Endangered

[Ogrebear]

As much as I am enjoying seeing Beast on Beast action in the back pages of the current X books could someone please give me a good [no prize] reason why the super smart Dr McCoy(s) have not simply done one of the following to fix the X-Gene problem:

1) Gone back in time to a point when the X Gene was active and bring some samples back? There are so many time machines about it should not be too difficult to arrange.

2) Gone to a different dimension and got some X-Gene from the still powered mutants there? Given Dr McCoy is seen taking to a duplicate him in the latest She-Hulk #21 and given previous form its not as if Hank does not know alternative worlds are out there.

3) Asked an Alien race for their mutant X Genes? We have had mutant Skrulls, Kree, etc etc someone out there must be able to help.

4) Found Wanda and asked her to reverse it all? Seems none of the XMen are even bothered about a fellow mutant like Wanda anymore...

5) Used one of the many superhuman/mutant making machines/devices/serums/etc that litter the Marvel U? They cannot all be off/impotent/inaccessible!

Any help appreciated!

[CJ Lentze]

I don't think they would need to find mutant X-Genes in people of other realities, other times, other planets et cetera, because there's still active X-Genes in the few mutants that exist on today's Earth 616. The Beast might as well ask some DNA from Cyclops or Colossus to experiment with their X-Genes and see if he can't implant it into a depowered mutant. So I think the problem must lie elsewhere or be more complicated, or he would have tried this already.

Asking help from Wanda is a tricky question; I don't know how many people know she was responsible for M-Day, but most of those who would remember would probably be scared of and angry with her, and would want to incarcerate her.

Many of the super-potent Marvel Universe doohickeys just won't work when you REALLY need them. :rolleyes:
However, there will probably be some (new or old) sort of device or serum that will be employed in this particular crisis.


And not to veer off topic, but I have a question of my own. What exactly is the problem that the mutants face after M-Day? Why would they no longer be able to pass on their superpowers to their children? Why wouldn't mutancy occur anymore in children of baseline parents? I understand that ninety-something percent of all 'X-Genes' were removed from the human gene pool, but the whole event has caused me to wonder heavily 'What makes a Marvel mutant?' What previously triggered the mutation in the Marvel Universe and why wouldn't it happen anymore?

[Karl H]

As much as I am enjoying seeing Beast on Beast action in the back pages of the current X books could someone please give me a good [no prize] reason why the super smart Dr McCoy(s) have not simply done one of the following to fix the X-Gene problem:

1) Gone back in time to a point when the X Gene was active and bring some samples back? There are so many time machines about it should not be too difficult to arrange.

Same thing would happen as happened to the MGH supplies in the Uncanny tie-in they were all taken pre-decimation

2) Gone to a different dimension and got some X-Gene from the still powered mutants there? Given Dr McCoy is seen taking to a duplicate him in the latest She-Hulk #21 and given previous form its not as if Hank does not know alternative worlds are out there.

Same I'd imagine.

3) Asked an Alien race for their mutant X Genes? We have had mutant Skrulls, Kree, etc etc someone out there must be able to help.

We don't know the extent of Wanda's spell. As the only fan of Cadre K on the X-boards, this requires answers but I'd imagine it applied to all

4) Found Wanda and asked her to reverse it all? Seems none of the XMen are even bothered about a fellow mutant like Wanda anymore...

She was depowered supposedly and no-one knows where she is. In particular, the only 2 people I would imagine who know they are alive are Clint Barton and possibly Strange. Not withstanding Logan's x-men / NA's membership, I would imagine they ain't the easiest people to find at the moment! Plus, in the post CW NA's issue, Wanda was shown to be depowered and virtually amnesiac of what had come before.

5) Used one of the many superhuman/mutant making machines/devices/serums/etc that litter the Marvel U? They cannot all be off/impotent/inaccessible!

Why not. If there's no gene there to work with, I can't see why it shouldn't. Plus, presumably they require a sample of mutant DNA or whatever to work from.

Any help appreciated!


Hope that's helped. All from my own dark and twisted imagination.

[Pro]

Why would they no longer be able to pass on their superpowers to their children?

There is no evidence yet to draw that conclusion. The only (possibly) pregnant mutant so far is M and it has yet to be seen whether or not the baby has the x-gene. There is no biological reason why mutants can't pass their x-gene to their offspring.
However 200 mutants does not form a viable gene pool (or so goes the theory). It would be similar to inbreeding. Not enough genetic variety results in genetic defects.
Ironically a lot of birth defects are mutations in and of themselves which should tell us that Wanda did specifically target the x-gene as opposed to mutation as a whole.

Why wouldn't mutancy occur anymore in children of baseline parents?

Because unlike the remaining active mutants baseline humans do not have a latent x-gene to pass on to their offspring, Wanda made sure of that. From Endangered Species we can assume that the form a mutation takes does not depend on the x-gene though. The x-gene is the trigger whereas the form the mutancy takes relies on other DNA sequences. While it is possible humans pass on the seeds for mutancy it won't be triggered because they don't have the x-gene as part of their DNA which is the essential gene for active x-mutancy.

Mutancy is not wholy reliable on the x-gene though. Dozens of superhumans gained powers thanks to other triggers, radioactive spidervenom, cosmic or gamma radiation, etc.
It is also unlikely Wanda erased the ability for any mutation to develop from all humans. Not only would it spell the end of human evolution period, it would also mean no more kids with birthdefects, no more mutating cells causing cancer, and anyone exposed to gamma radiation would simply die due to cellular disintegration instead of gaining powers, etc.

So the ability for mutancy is still probably there but the specific mutations triggered by the x-gene won't be activated because there is no more x-gene to trigger them.

[CJ Lentze]

However 200 mutants does not form a viable gene pool (or so goes the theory). It would be similar to inbreeding. Not enough genetic variety results in genetic defects.
Ironically a lot of birth defects are mutations in and of themselves which should tell us that Wanda did specifically target the x-gene as opposed to mutation as a whole.


Another reason for the X-Men to fight, fight, FIGHT for a world where mutant and human can live peacefully together. Even though there's only a handful of them left, what's stopping them from trying to claim their place in society? Hatred and fear? That's one of the things the X-Men were gathered for to combat. I don't like it either that the minority metaphor seems to be gone for now, but until M-Day gets reversed, mutants STILL have their struggle to struggle.


Because unlike the remaining active mutants baseline humans do not have a latent x-gene to pass on to their offspring, Wanda made sure of that. From Endangered Species we can assume that the form a mutation takes does not depend on the x-gene though. The x-gene is the trigger whereas the form the mutancy takes relies on other DNA sequences. While it is possible humans pass on the seeds for mutancy it won't be triggered because they don't have the x-gene as part of their DNA which is the essential gene for active x-mutancy.

Mutancy is not wholy reliable on the x-gene though. Dozens of superhumans gained powers thanks to other triggers, radioactive spidervenom, cosmic or gamma radiation, etc.
It is also unlikely Wanda erased the ability for any mutation to develop from all humans. Not only would it spell the end of human evolution period, it would also mean no more kids with birthdefects, no more mutating cells causing cancer, and anyone exposed to gamma radiation would simply die due to cellular disintegration instead of gaining powers, etc.

So the ability for mutancy is still probably there but the specific mutations triggered by the x-gene won't be activated because there is no more x-gene to trigger them.

Oh, okay. Thanks. Then Wanda has made a royal mess of the human race in the Marvel Universe, at least when you talk about superpowers. After all, when the Celestials brought the potential of superpowers to humans, they made it so those powers wouldn't just be activated through outside sources such as radiation bombardment, but also sometimes under similar circumstances in the children via the occurrence of an X-Gene. Are you saying that even the potential for the X-Gene has been erased from the human race?
(I know this is a silly question; such a potential would be the 'trigger' for the 'trigger' for mutant superpowers. I'm also going to pop a question into the Questions Thread.)

[Ogrebear]

Interesting discussion.
It seems to me that the implications of Wanda's little spell are so huge I wonder why its taken this long for major stories about it.

I wonder if any new superhuman has been made in the Marvel U since Wanda went off?

Beast seems to have come to at least the 'try time travel' conclusion in Uncanny #490. Took ya time Hank!

[Pro]

Are you saying that even the potential for the X-Gene has been erased from the human race?

That is how it seems to be, yes. The x-gene is missing from all ex-mutants and can't even be found as a latent gene in baseline humans. Like i said it's not yet clear whether the genes that result in specific mutations are still there but in either case they won't be triggered because the x-gene itself is missing.
Imagine it as a lightbulb. The wiring might still be there but without a button the light is never going to switch on. (button is x-gene, wiring determines what form a mutation takes)

The x-gene being recessive or dominant was what determined whether someone would develop mutations during their teenage years. But the x-gene is no longer latent or dominant. It's simply gone.

My guess is that with Messiah Complex we may find out that someone will invent a means to switch on the lightbulb without the button, so to speak. Whoever figures that out will have a lot of power over who gets mutated again and who doesn't.

[MartinRedmond]

Why would anyone give a crap about the x-gene disapearing?

[Ogrebear]

Possible Spoilers for Endangered Species #11 ahead

Ok so in X-Factor #23 Beast and Forge discover all the people from Alt timelines/universes (Dark Beast, Sugerman, Cable etc) have kept their powers. Forge knocked up a machine using artefacts from those timelines/universes to scan for the X-Gene/mutants but with negative results suggesting that those places have to mutants or crease to exist.

Now would Wanda's spell have wiped out those divergent timelines/universes or was 616 shielded to prevent the spell effecting the rest of the multi-verse and thus the artefacts lost their 'link' to the places they came from preventing Forge doing what he intended?

We know alt worlds/realities/timelines still exist because of Exiles so what is really going on here? Any thoughts?

[CJ Lentze]

That is how it seems to be, yes. The x-gene is missing from all ex-mutants and can't even be found as a latent gene in baseline humans. Like i said it's not yet clear whether the genes that result in specific mutations are still there but in either case they won't be triggered because the x-gene itself is missing.
Imagine it as a lightbulb. The wiring might still be there but without a button the light is never going to switch on. (button is x-gene, wiring determines what form a mutation takes)

The x-gene being recessive or dominant was what determined whether someone would develop mutations during their teenage years. But the x-gene is no longer latent or dominant. It's simply gone.


Ahh, I get it now. This is what always boggled my mind, but you cleared it up.

Possible Spoilers for Endangered Species #11 ahead

Ok so in X-Factor #23 Beast and Forge discover all the people from Alt timelines/universes (Dark Beast, Sugerman, Cable etc) have kept their powers. Forge knocked up a machine using artefacts from those timelines/universes to scan for the X-Gene/mutants but with negative results suggesting that those places have to mutants or crease to exist.

Now would Wanda's spell have wiped out those divergent timelines/universes or was 616 shielded to prevent the spell effecting the rest of the multi-verse and thus the artefacts lost their 'link' to the places they came from preventing Forge doing what he intended?

We know alt worlds/realities/timelines still exist because of Exiles so what is really going on here? Any thoughts?

I think we'll have to wait for the answer, but I'm simply going to assume that Wanda has made it as difficult as she could for mutants to attempt to restore the x-gene. I don't think she's powerful enough to erase well-nigh all of the multiverse, but -as you say- some sort of shield that will make communication or transgression of the dimensional borders more difficult could be something she subconsciously or consciously set up.