Right Wing Politics in X-Men

These extracts are from an article analyzing the critique of right wing politics displayed in Chris Claremont’s X-Men

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The very nature of the X-Men invites right wing opposition. It has often been said that the creation of  X-Men in the early 1960s reflected the American Civil Rights movement at the time and that the development of mutations in teenage years leads to a ‘coming out’ experience that mirrors that of the LGBT community. This is compounded upon by the international nature of the fictional mutations. They are not confined to New York like other Marvel superheroes, but are instead a diverse team of multiple races and nationalities, as Jason Zingsheim explains,

“The original X-Men team of the comic books consisted of five teenagers: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel, and Beast, who attended Professor Charles Xavier’s (Professor X) school for the gifted. When the comic book was relaunched in the 1970s, a new squad was created introducing an international dimension to the established form of the superhero team. The new group included Wolverine from Canada; the Russian, Colossus; Storm from Kenya; Nightcrawler, who hailed from Germany; Japanese Sunfire; the Irish Banshee, and Thunderbird of the Apache tribe.”

As the X-Men are portrayed as a humanitarian group that favour using their abilities to the benefit of all, it is, therefore, understandable that their opponents represent the opposite of those beliefs to create conflict, what Peter Coogan calls the “inverted-superhero supervillain.” While this is evident in characters like the villain Apocalypse, who thrives off of Darwinian concepts of survival of the fittest, it is most noticeable in Chris Claremont’s Day’s of Future Past and God Loves, Man Kills.

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The book further draws comparisons to the Holocaust by making Kitty Pryde, a Jewish character created by Claremont, the protagonist. Pryde, who had only been introduced in Uncanny X-Men #129, was not the most established character, but by focusing on her attempts to prevent future atrocities, Claremont can show her racial struggles, both as a Jew and a mutant. Lund suggests that Days of Future Past doesn’t attempt to comment on the Holocaust, but instead uses the reader’s knowledge of the event to make a wider point about its ability to repeat, “Nonetheless, the Holocaust appears not as the Nazi genocide of European Jewry, but as rhetorical gesturing about victimization. Set in New York, Washington, D.C., and on the Senate floor, not Berlin or even Moscow, “Days” employs metaphorical Holocaust language to speak to its own time.” Claremont, whose mother is Jewish, uses Kitty Pryde’s youth and passion to speak out against oppression in multiple stories.

In God Loves, Man Kills, for example, it is Kitty who first encounters everyday racism against mutants and reacts to it. While wearing her Star of David necklace, Kitty shouts at her dance teacher for accepting the intolerant hate speech of William Stryker, a religious fanatic who claims that mutants are the creation of the devil. Claremont has said that much of the right-wing politics that he was commenting on in God Loves, Man Kills came from the rise of 1980s “creative conservatism”, a movement that pushed back against what was seen as the liberal elite by funneling religious fervour, “You either accepted the Word of God wholly and unreservedly, or you didn’t, and if you didn’t, you were damned. At the same time, these ministries were beginning to advance a broad-based social and political agenda, hoping to reshape the national landscape in terms of their faith.” While Days of Future Past is a tale of the threat posed by authority, God Loves, Man Kills focuses on the difficulties faced when the intolerance comes from the people. Stryker’s cause is so terrifying because it is one that cannot be toppled or combated with the use of superpowers in the same manner as the Sentinels. Matthew J Costello says that superheroes represent a usurping of power from the government, due to a belief that the heroes can bring about a greater positive change to the population alone, than they can by working within the boundaries of the law “Superheroes regularly interfere with the normal prerogatives of states, implying that legal processes are insufficient, and perhaps even that inner-directed morality is superior to other directed legality.” While their methods and morality may be different, Costello’s description also explains Stryker’s movement. Stryker’s “creative conservatism” is so difficult to combat because it exactly mirrors the work of Professor Xavier. Both men use their platform to convert the population to what they consider to be a correct way of thought, and both sanction the use of a secret military unit to combat opposing viewpoints, but while the X-Men have limits, Stryker’s Purifiers do not.

As Claremont says in the introduction to God Loves, Man Kills “Mutants in the Marvel Universe have always stood as a metaphor for the underclass, the outsiders; they represent the ultimate minority. Suppose, I began to wonder, a man of faith… put forward the proposition that mutants are creatures of the Devil. There is good and there is evil, and mutants, by the very fact of their existence fall into the latter category.” God Loves, Man Kills demonstrates the impossibility of combating intolerance with force, as demonstrated by Magneto, who reveals himself to be the survivor of a previous authoritarian regime, “I have lived under a dictatorship… And seen my family butchered by its servants. Contentment breeds tranquility – discontent, rebellion.” Despite his personal investment in fighting the rise in hatred and pledging at the beginning of the book to avenge the victims of racially motivated violence, Magneto is unable to defeat Stryker by fighting fire with fire. Ultimately, Claremont shows it is a refusal to allow intolerance that defeats Stryker. By having Kitty Pryde, whose faith Claremont has repeatedly shown, stand up and announce “If I have to choose between caring for my friend and believing your god… then I choose m-my friend!” Claremont demonstrates that the strength of convictions can be as important as having super powers, as Stryker is wounded by a police officer, not by a mutant. By showing a representative of the state standing up for the oppressed, Claremont makes a wider point about the responsibility of government to serve all its people, with an officer saying to the angry mob “(Stryker)… was about to shoot an unarmed little girl. If that’s the word of god, it’s sure changed some since Sunday school.” While Claremont works to humanise both Stryker and Magneto in God Loves, Man Kills, he ultimately suggests that neither man will be willing to back down from their own brand of hatred. On the final page of the comic, Cyclops says “That’s what it’s all about, really. Needing and helping. Caring from one another. And from that caring comes love.” While Claremont recognises that the warnings within the book are just as relevant today as they were when it was written, his lessons about tolerance are also just as poignant; lessons that characters like Magneto are unable to understand.

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It was under Chris Claremont’s writing that Magneto’s justification for violence was finally explained, as Claremont expanded upon his inclusion of Judaism as a frame of reference for the treatment of mutants. Zingsheim explains, “Magneto is a Holocaust survivor who is introduced in a Polish concentration camp during World War II. These experiences are offered as a rationale for his conviction that mutantkind must be protected from the atrocities humans will commit against those who are different.” By having both Magneto and Kitty Pryde as members of the Jewish community, Claremont is able to highlight the issues surrounding the holocaust and use them to demonstrate different responses to intolerance. While Kitty is able to understand that hatred will cause the past to repeat, Magneto is willing to cross any line in order to protect his people; as he explains in God Loves, Man Kills, “True, my goal has ever been the conquest of Earth- but solely to create a world where our race, homo superior, can live in peace.” Claremont’s reshaping of Magneto’s right wing authoritarianism creates a more relatable antagonist who is no longer required to always play the role of villain.

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While the goals and methods of Professor X and Magneto are most commonly presented as opposites to one another, Claremont’s X-Men comics do not leave Xavier unsullied. According to Greene, the X-Men act, “informed by Xavier’s dream of a tolerant and pluralist society, in which mutants might no longer be feared and hated on account of their differences, their uncanny appearance and powers.”  Although his dream of a peaceful coexistence between homo-sapian and homo-superior may appear to be well intentioned, Xavier carries it out covertly, fulfilling his personal, international mandate without government support or the backing of the American people. While Claremont shows the government often being swung by anti-mutant legislation and as responsible for the implementation of Sentinels, Tony Spanakos explains that for superhumans to engage in the use of force, no matter the intentions, defies the will of the people, “If only the state can legitimately enforce the law, and use violence in the process, logically any other violence is illegitimate and criminal, regardless of whether it produces good results.” While the X-Men are lauded as the heroes of their series, they are also presented as students who are following the instructions of their teacher. In both Days of Future Past and God Loves, Man Kills the X-Men actively combat ‘villains’ who hold differing moral stances to their own, and through the use of their abilities police the members of mutant-kind that conflict with Xavier’s vision.Through the foundation of a school designed to help a social minority come to terms with a world that fears them, Xavier creates a paramilitary strike force that conforms to his ideals; a telepathic father figure, who in a position of trust, routinely uses his abilities on both friend and foe to suit his own agenda, as Lenise Prater explains, “…Professor Xavier is presented as right to deny Jean access to her powers, without her consent, and to make judgements about what kind of power a young girl can handle, given that she will, apparently, kill people she cares about.” While Professor X’s mission may be described as “left-wing pacifism,” by repeatedly demonstrating that humanity is helpless without the aid of his X-Men, Xavier ensures that his message of equality is heard only in so far as its dependency is recognised. As Claremont demonstrates in Days of Future Past with no X-Men to protect humanity, the threat of mutant radicals would lead to mutually assured destruction.