You mentioned Stan Lee's "laziness". He has often described himself as lazy. He said he decided to set Spider Man and other heroes in New York City so that he wouldn't have to invent an entirely fictional setting, like Metropolis or Middle Earth or something.
The first X-Men comic really does feel like a "pilot episode" when you read it. Quite a few things drastically change between this first strip and the second. Especially, the most incredible change was Beast. In the original one here he's a lumbering fool, all muscle and no brains with that kind of "comic book dumb accent". Second strip he becomes the usual eloquent brains and brawn character we all know. Likewise Cyclops goes from Slim to Scott (Slim comes back later as a nickname from time to time). The characters, for the most part, stop goggling Jean and instead patronise her all the time in that "good girl" kind of way. But yeah, I've never seen such a jarring shift from comic one to comic two before.
RubberyCat that’s why I haven’t read any of the sixties x men stories. The earliest I read was the storyline that introduced storm, colossus and nightclawler.
I love the phrase "the first of the evil mutants has made his appearance." It sounds like something out of an anime or POWER RANGERS or KAMEN RIDER. Like there are a pre-existing collection of villains that Prof. X was expecting rather than a bunch of people who all independently decided to become bad guys with no initial connection to each other beyond being of the same race.
That whole 'Professor X was in love with Jean' thing would be revisited in the 90's. During Scott Lobdell's run, the villain Onslaught would show Jean the Professor's memory of that event, and it understandably horrifies her.
I would be creeped out too if I found out that my mentor who was old enough to be my father wanted to sleep with me too especially if it was a mentor I saw as a father figure like Jean Grey did with Professor X. Honestly if you just look at things like the movies and the cartoons, Professor X was a kind, benevolent, and fatherly sort of figure to the other X-Men. But in the comics, the guy is just a creep who makes Magneto, the guy who wants to wipe out humanity for mutant superiority look preferable especially when you bring in the fact that Professor X wanted to sleep with his young female student. Also Magneto was a Holocaust survivor and that shaped his views on the world, what is your excuse for being a creep Professor X?
Or perhaps you take it to the "Father Figure" Trope since, 1. They have the same kind of Telepathic Powers so Jean acts as an Extension of Professor X on the Battlefield in case the others can't have Chuck use his Telepathy to speak,to them and 2. He somehow can use his Telepathic Powers to see the Future via Cerebro and saw the Phoenix Force Event which kills her, and he wanted to make her Unknowingly LAST YEARS before being infused with the Phoenix Force the Happiest he COULD POTENTIALLY PROVIDE. Yes, Cerebro did not Exist in the 60s, but when such an Idea is shown in Uncanny and Ultimate X-Men, the Possibility of such "Love" becomes more Parental rather than Pedophilia. I rest my case.
The Merry Mutants M2: Merry Mutants Unite Merry Mutants: The Last Stand Merry Mutants Origins: Wolverine Merry Mutants: First Class Merry Mutants: Days of Future Past Merry Mutants: Apocalypse Merry Mutants: Dark Pheonix
Since we later learn that Jean was the first mutant youth Charles taught personally, Stan may’ve meant “love” in a teacherly fashion- BUT it’s still creepy given some of the stuff he’s done (Like restricting the abilities of some students without their knowledge, abandoning his own mutant son & not giving proper attention to the development & control of his psychic powers, & let’s not forget covering up the demises of the students who encountered The living Island Krakoa.)
Linkara's Origin. He just found the magic gun in the backyard at his old house. And the Magic coin was actually found in a sandlot somewhere in a park or some other location when he was a kid. I know that's pretty much incorrect on my part, but that would be a good origin story on where Linkara found those two mystical items.
The more I read into this first issue, the creepy leering on Jean Grey, the way the X-Men seem to cavort to Professor X's every whim and desire, the dangerous means in which he tests their powers and the whole "Baptism by fire' thing you'd swear that this was a creeptastic villains story fraught with psychological manipulation and Professor X's plan to CONQUER THE WORLD!!! He probably just wanted Magneto out of the way to ensure his plans would go unimpeded by ENEMY MUTANTS.
No joke, in my seventh grade biology class, when the teacher was going over mutations, there was actually a guy in the class who raised his hand and asked if a genetic mutation could give someone super-strength. To my class's credit, nobody laughed at him (out loud). :D To my knowledge the most common genetic mutation that doesn't lead to a degenerative disease or disorder of some kind is heterochromia, the mismatched eyes thing.
Xavier's dialogue and general reactions here are really interesting in hindsight. He talks about abandoning human speech, they all talk about their code names as "Mutant names", really trying to set themselves apart from humanity in a meaningful way. They went back to this whole concept again in Ultimate X-Men, referring to a Mutant alphabet among other things. It's a shame this 'high concept' angle to Mutants EG how they are immune to x-rays, AIDS etc gets sidelined by most writers. Lastly Linkara, when the X-Men adjust Xavier's chair etc, when I first read it, I assumed the implication was that he was in fact quadriplegic, making his powers etc all the more tragic. He even stated it happened in a childhood accident, something retconned a handful of issues later. Also, about the whole "thought impulses" controlling the plane, Xavier's Mutant powers were originally described as a *Mutant Brain*... So he could do _whatever_ and it was fine, I guess?
Eh, interesting, but the idea of Mutants as a separate species has always bugged me. It kind of undercuts the anti-racism message of the franchise (not that other things in the series don't do that anyway sometimes).
@@jamesadamsfl As I mentioned though, a lot of concepts from the early issues were quietly swept under the rug as the series found it's feet/own identity. The _otherness_ of Mutants for example, gave way to the outcast/bigotry allegory. There were a few ideas that it would have been interesting to see them develop however. 1) *Multiple powersets* Magneto had two additional powers. He could project himself onto the Astral Plane and also demonstrated "Magnetic Attraction". Which was a vague hypnotic ability. These early examples likely proved the inspiration for Grant Morrison's 'Secondary mutations' in All-New X-Men. 2) *Mutant powers can be shared* Before retcons. Xavier _gave_ Jean Grey a portion of his psychic abilities. In doing so, the strictly telekinetic Jean gained telepathy. These points have infrequently been revisited by the "Mutant battery" technique. Most famously used to jettison Krakoa in Giant Size X-Men #1. The idea that all mutant energies can be channelled into one individual and exponentially increase that persons powers. It is both rarely used and never really elaborated on. As you say, in spite of Magneto's firm belief in Mutant superiority. Pushing them away from humanity doesn't mesh with the underlying metaphor of Mutants.
@@pious83 Mutants could give each other powers . . . So, basically Mutants were magic in their early appearances, even before we got the actual magic using Mutants? Well, that's the Silver Age in a nutshell.
The common complaint about the 'hate the mutants, but not the super-powered non-mutants' never made any sense. It's like people are unfamiliar with the concept of a double standard.
+Tyler Chambers Indeed, plus it is the difference between powerful and influential people becoming more so and then the kid down the street that kicks puppies becoming more powerful than you can imagine.
+Tyler Chambers I think that the double standard has to do with this: groups like the Fantastic Four and Avengers are wiling to work with the Government, the community, and have some form of oversight and restrictions. But groups like the X-Men operate with no such restrictions and despite Xavier's decree of peace and non-violence he's stockpiling weapons, and is training what is essentially a private army of Mutants, behind the facade of a school for Mutants only, and all you have to go on is their word that they won't turn against you.
Adding to Linkara's creeped factor was I the only one to think Iceman indeed didnt appear but was already there the whole time poledancing for the professor and the boots are remnants of a sexy fireman costume?
As some of you might be aware, X-Men plays with this trope: Fantastic Racism - prejudice against a fantastic race in a fictional story acting as a metaphor for racism in real life. However, that tends to break a lot of morals when the fantastic race in question has dangerous superpowers that it needs to contain and control, or some genetic imperative to oppress and enslave and commit genocide against other races, or is basically just a slight variant of the humans the moralizer is trying to make out to be the real monsters. Plus, as Linkara would later point out, if you put the science of the X-Men and Mutants alike aside, they don't make sense in the Marvel Universe at all. "What, super soldiers created by the U.S. government are ok, but mutants aren't? The Fantastic Four get mutated in space, but they get a free pass from hate and fear?" A very interesting point.
I have always been bothered by the "fantastic racism" trope. It carries unfortunate implications when the "oppressed minority" stand-in is often non-human while the point of fighting racism is that other people are humans like us.
*****, That's an interesting point. Though if one looks at the story from a certain point of view, even non-humans would be on the receiving end of discrimination as well as regular humans. So in a way, it's still being a bit realistic in recognizing prejudices.
*****, yeah, but the thing is, realistically, no one would care about how these people, mutant or accident or lab creation, have powers. Their mentality would be like, "These people have powers and I'm jealous/afraid of them."
The Professor referring to Jean as his love gets a little call back when Onslaught attacks trying to prove humanity's worthlessness or something. Now that was disturbing.
Although that was only a hypothesis on Xavier's part, he had no way of knowing for sure that his father's radiation exposure was the cause of his own mutation.
Claremont would come back to that years later in Adjectiveless X-Men (Volume 2 Issue 12, I believe) and of course, one of the best Xavier-centric issues ever Uncanny X-Men #309.
Jean calling it 'teleportation' for some reason, it only makes me think of the Star Trek episode with the space wizards, where Kirk pronounces telekinesis as "tela-KEN-issus"
I actually like the idea of super hero schools, heck for the X-Men I did a picture of the original outfits in different colors for class, yellow was freshmen, green was sophomore, blue was junior, red was senior
Personally I rather enjoy The X-Men...though I would prefer them to stay out of the rest of the Marvel universe. They would make more sense in a universe by then selves. It seems like that if you are born with powers you are some sort of monster but if you are bitten by a radioactive spider you can become a hero and people will love you...or something like that.
Well, there was one episode in X-Men Cartoon where the registration use super humans, which is kinda awkward and hypocritical until I realize that they are using wife beaters (Antman/Goliath's giant power) and jingoists (Captain America's serum). Insult on respective heroes intended in context of Mutants being harassed by racists. Then the victims of Sentinel in Days of the Future Past include Fantastic Four (Protecting Franklin Richards), Spiderman (Kind-hearted nature), and Captain America (He finally gave middle finger to the government).
I mean, I don't mean to show up three years late to the party on this one, but. The Marvel universe tends not to be kind to Spider-Man. Like, I get what you're saying, but you picked the one superhero with a targeted propaganda campaign against him on the front page of a major metropolitan newspaper five days a week.
@@jturner2577They still haven't really addressed the issue of the Avengers or any one else doing anything for mutants and there civil rights. Where were they at when over 16 million mutants were slaughtered on Genosha?
I mean technically he is A reverse cyborg he does have artificial skin And I'm pretty sure artificial blood too to make that artificial skin. Look more realistic so he's a robot with human parts I had it
@ruggiebuggie3195 A Is cyborg is a human with robot parts so a Reverse would be a robot with human parts For example you ever seen doctor who They have Tradition cyborg in the form of the cyberman human to have modified themselves with mechanical As well. As their minds taking away emotions But also there's this group of clockwork droids. Do we're programmed to repair the ship and themselves Is with any available parts?No one told them that people weren't available.So they ripped apart the crew and used it to repair the ship.And another group used the humans to repair themselves to the point where they live for hundreds of years to the point where nothing of the originals remained
The scenes with Jean Grey at the Mansion look like a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen. Also finding out later that Professor X has a crush on her is really creepy, but I have never been a fan of teacher/student romances in fiction because you never know if it is the teacher taking advantage of the situation or not. Also Iceman's first design is just stupid, that is all I really have to say about it. Also while in the movies Professor X seems to be a genuinely nice person who wants to help mutants and humans which probably has a lot to do with the great performances of Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy, I always got the feeling in the comics that he was really a creepy bastard and honestly I am not really upset that he is dead.
There's a few Stan Lee era X-Men comics worth a look to see the origins of classic characters, particularly Scarlet Witch, Juggernaut, and the Sentinels, but honestly, if you want a good intro to the X-Men, you're better off with Gisnt-Size X-Men 1.
+Eamonn Deane Absolutely LOVED their runs! Especially Grant Morrison's. The X-Men sucked for like a decade before he came in. I knew it was going to be good especially after his glorious run in JLA. Whedon, on the other hand, I thought was going to suck, (Wasn't huge Firefly fan or a Buffy fan). but from issue 1 I was hooked.
The X-Men are a bit different from the others you reviewed for Secret Origins Month, in that while they're iconic now, their original run with Lee at the helm was something of a failure. It was only when Lee was taken off the title about two and a half years in and the new writers started giving them the characterizations and plot points we know today that they started getting popular.
Speaking of Magneto, could we please see the origins of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. They would be well known enough because of the Days of Future Past and Apocalypse X-Men films and Avengers Age of Ultron.
Ah yes, it's the wheelchair that's keeping Jean and Professor X from being together. Not the fact that she's underage (15) and he's old enough to be her father!
The thing that grates me with the Xmen is the fact that they are used as stand ins for marginalized, even when those groups still exist in the Marvel universe. I mean come on. Why not just approach the subject of discrimination in a different way?
5 years late here, but, it was the 60s when they were created, so writing about those marginilized groups like LGBTQ+ and minorities wasn't gonna catch on with a lot of the mainstream public who were rather close minded, so using a proxy like mutants was sorta the way it went. And thus started the precident of using them as standins, and it just is what it is now, because their identity as a margibilized group is so heavily linkrd to their identity as a group
I always thought the reason they were called the x men, was because the founder of the team, Xavier, has the initial of X, maybe Stan lee was kidding(or high) when he was said "there's something X-tra about these heroes".
If You want to know the secret origins of Linkara buy the "Atop the Fourth Wall DVD Volume 1 Titled... Secret Origins..." well at least it's subtle. But in all seriousness, the DVDs awesome.
*11:37* look chucky's head is getting bigger probably he is part of thos ealiens from the first star trek episode also i think the f4 and x man have in comon that they aren't represented well in movies and are owned by fox
The rockets probably wouldn't explode: First, because as depicted in the panel, they would fall to their sides and not on their triggers. Second, the process of freezing would delay any chemical reaction and probably would also be an obstruction for the mechanics. On the other hand you could argue, that they would still possess their forward momentum and wouldn't just fall to the ground (as it was shown) but would still be powerfull enough to kill with the force of their impact. This would also lead to a discussion about the nature of Icemans powers, which wouldn't be very fruitfull - only irritating. So I am not going into that territory.
17:52 I could assume if it weren't for the bad writing, I assume he is thinking about his old lover (which I know she existed but I forgot her name), who he had to breakup with her before the founding of his school and the X-Men. Seeing Jean Grey and her demeanor reminded him of his ex. It was heartbreaking for him, and even many years later he has yet to fully moved on.
Btw it was later retconned that the reason magneto is acting so over the top and, "mwahaha," villainous in his early appearances was because he intentionally wanted to send a clear message to the public that mutants could be good or evil, just like humans. So essentially he chose to play the part of the villain to further prop up the X-Men as the heroes.
Don’t know if Marvel Masterworks is still in print or not, but they’re available on ComiXology; I picked up Volume 1 of the X-Men and Volumes 1 & 2 of Avengers. Wow we’re comics weird back then.
In regard to your ruminations and mention of Ant-Man's origin, I'm curious... With the Ant-Man movie having been announced and apparently no plans for there to be a solo Black Widow movie, are you at all like me in thinking that a Black Widow origin movie would be far more interesting than an Ant-Man one?
MaZINGErDeSTro I had no idea who the hell Guardians Of The Galaxy were before seeing the film. It's now one of my favorites in the Marvel Movie Universe.
MaZINGErDeSTro I can guarentee that most people only knew Cap and Hulk of the Avengers team. Cap they knew because...he's Cap, and Hulk people knew because of the 80's live action series. All anybody knew about Iron Man before the movies was that it was a rich guy in a metal suit. Thor was a mythological figure and nothing more. Widow and Hawkeye were virtual unknowns. Nick Fury was that comic book character David Hasslehoff once played.
Awesome video, Lewis! Hey, I saw your vlog about the Conjuring not too long ago. In it, you said you'd be interested in seeing a prequel. Well ironically, the ad before the video was for Annabelle, a prequel film about the doll. Think you'll see it?
This makes me wonder when we'll get the secret origin of the inhumans. I believe that crystal is actually the first one people would meet. Side note, Medusa is black bolts cousin...and thats icky.
Soon Ant-Man will have his day: July 17, 2015. Hank Pym will be played by Michael Douglas and not become Ant-Man. So that would be interesting to see next year.
Someone more in tune with the Marvel universe than this old DC man, help me out here. I understand that the presence of mutants and how regular Homo sapiens react to them are supposed to be meant as an allegory for marginalized groups, bigotry vs. acceptance, etc., and I can buy that allegory on its own merits. BUT... how exactly does that work since this story takes place in the Marvel universe, which already has dozens of other people with powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men? Most of the rest of the world seems pretty okay with Captain America, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, etc., so then why wouldn't they be similarly okay with the X-Men? Why are superpowers that are triggered during puberty more problematic than powers that are gained by accidental or artificial means?
I would say it's more paranoia With Cap, the F4 and Hulk as such there's a traceable origin for there powers while random mutations trigger the populace
@@MrBlazemaster525The real question is how laymen tell the difference. You'd think there would be a lot more instances of an anti-mutant version of "transvestigations" plaguing the hero community.
I know he says his powers don't work that way, but this is the first issue, so doesn't that meen they should work that way? Then again by that logic superman should be juggling planets I guess.
Anybody see the episode of south park with the bloods and crips...So jimmy and timmy think crips were born cripples and bloods became cripples...sooo to compare it to this comic and explanations...mutants were born crips and genetic engineering are like the bloods...
Siddiq Ismail Maybe thats one of the reasons why Angel eventually said "screw this" and revealed his secret identity. If everyone knows who he is, he doesn't have to hid his wings!
considering how melancholic the X-men would become, the title "merry mutants" would be kind of hilarious
They would've spun off over the years into the Melancholy Mutants, the Maudlin Mutants, and the Miserable Mutants.
You mentioned Stan Lee's "laziness". He has often described himself as lazy. He said he decided to set Spider Man and other heroes in New York City so that he wouldn't have to invent an entirely fictional setting, like Metropolis or Middle Earth or something.
Well, you gotta admire the mans honesty
The first X-Men comic really does feel like a "pilot episode" when you read it. Quite a few things drastically change between this first strip and the second. Especially, the most incredible change was Beast. In the original one here he's a lumbering fool, all muscle and no brains with that kind of "comic book dumb accent". Second strip he becomes the usual eloquent brains and brawn character we all know. Likewise Cyclops goes from Slim to Scott (Slim comes back later as a nickname from time to time). The characters, for the most part, stop goggling Jean and instead patronise her all the time in that "good girl" kind of way. But yeah, I've never seen such a jarring shift from comic one to comic two before.
Also the Jean Grey thing luckily dials down to a love triangle between Jean, Scott and Warren. Creepy Xavier secret love, aside of course.
Not to mention that all of those early stories reads like bad fanfiction today ...
@@pious83 Then the old ass wolverine starts to hit on her too. Also in the movies jean's spirit wants Logan. 😂
RubberyCat that’s why I haven’t read any of the sixties x men stories. The earliest I read was the storyline that introduced storm, colossus and nightclawler.
@@tylerjones7592 You're really missing out; there's a LOT of good stuff to be found in the 60's run of X-Men.
I love the phrase "the first of the evil mutants has made his appearance." It sounds like something out of an anime or POWER RANGERS or KAMEN RIDER. Like there are a pre-existing collection of villains that Prof. X was expecting rather than a bunch of people who all independently decided to become bad guys with no initial connection to each other beyond being of the same race.
well to be fair xavier knew magneto so he was thinking he was going to make a evil x-men group
@@frankspick7544 I'll by that.
funny since power rangers and the X-men cartoon were part of the same company Saban Entertainment
"Has anyone seen the TV remote? I fell asleep and now it's not here." I love that joke for some reason.
That whole 'Professor X was in love with Jean' thing would be revisited in the 90's. During Scott Lobdell's run, the villain Onslaught would show Jean the Professor's memory of that event, and it understandably horrifies her.
and again, literally, in Ultimate X-Men...
I would be creeped out too if I found out that my mentor who was old enough to be my father wanted to sleep with me too especially if it was a mentor I saw as a father figure like Jean Grey did with Professor X. Honestly if you just look at things like the movies and the cartoons, Professor X was a kind, benevolent, and fatherly sort of figure to the other X-Men. But in the comics, the guy is just a creep who makes Magneto, the guy who wants to wipe out humanity for mutant superiority look preferable especially when you bring in the fact that Professor X wanted to sleep with his young female student. Also Magneto was a Holocaust survivor and that shaped his views on the world, what is your excuse for being a creep Professor X?
Morgan Young the writers are channeling their person wanking fantasies into him?
Please don't remind us about Onslaught. We don't want to remember Onslaught.
Or perhaps you take it to the "Father Figure" Trope since,
1. They have the same kind of Telepathic Powers so Jean acts as an Extension of Professor X on the Battlefield in case the others can't have Chuck use his Telepathy to speak,to them and
2. He somehow can use his Telepathic Powers to see the Future via Cerebro and saw the Phoenix Force Event which kills her, and he wanted to make her Unknowingly LAST YEARS before being infused with the Phoenix Force the Happiest he COULD POTENTIALLY PROVIDE. Yes, Cerebro did not Exist in the 60s, but when such an Idea is shown in Uncanny and Ultimate X-Men, the Possibility of such "Love" becomes more Parental rather than Pedophilia. I rest my case.
The Merry Mutants
M2: Merry Mutants Unite
Merry Mutants: The Last Stand
Merry Mutants Origins: Wolverine
Merry Mutants: First Class
Merry Mutants: Days of Future Past
Merry Mutants: Apocalypse
Merry Mutants: Dark Pheonix
That moment when you realize only one of the live-action X-Men films had the entire original roster of the team...and it was The Last Stand. -_-
Weiiird as Hell! In both cases, Jean is all but useless & her male teammates treat her as a D.I.D.
At least its better than x men origins wolverine or dark phinox
8:18-8:49
As much as I like the X-Men and the idea of the Danger Room, Xavier would be in hot water if he had to deal with a school board! 😆
I love that Linkara does a Stan Lee impersonation for all these old comics he wrote.
Since we later learn that Jean was the first mutant youth Charles taught personally, Stan may’ve meant “love” in a teacherly fashion- BUT it’s still creepy given some of the stuff he’s done (Like restricting the abilities of some students without their knowledge, abandoning his own mutant son & not giving proper attention to the development & control of his psychic powers, & let’s not forget covering up the demises of the students who encountered The living Island Krakoa.)
Linkara's Origin.
He just found the magic gun in the backyard at his old house. And the Magic coin was actually found in a sandlot somewhere in a park or some other location when he was a kid.
I know that's pretty much incorrect on my part, but that would be a good origin story on where Linkara found those two mystical items.
You're not too far off on the magic gun. Buy the first DVD. =)
@@AT4W We still don't know how you became a magic user. Or were you just born that way?
@@ninakrishnamurthy6674 it's Margret
The more I read into this first issue, the creepy leering on Jean Grey, the way the X-Men seem to cavort to Professor X's every whim and desire, the dangerous means in which he tests their powers and the whole "Baptism by fire' thing you'd swear that this was a creeptastic villains story fraught with psychological manipulation and Professor X's plan to CONQUER THE WORLD!!!
He probably just wanted Magneto out of the way to ensure his plans would go unimpeded by ENEMY MUTANTS.
No joke, in my seventh grade biology class, when the teacher was going over mutations, there was actually a guy in the class who raised his hand and asked if a genetic mutation could give someone super-strength. To my class's credit, nobody laughed at him (out loud). :D
To my knowledge the most common genetic mutation that doesn't lead to a degenerative disease or disorder of some kind is heterochromia, the mismatched eyes thing.
Xavier's dialogue and general reactions here are really interesting in hindsight. He talks about abandoning human speech, they all talk about their code names as "Mutant names", really trying to set themselves apart from humanity in a meaningful way. They went back to this whole concept again in Ultimate X-Men, referring to a Mutant alphabet among other things. It's a shame this 'high concept' angle to Mutants EG how they are immune to x-rays, AIDS etc gets sidelined by most writers.
Lastly Linkara, when the X-Men adjust Xavier's chair etc, when I first read it, I assumed the implication was that he was in fact quadriplegic, making his powers etc all the more tragic. He even stated it happened in a childhood accident, something retconned a handful of issues later.
Also, about the whole "thought impulses" controlling the plane, Xavier's Mutant powers were originally described as a *Mutant Brain*... So he could do _whatever_ and it was fine, I guess?
Yeah I didn't get a creepy vibe from the chair stuff either.
now we got Krakoa with a new Alphabet and a new language
Eh, interesting, but the idea of Mutants as a separate species has always bugged me. It kind of undercuts the anti-racism message of the franchise (not that other things in the series don't do that anyway sometimes).
@@jamesadamsfl As I mentioned though, a lot of concepts from the early issues were quietly swept under the rug as the series found it's feet/own identity. The _otherness_ of Mutants for example, gave way to the outcast/bigotry allegory. There were a few ideas that it would have been interesting to see them develop however.
1) *Multiple powersets*
Magneto had two additional powers. He could project himself onto the Astral Plane and also demonstrated "Magnetic Attraction". Which was a vague hypnotic ability. These early examples likely proved the inspiration for Grant Morrison's 'Secondary mutations' in All-New X-Men.
2) *Mutant powers can be shared*
Before retcons. Xavier _gave_ Jean Grey a portion of his psychic abilities. In doing so, the strictly telekinetic Jean gained telepathy.
These points have infrequently been revisited by the "Mutant battery" technique. Most famously used to jettison Krakoa in Giant Size X-Men #1. The idea that all mutant energies can be channelled into one individual and exponentially increase that persons powers. It is both rarely used and never really elaborated on.
As you say, in spite of Magneto's firm belief in Mutant superiority. Pushing them away from humanity doesn't mesh with the underlying metaphor of Mutants.
@@pious83 Mutants could give each other powers . . . So, basically Mutants were magic in their early appearances, even before we got the actual magic using Mutants?
Well, that's the Silver Age in a nutshell.
17:50 - Yeah, being crippled is the problem, not being old enough to be her father.
The common complaint about the 'hate the mutants, but not the super-powered non-mutants' never made any sense. It's like people are unfamiliar with the concept of a double standard.
+Tyler Chambers Indeed, plus it is the difference between powerful and influential people becoming more so and then the kid down the street that kicks puppies becoming more powerful than you can imagine.
+Tyler Chambers
I think that the double standard has to do with this: groups like the Fantastic Four and Avengers are wiling to work with the Government, the community, and have some form of oversight and restrictions.
But groups like the X-Men operate with no such restrictions and despite Xavier's decree of peace and non-violence he's stockpiling weapons, and is training what is essentially a private army of Mutants, behind the facade of a school for Mutants only, and all you have to go on is their word that they won't turn against you.
***** People tend to mistake him for a mutant, so he still conforms to the double standard. Also, most of his hate comes from Jameson's libel.
***** But likewise the public turns on him every other week as well.
***** Yep. Is true.
Adding to Linkara's creeped factor was I the only one to think Iceman indeed didnt appear but was already there the whole time poledancing for the professor and the boots are remnants of a sexy fireman costume?
Nataraetorum25 First thing I thought. Seriously, what were they thinking?
Kinky
... My God, they were foreshadowing Iceman's sexuality even back then! It was a reveal decades in the making!
No wonder Cyclops is such a jerk in modern times. Xavier was a huge one when he was raising him
Nick Noel He isn't really that big a jerk just strict and serious
As some of you might be aware, X-Men plays with this trope:
Fantastic Racism - prejudice against a fantastic race in a fictional story acting as a metaphor for racism in real life.
However, that tends to break a lot of morals when the fantastic race in question has dangerous superpowers that it needs to contain and control, or some genetic imperative to oppress and enslave and commit genocide against other races, or is basically just a slight variant of the humans the moralizer is trying to make out to be the real monsters.
Plus, as Linkara would later point out, if you put the science of the X-Men and Mutants alike aside, they don't make sense in the Marvel Universe at all. "What, super soldiers created by the U.S. government are ok, but mutants aren't? The Fantastic Four get mutated in space, but they get a free pass from hate and fear?" A very interesting point.
Why would the public care if one person is born with their superpowers and the other got them in a lab accident?
***** Exactly.
I have always been bothered by the "fantastic racism" trope. It carries unfortunate implications when the "oppressed minority" stand-in is often non-human while the point of fighting racism is that other people are humans like us.
*****, That's an interesting point.
Though if one looks at the story from a certain point of view, even non-humans would be on the receiving end of discrimination as well as regular humans. So in a way, it's still being a bit realistic in recognizing prejudices.
*****, yeah, but the thing is, realistically, no one would care about how these people, mutant or accident or lab creation, have powers. Their mentality would be like, "These people have powers and I'm jealous/afraid of them."
The Professor referring to Jean as his love gets a little call back when Onslaught attacks trying to prove humanity's worthlessness or something. Now that was disturbing.
Dammit, Xavier
Y'know, given the soap opera style drama they'd get into in recent years, maybe Stan was onto something when he said they were "extra"
Actually in this issue the X-Men did have an atomic origin, i.e. Professor X's parents were exposed to radiation while working on the first A-Bombs
Although that was only a hypothesis on Xavier's part, he had no way of knowing for sure that his father's radiation exposure was the cause of his own mutation.
Claremont would come back to that years later in Adjectiveless X-Men (Volume 2 Issue 12, I believe) and of course, one of the best Xavier-centric issues ever Uncanny X-Men #309.
Beast's father was also exposed to radiation.
I can’t believe Linkara completely blew past “Yaybo!”
EVERYONE are weird in the 60s
Yeah. Check out what Jimmy Olsen was getting into.
Jean calling it 'teleportation' for some reason, it only makes me think of the Star Trek episode with the space wizards, where Kirk pronounces telekinesis as "tela-KEN-issus"
Or the MST3K episode "The Dead Talk Back" where a guy in the movie pronounced it "tela-KEEN-us". *shrugs*
One good thing is snowman iceman. That is peak character design and marvel should have never changed it.
I actually like the idea of super hero schools, heck for the X-Men I did a picture of the original outfits in different colors for class, yellow was freshmen, green was sophomore, blue was junior, red was senior
Oh, do I have an anime for you, my friend. :)) Ever heard of My Hero Academia?
@@ninakrishnamurthy6674 oh yeah, i'll see your MHA, and raise you a Sky High
Personally I rather enjoy The X-Men...though I would prefer them to stay out of the rest of the Marvel universe. They would make more sense in a universe by then selves. It seems like that if you are born with powers you are some sort of monster but if you are bitten by a radioactive spider you can become a hero and people will love you...or something like that.
Well, there was one episode in X-Men Cartoon where the registration use super humans, which is kinda awkward and hypocritical until I realize that they are using wife beaters (Antman/Goliath's giant power) and jingoists (Captain America's serum). Insult on respective heroes intended in context of Mutants being harassed by racists.
Then the victims of Sentinel in Days of the Future Past include Fantastic Four (Protecting Franklin Richards), Spiderman (Kind-hearted nature), and Captain America (He finally gave middle finger to the government).
+Sasuke schofield Double standards are about as old as humanity in the real world, why wouldn't comic humans have them?
I mean, I don't mean to show up three years late to the party on this one, but. The Marvel universe tends not to be kind to Spider-Man. Like, I get what you're saying, but you picked the one superhero with a targeted propaganda campaign against him on the front page of a major metropolitan newspaper five days a week.
The last 3 years have addressed those complaints.
@@jturner2577They still haven't really addressed the issue of the Avengers or any one else doing anything for mutants and there civil rights. Where were they at when over 16 million mutants were slaughtered on Genosha?
Calling Jean Grey's powers 'teleportation' is like how the first Terminator film called the T-800 a 'cyborg'.
I mean technically he is A reverse cyborg he does have artificial skin And I'm pretty sure artificial blood too to make that artificial skin. Look more realistic so he's a robot with human parts I had it
@@plantainsame2049a reverse cyborg would be an android, wouldn’t it?
@ruggiebuggie3195 A Is cyborg is a human with robot parts so a Reverse would be a robot with human parts
For example you ever seen doctor who
They have Tradition cyborg in the form of the cyberman human to have modified themselves with mechanical As well.
As their minds taking away emotions
But also there's this group of clockwork droids. Do we're programmed to repair the ship and themselves Is with any available parts?No one told them that people weren't available.So they ripped apart the crew and used it to repair the ship.And another group used the humans to repair themselves to the point where they live for hundreds of years to the point where nothing of the originals remained
The scenes with Jean Grey at the Mansion look like a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen. Also finding out later that Professor X has a crush on her is really creepy, but I have never been a fan of teacher/student romances in fiction because you never know if it is the teacher taking advantage of the situation or not. Also Iceman's first design is just stupid, that is all I really have to say about it. Also while in the movies Professor X seems to be a genuinely nice person who wants to help mutants and humans which probably has a lot to do with the great performances of Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy, I always got the feeling in the comics that he was really a creepy bastard and honestly I am not really upset that he is dead.
There's a few Stan Lee era X-Men comics worth a look to see the origins of classic characters, particularly Scarlet Witch, Juggernaut, and the Sentinels, but honestly, if you want a good intro to the X-Men, you're better off with Gisnt-Size X-Men 1.
The X-Men didn't become interesting until Claremont came in.
+Eamonn Deane
Absolutely LOVED their runs! Especially Grant Morrison's. The X-Men sucked for like a decade before he came in. I knew it was going to be good especially after his glorious run in JLA. Whedon, on the other hand, I thought was going to suck, (Wasn't huge Firefly fan or a Buffy fan). but from issue 1 I was hooked.
Len Wein was before Claremont and he did some good things to mold the X-Men into a more engaging and iconic.
Statutory Grape I have a copy of Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1. It contains 8 issues from 1975-1976. Is THIS where Claremont came in?
Seven years after this video and a comic featuring an alternate version of this team is the best X-Men book at Marvel. Life's funny like that.
The time travelling X-men Blue??? I liked that book.
8:02 Never thought that the Danger Room first appeared in the very first X-men comic book.
"This will be your baptism of fire!"
The 60’s were so friggin’ bizarre!
@@daelen.cclark
Yes they were. Yet without them, we might not have comic books today...
The X-Men are a bit different from the others you reviewed for Secret Origins Month, in that while they're iconic now, their original run with Lee at the helm was something of a failure. It was only when Lee was taken off the title about two and a half years in and the new writers started giving them the characterizations and plot points we know today that they started getting popular.
Mags's cape keeps changing it's length
Like Batman!?
The start of the children of the atom.
The Xavier care panel makes sense to me. My mother works in elderly care and the crippled do need this unasked for help sometimes.
6:58, i think it's supposed to be the "danger room", that room in the school that always seems to be bigger than it should.
Speaking of Magneto, could we please see the origins of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. They would be well known enough because of the Days of Future Past and Apocalypse X-Men films and Avengers Age of Ultron.
And WandaVision
"Merry" is not a word I typically associate with the angst-ridden, brooding membership of the X-Men.
I absolutely LOVE your posh voice for Angel XD
I love the X-Men so much, and that cover of the animated series' opening was just... awesome!! Great job, Linkara!
The iceman entrance is actually my favorite thing, silly yes, funny yes
Ah yes, it's the wheelchair that's keeping Jean and Professor X from being together. Not the fact that she's underage (15) and he's old enough to be her father!
To think they acted on this plot line in Ultimate X-Men...
Fun Fact: The voice actors for Professor X and Jean Grey in the 90s X-Men cartoon were married to each other.
I think if he wasn't in a wheelchair, he might be able to exude a sort of power to him that she would find irresistible.
"It means your finish, Magneto!" I am kind of surprised he didn't notice that sentence.
The X-Men Comics And X-Men Movies Are Awesome.
What about Deadpool are you excited for the movie.
What about the cartoon?
If your hands were metal, that would mean something" is a perfect insert
Ron Wasserman? The same one that did the theme songs for most of the Power Rangers seasons?
The thing that grates me with the Xmen is the fact that they are used as stand ins for marginalized, even when those groups still exist in the Marvel universe. I mean come on. Why not just approach the subject of discrimination in a different way?
5 years late here, but, it was the 60s when they were created, so writing about those marginilized groups like LGBTQ+ and minorities wasn't gonna catch on with a lot of the mainstream public who were rather close minded, so using a proxy like mutants was sorta the way it went. And thus started the precident of using them as standins, and it just is what it is now, because their identity as a margibilized group is so heavily linkrd to their identity as a group
I always thought the reason they were called the x men, was because the founder of the team, Xavier, has the initial of X, maybe Stan lee was kidding(or high) when he was said "there's something X-tra about these heroes".
After all the leering at Jean Grey, the talk about her special "talent" sounds even more creepy.
6:00 so he dosent track snow all over the house
Frosting Man!!!
15:20 Why does Iceman even HAVE body heat?
If You want to know the secret origins of Linkara buy the "Atop the Fourth Wall DVD Volume 1 Titled... Secret Origins..." well at least it's subtle. But in all seriousness, the DVDs awesome.
one would think that if the tanker was tore open and on fire, it would have already exploded.
*11:37* look chucky's head is getting bigger probably he is part of thos ealiens from the first star trek episode also i think the f4 and x man have in comon that they aren't represented well in movies and are owned by fox
The rockets probably wouldn't explode: First, because as depicted in the panel, they would fall to their sides and not on their triggers. Second, the process of freezing would delay any chemical reaction and probably would also be an obstruction for the mechanics. On the other hand you could argue, that they would still possess their forward momentum and wouldn't just fall to the ground (as it was shown) but would still be powerfull enough to kill with the force of their impact. This would also lead to a discussion about the nature of Icemans powers, which wouldn't be very fruitfull - only irritating. So I am not going into that territory.
17:52 I could assume if it weren't for the bad writing, I assume he is thinking about his old lover (which I know she existed but I forgot her name), who he had to breakup with her before the founding of his school and the X-Men.
Seeing Jean Grey and her demeanor reminded him of his ex. It was heartbreaking for him, and even many years later he has yet to fully moved on.
Btw it was later retconned that the reason magneto is acting so over the top and, "mwahaha," villainous in his early appearances was because he intentionally wanted to send a clear message to the public that mutants could be good or evil, just like humans. So essentially he chose to play the part of the villain to further prop up the X-Men as the heroes.
12:55 idk if this was ever addressed in a "Missed Jokes" video you did, but how did you miss out on the obvious Wizard of Oz joke?
17:14 Where did you learn to fly?
+Dec Hardcat Fantastic!
„Stan Lee: is he kidding or Dead serious? We not want to know!“
Don’t know if Marvel Masterworks is still in print or not, but they’re available on ComiXology; I picked up Volume 1 of the X-Men and Volumes 1 & 2 of Avengers. Wow we’re comics weird back then.
In regard to your ruminations and mention of Ant-Man's origin, I'm curious... With the Ant-Man movie having been announced and apparently no plans for there to be a solo Black Widow movie, are you at all like me in thinking that a Black Widow origin movie would be far more interesting than an Ant-Man one?
MaZINGErDeSTro I had no idea who the hell Guardians Of The Galaxy were before seeing the film. It's now one of my favorites in the Marvel Movie Universe.
MaZINGErDeSTro I can guarentee that most people only knew Cap and Hulk of the Avengers team. Cap they knew because...he's Cap, and Hulk people knew because of the 80's live action series. All anybody knew about Iron Man before the movies was that it was a rich guy in a metal suit. Thor was a mythological figure and nothing more. Widow and Hawkeye were virtual unknowns. Nick Fury was that comic book character David Hasslehoff once played.
Linkara did Black Widow's first appearance last Monday .
I always thought X-men came about because of Doom Patrol.
Awesome video, Lewis! Hey, I saw your vlog about the Conjuring not too long ago. In it, you said you'd be interested in seeing a prequel. Well ironically, the ad before the video was for Annabelle, a prequel film about the doll. Think you'll see it?
13:40 look at that guy in the bottom centre panel. Pour bastard is about to topple onto his side
Which one? I'm pretty sure *ALL* of them are about to topple over.
Professor X getting audited never gets old lol
11:34 Professor X is a dead ringer for Eisenhower. And not just because they're both bald, their faces look the same, too.
Using a sonic to mess with the Morphin Grid? Honestly never saw that coming.
This makes me wonder when we'll get the secret origin of the inhumans. I believe that crystal is actually the first one people would meet.
Side note, Medusa is black bolts cousin...and thats icky.
@nek Jones last i checked
@nek Jones 3 months ago
Lewis, are you planning to review the Days of Future Past comic one day.
Wasn't "Merry Mutants" the name of a Christmas episode of one of the X-Men cartoons?
It was called “Have yourself a Morlock little X-mas”
how do I find that kick ass xmen 90s beat from this episode
Was that Salute Your Shorts?
+Viccatrix Yes
Soon Ant-Man will have his day: July 17, 2015. Hank Pym will be played by Michael Douglas and not become Ant-Man. So that would be interesting to see next year.
Man, I would love to see you look at Hulk 180/181.
He did last week.
Wolverine’s Debut?
Why is there another book called X-Men #1 without the “the”
Toad was the real brains behind TBOEM.
Someone more in tune with the Marvel universe than this old DC man, help me out here.
I understand that the presence of mutants and how regular Homo sapiens react to them are supposed to be meant as an allegory for marginalized groups, bigotry vs. acceptance, etc., and I can buy that allegory on its own merits. BUT... how exactly does that work since this story takes place in the Marvel universe, which already has dozens of other people with powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men? Most of the rest of the world seems pretty okay with Captain America, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, etc., so then why wouldn't they be similarly okay with the X-Men? Why are superpowers that are triggered during puberty more problematic than powers that are gained by accidental or artificial means?
I would say it's more paranoia
With Cap, the F4 and Hulk as such there's a traceable origin for there powers while random mutations trigger the populace
@@MrBlazemaster525The real question is how laymen tell the difference. You'd think there would be a lot more instances of an anti-mutant version of "transvestigations" plaguing the hero community.
Guess that’s what made them look a little more deeply into the school’s expenses
I think on the cover that's just a hunk of metal that Angel picked up to throw at Magneto.
Also, that was a fantastically goofy voice for Angel.
Oh yeah throwing a piece of metal at a guy who controls magnetism is the BEST IDEA EVER!
Hey, just clarifying. *shrugs*
Grady Childs The power of flight does not, unfortunately, come with super-intelligence.
Or, to moderately paraphrase, "The ability to fly does not make you intelligent."
....did anyone get that reference?
I know he says his powers don't work that way, but this is the first issue, so doesn't that meen they should work that way? Then again by that logic superman should be juggling planets I guess.
Anybody see the episode of south park with the bloods and crips...So jimmy and timmy think crips were born cripples and bloods became cripples...sooo to compare it to this comic and explanations...mutants were born crips and genetic engineering are like the bloods...
I wonder when we get his origin story
So the X men are really the Extra men
Hey do you think when this was wrotten in the 60s they thought that 50 years laters they would make iceman gay
Xavier was always weird and truly a villain, Linkara.
9:23 Too much pink energy is evil!
No, it's just dangerous.
Ummmm.... Where do Angel's wings go when he's not in costume?
It show later that he wears a special harness that lets him conceal his wings under his clothes.
legomaniac213 A harness? His wings are most as big as his body! But hey, its old comics.
Siddiq Ismail
Maybe thats one of the reasons why Angel eventually said "screw this" and revealed his secret identity. If everyone knows who he is, he doesn't have to hid his wings!
Is this the only "Secret Origins" where Linkara throws the book aside like in the "this comic sucks!" usual stuff?
He didn't care for Green Arrow's first outing either.
I love your channel
If you think this is bad try 2007 and 2008 xmen books... Oh boy.
HAH! Killdozer joke. Top man!
I just realized something why’d you make Angel British
how ironic i read this first time recently