Magneto and Xavier Civil Rights Leaders in Disguise?

[Sir_Hawkeye]

I was in history class today and we were discussing Malcom X and Martain Luthor King. I was bored since my teacher wasn't very up on this subject (everyone in the class can outsmart him, He is a WWII teacher and he didn't even know Hitler had assasination attemps on his life!) so I was drawing X-men pictures. So then it him me extremist human hater and mutant domination advocat Magneto was almost identical to extremist caucasian hater and black domination advocat Malcom X. Also Equal Rights through peaceful protest advocat Xavier was just like Equal Rights through peaceful protest advocat Martain Luthor King. I think this was probably intentional by Stan Lee condidering the time it was originally written in. What do you guys think?

[Bryan Rios]

You ever see the Comic Book Special on the History Channel? They talked about this being very similar to that. Only I don't think they used Malcom X and Martin Luther King as examples. It was really interesting.

[Sir_Hawkeye]

You ever see the Comic Book Special on the History Channel? They talked about this being very similar to that. Only I don't think they used Malcom X and Martin Luther King as examples. It was really interesting.

Really I will have to catch that sometime. That sounds like a great show.

[Bryan Rios]

Really I will have to catch that sometime. That sounds like a great show.
If it were a regular show it would be fabulous, but unfortunately it is not.

Here (http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=43751) is a link that will give a description for it, and also gives ordering information for it on video or DVD. Fortunately for me, I got it recorded. =/

[Sir_Hawkeye]

If it were a regular show it would be fabulous, but unfortunately it is not.

Here (http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=43751) is a link that will give a description for it, and also gives ordering information for it on video or DVD. Fortunately for me, I got it recorded. =/

Thanks man I might just order that :)

[The_15th_Sven]

Wasn't X-men created in responce to the Civil Rights movement?

Maybe not, but yes, that show was good. It was titled "comic book super-heros, unmasked" i think

[Archer]

"In disguise"? Yeah, a disguise on the level of "Oh, if I take off my glasses, none of these people who spend 8 hours a day with me will have the first idea who I am."

Being from the other side of the Atlantic, I'm not that well up on the civil rights movement in the USA, but I always thought mutant stories were meant to be a direct analogy to civil rights struggles (not just white vs black, either). As such, there will be definite parallels between mutant politics and RL politics.

It's also why, IMO, the X-Men work far better when they're dealing with mutant issues as opposed to running around space/hell/the Savage Land, and why the stories are a lot more compelling when Xavier and Magneto's dreams are both shown to have valid points and both shown to have flaws - as opposed to "Look at ME, so HEROIC!" vs "Buahahaaha, I KEEL YOU ALL!"

[KenK]

The characters actually use the "catchphrases" of their real life counterparts!

Xavier's always going on about "having a dream" while Magneto's approach is mutant liberation "By any means necessary."

I think Lee made his intetions pretty clear when he created the book, and these two characters in particular.

[Knightmare]

"In disguise"? Yeah, a disguise on the level of "Oh, if I take off my glasses, none of these people who spend 8 hours a day with me will have the first idea who I am."

Being from the other side of the Atlantic, I'm not that well up on the civil rights movement in the USA, but I always thought mutant stories were meant to be a direct analogy to civil rights struggles (not just white vs black, either). As such, there will be definite parallels between mutant politics and RL politics.

It's also why, IMO, the X-Men work far better when they're dealing with mutant issues as opposed to running around space/hell/the Savage Land, and why the stories are a lot more compelling when Xavier and Magneto's dreams are both shown to have valid points and both shown to have flaws - as opposed to "Look at ME, so HEROIC!" vs "Buahahaaha, I KEEL YOU ALL!"


What he said. I tihnk it's obvious that's what its about, and if you do look at the stories then I'd say the better stuff focus's on that. The entire Civil rights movent was about tolerance and realizing that people are more alike then thought.

[Kirayoshi]

This argument's been aired before. Xavier as the man with a dream, Magneto as the man with an agenda.

Historically(if what I've read on the subject is accurate) Malcolm X changed his tune a little in his later years. He claimed to have had a vision of racial harmony during a pilgrimage to Mecca, which may have led to his assassination by more militant black Muslims. Similarly Magneto had begun to see Xavier's POV and even became the leader of the X-Men for awhile in Chuck's absence. When he failed in that position(Morlock Massacre, Fall of the Mutants), he turned even more militant than ever.

Xavier and Magneto may not be perfect parallels to King and X, but they do represent the archetypes of the civil rights movement and the opposing camps. Xavier is the open hand, Magneto is the closed fist.

[DDM]

Chris Claremont goes further back to Morte de'Arthur to parallel Xavier as Merlin & the X-Men are the Knights of the Round Table. Magneto takes the adversay role of Morgan Le Faye.

[Archer]

What he said.

She :P

Talking of tolerance and the like, the fundamental issue with having tolerance for a group is the idea that you need to tolerate what is different. I don't tolerate people from other religious, ethnic, or sexual preferance groups - there's nothing *to* tolerate. The people I "tolerate" are the fanatics and bigots.

Both Magneto and Xavier start out from the point of view that mutants and humans are fundamentally different - they have an Us vs Them mentality, just in different directions. I'd love to see Marvel add a third perspective into the mix, one that says Us vs Them politics are a problem in of themselves.

[Archer]

Chris Claremont goes further back to Morte de'Arthur to parallel Xavier as Merlin & the X-Men are the Knights of the Round Table. Magneto takes the adversay role of Morgan Le Faye.

Where's that? IIRC there was some stuff in Excalibur about whether Xavier was Merlin or Arthur, but I don't remember Magneto being put in the Morgan role (and whether or not it's been said, he isn't really playing that role in Excalibur anyway).

[DDM]

Where's that? IIRC there was some stuff in Excalibur about whether Xavier was Merlin or Arthur, but I don't remember Magneto being put in the Morgan role (and whether or not it's been said, he isn't really playing that role in Excalibur anyway).

Chris Claremont has the King Arthur metaphor spread throughout X-Men that you would likely miss it. However, Claremont speaks about the X-Men--Charles Xavier's dream--through Rachel Summers, Phoenix, in Excalibur Special Edition #1 which brought the original Excalibur together as a team. Jean Grey, Marvel Girl, compares Xavier to Merlin & the X-Men are the Knights of the Round Table (in this case, the X-Men, X-Factor, & the New Mutants) in Uncanny X-Men #270 when she is talking to Storm. The most blatant King Arthur parallel is Excalibur (volume 3). The book is just littered with King Arthur references...

[Archer]

Yes, I get the parallels between the X-Men and the Knights of the Round Table - it's the Magneto as Morgan thing I don't see. I'm not as well up on my Arthurian mythology as I should be, but she seems like a very negative archetype for Claremont to try to fit Magneto into.

Argh, 8.30 am, up all night, ability to form coherent sentences is leaving.