Summary
The darkest version of theX-Mencame in the summer of 2000, where Marvel’s team of mutants was re-imagined into a government strike team in the vein of theSuicide Squad. This alternate continuity take on the X-team was one of the most cynical and violent versions of the heroes, but it also provides some sly commentary on how the Marvel Universe views mutants as a whole.
Marvels Comics X-Men#1 by Mark Millar, Sean Phillips, Duncan Fegredo, Kevin Somers, Tory Peteri and Richard Starkings is apart of one of Marvel’s strangest publishing initiatives. Purporting to be comics published within the actual Marvel Universe, eachMarvels Comicstitle shows what the average person really thinks of the superheroes running around in their world.
The view of the X-Men by the general public is one fueled by fear and misunderstanding, as the team is envisioned asa strike team assembled at the behest of Weapon X and their leader, Colonel America.Each member is an imprisoned mutant terrorist working off their sentence by engaging in impossible missions against their own kind.
Marvels Comics X-Men#1 by Mark Millar, Sean Phillips, Duncan Fegredo, Kevin Somers, Tory Peteri and Richard Starkings
Titled “How I Learned to Love the Bomb,” this alternate continuity team is made up of Cyclops, Wolverine, Iceman, Deathbird, Mastermind and theGoblin Queen version of Jean Grey. Each member is based off of the public perception of them in the Marvel Universe, so while some of the details are familiar, many of them are considerably changed. The inclusion of the villainous Mastermind is the most obvious example, but certain details about the other characters are changed. Instead of shooting concussive blasts of energy,Cyclops is portrayed as having a Medusa-like “petrifying vision,” which allows him to turn his opponents into stone.
Curiously,Doctor Strange is also portrayed as a mutant, a master villain on the level of Magneto who rules a dangerous army in the Savage Land. The mysterious Colonel America gives the X-Men their assignment in the opening scene, where they are tasked with retrieving a nuclear weapon designed by Tony Stark that has inadvertently fallen into the hands of Strange, who plans to use it against humanity. True to form,several members of Codename: X-Men die on the mission, including Wolverine, who sacrifices himself to stop the bomb from falling.
Wolverine Sacrifices Himself for Humanity in Codename: X-Men
The portrayal of the X-Men as dangerous mutant criminals just barely controlled by the government isin keeping with the overall theme of bigotry and fear that mutants experience in the Marvel Universe.The fact that the team would be portrayed as such in comics published within the Marvel Universe shows the depth of paranoia that the public at large has for the X-Men and mutants as a whole. The fact that ordinary citizens can’t see theX-Menas a school for mutants but instead as aSuicide Squad-esque strike team says a lot about their status as super-heroes in the public eye.
X-Men
The X-Men franchise, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, centers on mutants with extraordinary abilities. Led by the powerful telepath Professor Charles Xavier, they battle discrimination and villainous mutants threatening humanity. The series explores themes of diversity and acceptance through a blend of action, drama, and complex characters, spanning comics, animated series, and blockbuster films.
