Secondary Mutation or Evolution?

[Frank]

I`ve heard the title "Secondary Mutation" thrown around quite a bit recently, and i`m not to sure it`s applied to what it really means. What happened to Beast and Iceman to me is not secondary mutation(whethere it`s cool or not), it`s more like Evolution. You`re a cat man who becomes even more a catman. Like Cyclops had more power after Giant X-Men 1 so needed a new visor, right?

To me, secondary mutation is something new, something not related to what you had before in any ways. Sort-of like remember when Polaris lost her magnetic powers and got bigger and began to have super-human strength? THAT`S secondary mutation to me.

Also, what would you guys want to see more happen to you favorite mutants, some sort of evolution to what they were, or an entire new sets of powers? Or even same powers applied differently(like a telepath using her powers as a psy knife). I think in any of these cases it could be fun.

[shaolin_dolomite]

So is emma turning to diamond secondary mutation or evolution?

[Marty4Magik]

Secondary mutation is the lamest idea EVER in the world of comics.
I really HATE the entire concept.

If a writer doesn't like a characters powers (Emma Frost), don't use the character, or just evolve their existing powers, built on that.

Iceman? NOT a secondary mutation. He always had Icepowers.
Beast? Not a sec mutation, he evolved further. (devolved for me personally, HATE the new Beast)
Angel? Maybe, might be something done by Apocalypse (he had healing powers before in a Wolverine issue, with wings of light) though.
Emma Frost? Yes, this is a seconday mutation.

Morisson wanted to use Colossus, but couldn't so made Emma turn into diamond. And what did he do with that power? Good as nothing.

And where are Angels healing powers now? Gone.

I really hope it is just mentioned somewhere between the lines that they were wrong and that there is no such thing as a secondary mutation.
Just blame it on something they ate.... :p

[Callie]

Some characters evolve like Iceman or Beast (I would like Cat Beast more if the artists could draw him consistently).

I would consider Angel's healing blood and Emma Frost's diamond form a secondary mutation however. Healing blood is not a logical evolution of an avian mutation (wings, hollow bones). Diamond form has nothing to do with telepathy; in fact, the two are mutually exclusive for Emma.

I do like Emma's second mutation moreso than Angel's. Angel's healing blood tends to be used for convenience. Emma's is like a physical representation of her personality.

[Frank]

I think with Emma it would have been more interesting had she lost her psy powers completly and assume her new look and powers. I think she could have used the diamond-skin not unlike the blond-hair meta-woman character in the John Byrne`s Next Men series: everything about her is hard and razor-sharp and as such would be as hard as that and cut into anything with her fingers(in the Next Men series that girl plounged her hand threw a man`s chest).

I think secondary mutation make sens when it happens after a lost of the original powers or when it`s under a stressed/surival mode. Like in the case of Polaris where she got her powers striped away from her. Or with Emma when this new powers happened because it was a way to protect herself when Genosha got nuked. It makes sens considering when you read between the lines, the original idea behind mutants are humans that gets higher powers when in survival mode(a la a woman find herself getting super-human strength when caught in a car crash).

[o1pickleboy]

I like Angels healing powers, I think they made the character more useful and cool.

Secondary mutations are new. Look at some of the older x character that have multiple powers

Wolverine - what does a healing factor have to due with enhanced senses and claws?

Nightcrawler- what does looking like a demon have to do with teleportation?

Jean Grey- she is the only telepath, teleknietic I know of(outside her children)

[o1pickleboy]

To addmore to the "secondary mutations" question.

Woulnd't all the externals have the secondary mutation of being immortal(well kinda immortal)

[fishtaco]

I don't like the sudden mutant growth in population idea altogether, but i thought that the secondary mutation concept was an interesting add-on to it. Mutants need to evolve too, right? I didn't like a lot of the character's secondary mutations (ie Beast, Iceman, Black Tom), but it was still an interesting concept, even if it was something I never wanted to happen.

[Adam Crocker]

What happened to Beast and Iceman to me is not secondary mutation(whethere it`s cool or not), it`s more like Evolution.

[...]

Sort-of like remember when Polaris lost her magnetic powers and got bigger and began to have super-human strength? THAT`S secondary mutation to me.

I don't see the difference. Either way, what you're describing looks like a secondary mutation to me in that it happens after their primary mutation.

Mind you the term evolution refers to the process by which organisms acquire and pass on novel traits to one another. Mutation is one of the processes involved in it.

I have other thoughts on this, but I need to sit on 'em for awhile.

[Stix]

Well House of M / Decimation ends this debate completely. Apparently no more secondary mutations. Or thats what I read.

Sorry if I've missed something. Comics are about a month behind here in South Africa. Only got deadly genesis #1 last week, and still waiting to see what happened to Iceman with that cliff hanger ending.

But anyway, I'm sure I read before Decimation really started that Secondary mutations would be a thing of the past. Can't remember where though.

[o1pickleboy]

I don't like the sudden mutant growth in population idea altogether, but i thought that the secondary mutation concept was an interesting add-on to it. Mutants need to evolve too, right? I didn't like a lot of the character's secondary mutations (ie Beast, Iceman, Black Tom), but it was still an interesting concept, even if it was something I never wanted to happen.

I think it was used on the wrong characters. The three examples you gave really in my opinion were just "power ups".

When they gave Angle healing powers and Emma diamond skin. Though hell yah. Finally Angle is has some worth.

I wish they would have used the secondary mutations alot better and included.

Giving

Cyclops X-Ray vision

Toad?? but he need something

Beast?? something other than looking like a cat.

Karma??? same as toad.

[ZNOP]

Just how many mutants have confirmed secondary mutations? Pre or Post M-Day doesn't matter. I ask because I don't think it's a valid classification anymore and, should be stricken from any and all debates.

[MythicBrawn]

Secondary mutation is extreme laziness. Let's just give mutants random powers on top of the powers that they already have. Emma being a telepath should have been enough. Evolve her mental abilities. Give her something related instead of something out of left field. Hank's progression was believable until changing him into a cat thing. I guess Scott's next mutation should be shapechanging or some other nonsense.

[Ratstar]

Secondary mutation is extreme laziness. Let's just give mutants random powers on top of the powers that they already have. Emma being a telepath should have been enough. Evolve her mental abilities. Give her something related instead of something out of left field. Hank's progression was believable until changing him into a cat thing. I guess Scott's next mutation should be shapechanging or some other nonsense.

You can't really evolve her mental abilities much more than they already are... It was just Morrison being Morrison.

And wasn't Scott's other mutation a strategy thing or something?

Hank's... Mutation isn't always a progressive thing, it's sometimes random, especially in Marvel terms. His mutation was beastness, the secondary one just became a different form of beastness.

[JohnSD]

I`ve heard the title "Secondary Mutation" thrown around quite a bit recently, and i`m not to sure it`s applied to what it really means. What happened to Beast and Iceman to me is not secondary mutation(whethere it`s cool or not), it`s more like Evolution.

No, evolution is something that happens between generations. One generation can be an evolved form of prior generations, due to mutations in prior generations being passed down.

If something happens within an individual then it either plain growth/development (you could argue that Beast's mutation has developed over time), or mutation ("secondary mutations", i.e. completely new genetic developments within the character, equally arguably what has happened to Beast). But it seems wrong to say that a character "evolves", in the same way that I did not evolve from a baby to an adult, and it's not evolution to turn bald and fat...