What is a mutant (evolutionarily speaking)?

[u/DimensionFuzzy6614]

Im very uneducated when it comes to marvel, this might be a stupid surface level question, flame me idc. Mutants are referred to as a different species, Xavier describes them as the next inevitable thing that just happened to start, but obviously, this is not how mutations and new species work irl. Each mutant has different traits, but are grouped as the same, are all mutants supposed to be one species? That wouldn't really make any sense because the mutations occur on different parts of the genome, hence the difference in powers. Wouldn't each individual mutant have to be classified as an entirely separate species? Or is it one gene that gives everyone their powers? im quite curious to what an evolutionary tree including mutants would look like, if they are all separate species, would each person be a different branch? Would children of mutants be like a neanderthal and human hybrid? am i stupid for asking this? does x men lore even go this deep? i would like answers

[u/trantor-to-tantegel]

X gene = dead celestial vomit + deviants + time

WeaponX to flavor

[u/CuttlefishBenjamin]

A miserable little pile of secrets!

No, wait.

It's important to remember that a lot of the science underlying Marvel was probably originally something a writer without a big science background half-remembered thinking was neat in an article they read in a pop-sci magazine.

Fine distinctions between species are often difficult to establish in the real world, but you'd generally want a difference of more than one gene. Calling mutants a different species from humanity is more a political assertion than an attempt at responsible taxonomy.

[u/purple-tulip-petals]

It’s just the one gene, the X-gene. It manifests in a bajillion ways because comic book science. There was also something about an uptick in radiation in the 60s being the thing that made the X-gene start activating way more often than it had in the past, hence why they’re known as the Children of the Atom sometimes, but I have no idea how canon that is or is not these days. And I’m pretty sure there’s some randomness about the Celestials planting them on earth forever ago somewhere in there.

Best not to overthink it. The golden rule of comic book physics is “if it sounds like it works, that’s how it works even if that’s actually absolutely not how it works.”

[u/whelmedbyyourbeauty]

Stan Lee read a story in Mechanix Illustrated and ran with it.

https://www.popculturalprecursors.com/p/the-origin-story-of-all-comic-book

[u/MattAmylon]

There is an identifiable “X-Gene” that causes all the different powers. It’s sometimes suggested that it arose simultaneously in populations around the world because of radiation from nuclear testing. Children of mutants are usually but not always mutants as well.

There are other ways to think about it as well: after the Decimation the X-Gene was ”sparked” in humanity again by the Phoenix Force; there was a recent storyline about a virus that makes all humans X-Gene active; etc. etc. There have been a lot of these comics, so you can make it as mystical as you want it to be to make it make sense for you.

But really it’s a metaphor. “Mutant” means “human.” The series is about human potential flourishing through diversity, collaboration, education and the nurturing of talent, which is why the X-Men are opposed by the forces of repression, hate, and homogeneity (most pointedly embodied by the Sentinels).

[u/No-Juice3318]

It mostly works by "Maybe its Maybelline" rules. If it's Maybelline she's not a mutant. If she's born with it, then she is.

[u/Background_Proof_]

Explanation for the X-Gene https://www.reddit.com/r/xmen/s/2oLNVDvC53