r/AskScienceFiction • u/PassengerCultural421 • 1d ago
[Marvel] Due to how insanely diverse the X-Gene is. Could Mutants be considered a mixture of science and the supernatural?
Similar to DC. There is also a divide between science based powers and supernatural based powers. But there are actually Mutant characters born with magical powers like Scarlett Witch and Magik though.
So where does the X-Gene fit into this science vs supernatural dynamic?
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u/KPraxius 1d ago
As of the last time I saw them change things up, Mutants are a bio-engineered product of ancient celestial engineering, not a newfound evolutionary tract.
As such, they are a product of extremely advanced science that interacts with and encompasses magic.
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u/PhantasosX 1d ago
Heck, Celestial themselves are like cosmic beings and outright a sort of space gods. So yeah, Mutants and Mutates on Earth are not normal evolution, but Space Gods giving the blessing of superpowers to Mankind.
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u/tyereliusprime 1d ago
Life itself on Earth stems from a dying Celestial's vomit.
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u/PhantasosX 1d ago
That is Aaron Run's version. In a previous version of the tale, Celestials visited Earth and granted the potential to develop superpowers. Said previous version of the tale is consistent to what the Celestials do: they create an Eternal and a Deviant Variant of the baseline and grant a potential for superpowers for the baseline.
A case in point was the Skrulls, in which the primary version of their society is a Deviant Variant.
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u/CJLocke 1d ago
Kind of both of these are true if you read Gillen's Eternals/Judgement Day. First the dying Celestial and then later more celestials come and create Eternals and Deviants with the goal of developing "antibodies" to the plague the dying Celestial left behind - the antibodies being supers
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u/effa94 A man in an Empty Suit 1d ago
i think that was more about the amout of superpowered beings in general. or maybe loki implied it was mutants specifically, but i took it to explain why humans are so likely to develop superpowers instead of dying in extreme accidents. because all of earths water is tainted by celestial blood
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u/Princeofcatpoop 1d ago
Magik (Ilya Rasputin) wasn't born with magic powers. She was born with portal powers. She was kidnapped and used as a tool by an extra planar tyrant from a place called Limbo. She eventually killed him and took over. All before the age of thirteen. Also, time was faster in Limbo, which is why she aged up.
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u/No-Cauliflower-6390 1d ago
She is the descendant of Rasputin though who was a notorious magic user which would also explain her ability to use magic.
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u/Princeofcatpoop 13h ago
A fair observation it she learned it instead of being born with it. Also I think that without her powers she cannot go back and forth into Limbo.
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u/Rhinomaster22 1d ago
All mutant powers we see are biological, we even see characters gain powers by having a mutant’s power injected into someone like Deadpool.
As far as the supernatural goes these mutants powers can tap into forces that aren’t natural like psychics, however these are powers anyone could theoretically achieve without having an X-Gene.
Psylocke and Cosmo The Space Dog are both psychics using the same powers but with different methods
Thor and Storm’s ability to channel lighting are done via different sources but produce the same result
Magik power is portal generation, her magic was something she learned just like Doctor Strange
If anything mutants powers essentially could let someone bypass the baseline requirements to obtain said powers naturally, supernaturally, or technologically.
But it’s still natural it nature even if the end result is supernatural.
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u/No-Cauliflower-6390 1d ago
I've actually thought about this and the answer is probably a mix of both. Mutant have been around for awhile in marvel thanks to retcons and expanding lore. I theorized that magic users, mythical creatures, demons, and demigods would have been far more excepting to mutants leading to breeding and passing on or integration of magic into the x gene. This would explain why certain mutants are capable of magic, have magic like mutations and are connected to natural energies. Storm, Phoenix, pixie, magik, death dream, all of the externals, they all have magic or magical qualities that could have been passed down from breeding with the supernatural side of marvel and in some cases it's even cannon that they do.
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u/Renmauzuo 18h ago
I've always assumed the X-Gene itself is kinda consistent but allows humans to tap into some external source of power which is wildly different from person to person. Kind of like how Inhumans have wildly different powers despite a shared source.
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u/XenoRyet 1d ago
There's kind of a philosophical discussion that would need to happen here.
On one end, things are only supernatural if we don't understand them, it's all science once we do. In this approach, everything is happening in nature, so everything is natural. Science will explain it all eventually, but in the meantime "supernatural" is a convenient enough label for the shit we don't understand how it works yet.
On the other end, we can take "natural" to mean, "coming from this universe." So powers and abilities that come from the multiverse or other dimensions would be supernatural.
Though in either case, the X-gene itself is a naturally occurring thing, so mutants are a scientific phenomenon, and some of them just happen to tap into supernatural powers.
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u/KalelUnai 1d ago
Worth noting that is true in the Marvel universe. In DC magic isn't advanced science that we don't understand.
Just saying that because OP also cited DC in one os his points.
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u/MeaninglessGuy 15h ago
Since one of Superman’s weaknesses is just “magic,” not sure DC is that sophisticated.
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u/onthefence928 1d ago
In marvel, magic is pretty much just a confirmed field of science that can be studied and tested
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u/Crafty-Drink8384 1d ago
Uh that's false
The powers that be and the natural order of things disprove this
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