From Pop Culture to Woke Culture? Law and Politics in the X-Men Saga

The chapter will explore the relationship between law, politics and identity within the X-Men saga in the Marvel Universe. Originally created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the X-Men are superheroes whose abilities stem from a genetic mutation. Unlike other classic superheroes, the X-Men are viewed by humans with suspicion and prejudice, as the same X-Gene that grants them superhuman abilities also marks them as ‘different’. The central theme of the X-Men comic is the clash between Homo sapiens and Homo superior, and the ongoing tension between inclusion and exclusion of otherness. Over the sixty years of their saga, the X-Men have consistently been viewed as a paradigm of diversity, integration and nondiscrimination. This makes the X-Men a compelling case study for examining the intersection of law, politics and comics and how they mutually influence one another.