan. 1970), written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Don Heck. He can fly and generate and control a hot flame-like plasma. Unlike many of the new characters introduced, Sunfire immediately has a personality beyond a sterotypical accent. Sunfire is shown to be prideful, angry toward the other members of the team, and fiercely loyal to his homeland of Japan. He helps the X-Men for one mission, but then quits the team.

When the X-Men find themselves in Japan on a later adventure, he refuses their help until the emperor orders him to accept their aid. His loyalty is strictly to his emperor and country, not to mutant-kind or Professor Xavier’s dream. Sunfire’s frequent references to his empire and his emperor can be read as references to the stereotypical fear of the “yellow peril” that was common in American popular culture in the early twentieth century and made more prevalent throughout World War II.

Piotr Rasputin (Colossus)

Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin, who often simply goes by Peter, has the power to turn his body into “organic steel,” which makes him almost impervious to harm and also grants him super strength. When Professor Xavier recruits Colossus in
Giant-Size X-Men #1
,
written by Len Wein and drawn by Dave Cockrum, he is working on a Communist collective farm. Piotr is sometimes described in the comic books as a simple Russian farm boy.

Colossus and his family fit several Russian stereotypes that are commonly seen in popular culture. The workers on the farm are all dressed like poor peasants. Colossus, in his powers and personality, is a stoic, strong man. Russian men have often been portrayed as quiet, hard men, with the implication that they have been made so by the Russian winter. Other examples of this type of character include Ivan Drago from
Rocky IV
or, more recently, Mikhail from the television show
Lost
. Much like Nightcrawler, Colossus frequently makes exclamations in his native tongue that are not translated for American readers.

From the earliest X-Men issues there have been characters who function as contradictions. The Beast is a hulking physical specimen but the most verbose of the group, the founder of the team is in a wheelchair, and the field leader is plagued with self-doubt. This contradictory nature is continued in this run, where the mutant with the demon appearance is the most overtly religious character, and Colossus, the most brute-like and strongest of the characters, is the most sensitive. Colossus is the most introspective and thoughtful member of the team and is also an artist, traits that are not stereotypically associated with the “jock” appearance of Colossus’s character.

John Proudstar (Thunderbird)

John Proudstar
was one of the first American Indians to be featured as a superhero in mainstream comic books. Created by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum for
Giant-Size X-Men #1
(May 1975), Proudstar is an Apache and depicted as an angry man, bitter not only because of the unjust treatment his people had received at the hands of colonizing Europeans and Americans, but also because he believes the current leadership of his tribe to be complacent and lazy. Thunderbird has super speed and strength and heightened senses. When readers are first introduced to the character, Thunderbird is hunting a bison by running alongside it as it gallops at full speed. He then grabs it by the horns and kills it by throwing it into the ground.

When approached by Professor X, Proudstar refers to him as “cripple” and “white-eyes” and says that it’s too bad “the white man” needs his help. He is easily manipulated by Professor X, who gets Proudstar to help him by simply saying, “I offer you a chance to help the world and you turn your back on me? Then perhaps what they say is true. Perhaps the Apache are all frightened selfish children” (
Giant-Size X-Men #1
23).

Thunderbird’s costume includes a headband with feathers stuck in it, which was not commonly worn by Apaches. Feathered war bonnets were worn by the Sioux, Crow, Blackfeet, and other tribes from the Great Plains region. Thunderbird’s costume also has a large fringe around the armbands. Apache men would wear buckskin shirts with fringes on the shoulders, so this aspect of the costume does reflect Thunderbird’s tribal heritage, whereas the feathers seem to reflect a general stereotype about American Indian apparel. The bright red and blue colors are a nod to the primary colors favored in superhero costumes.

In
X-Men # 94
(Aug. 1975), Thunderbird’s third appearance ever, the team is battling Count Nefaria when the villain escapes via a jet. Thunderbird leaps onto the jet as it takes off and clings to it as it flies away. Banshee, who can fly, travels alongside the plane as Thunderbird tears at the jet’s fuselage and engine. Banshee tells Thunderbird to jump off the plane so that he can carry him to safety, but Thunderbird continues his attack until the jet explodes, killing both Count Nefaria and himself.

Thunderbird is the first permanent death in the X-Men comic books series.
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Professor X “died” in the first period of X-Men comic books, but quickly returned. And whereas many other characters since have died, almost as many have been resurrected, but Thunderbird has remained deceased. Count Nefaria, however, was revealed only to have been injured in the explosion and has since returned as a recurring villain of Iron Man and the Avengers.

An upset fan wrote in to Marvel to complain about the short time Thunderbird was featured as a member of the X-Men and the fact that he was killed. Tom Runningmouth’s letter was published in
The X-Men #97
(Feb. 1976). He comments on Thunderbird being “oppressed,” likely a reference to Cyclops yelling at Thunderbird and telling him to follow orders and be a team player. The letter reads: