LEGIONS OF MUTANTS

By @KurtChristenson

When X-Men debuted back in 1963, the original concept of mutants was a metaphor for the Civil Rights Movement, with Professor X preaching the peaceful integration of Martin Luther King Jr., versus the radical idealism of Magneto’s Brotherhood of (Evil) Mutants and Muslim Human Rights Activist Malcolm X. Coming out as a mutant was a great equalizer as anyone, of any race or religion, of any nationality, could be one and we could overcome those differences by embracing our individual genetic uniqueness.

Five decades later, as the Professor X & Magneto dynamic has all but been explored to its logical conclusion, that the species will only truly flourish and prosper when all its factions stand united, we now face the next stage of development, the suppression and subjugation of those with powers, by the powers that be. In X-Men: The Last Stand the mutant cure was introduced, utilizing the genetic gift of Leech, a mutant with the power to negate mutant powers. This genetic manipulation and weaponizing of a “cure” is now no longer merely the subject of science fiction.

In the recently released LOGAN, the final film of Hugh Jackman’s long running take on the character Wolverine, aka Weapon X, the ultimate symbol of weaponized mutancy, passes the torch to his artificially created daughter X-23. This film, although set in the near future as a science fiction film, it gives us an opportunity to look at the scientific experimentation & horrific reality of genetic manipulation that is happening all around us in the present. Even the mention of genetically modified corn syrup in the movie’s HYPNO energy drink should ring the alarm bells.

Recently released is information regarding a vaccine that will modify existing human genetics with synthesized genes, the outcome of which no one will truly understand for years to come, but it is obviously not nearly the promised beneficial savior from sickness it is touted as. In fact, for decades now the “cures” for diseases seem more likely to make us, and keep us, sick and slowly dying, enslaved to the pharmaceutical giants that inject and infect us with known toxins, even as the pharma-agricultural industry feeds us more poison in the form of GMO’s.

In Legion on FX we see an all-powerful psychic that is drugged and doped up to keep him dumbed down, more “human” in that sense of being denied his power. In Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men comic book run the ‘Hope Serum’, a mutant cure, was synthesized from a resurrected Colossus, who had sacrificed himself years earlier to defeat the Legacy Virus, itself a metaphor for the AIDS Virus from a 90’s storyline. And in X-Men Apocalypse we see the titular character literally manipulate the mutations and DNA of several mutants as he sees fit. Are these stories trying to merely be relevant, or are they trying to tell us something, to warn us of our true enemies?

Or perhaps, in a Transhumanist/Darwinian sense this is the agenda and through the suppression of these potential psychic abilities, somehow our bodies, minds, and spirits will rise like the Phoenix to burn away all the toxicity and allow our true power to shine, for it seems we are truly living in an Age of Apocalypse.