X-Men: By Chris Claremont

- April 02, 2021

It all began back in 1963 when Marvel Masterminds “Stan Lee & Jack Kirby” debuted X-Men #1, their main goal with their new comic series was to show the fight for peace and equality between normal humans and mutants in a world where anti-mutant bigotry is fierce and widespread, this was all based around the Civil Rights Movement that was happening at the time, fun fact is that “Professor X’s motivations were inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.” & Magento’s motivations were inspired by Malcom X”. In 1970, Marvel actually stopped publishing new X-Men stories for 5 years until writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum launched “Giant-Sized X-Men #1” with Cyclops (Leader of the Original X-Men) leads this new/divergent team, however the writer who would change the face of the X-Men was “Chris Claremont”, so allow me, Ethan Stranger, to dive deep into Claremont’s 16-Year X-Men Run & What the X-Men (in general) can represent for the Asperger Community (that’s been continuously overlooked).

As I mention, the X-Men were created to represent a fictional version of the Civil Rights Movement, however when that era was up, The X-Men became somewhat bland & boring until the Release of Giant-Sized X-Men decided to update the team’s roster with an international lineup (The German, Nightcrawler, Banshee from Ireland, Storm from Kenya, The Japanese Sunfire, Colossus from Russia, The Native-American Thunderbird & the Canadian Wolverine, who had already debuted in the pages of The Incredible Hulk #180 (Cameo) & #181 (Full Appearance).

Chris Claremont also took the X-Men to new story-telling heights (that drifted away from the original Civil Rights Movement-Styled Concept that the X-men was originally constructed on), this resulted in storylines like “The Dark Phoenix & Days of Future Past” (both were drawn by John Bryne, whom also collaborated with Chris Claremont on “Power Man & Iron Fist & even an Iron Fist Series, which saw the debut of Wolverine’s (Future) Enemy, Sabretooth”).

Claremont also updated Magneto himself, by turning him from a Sinister One-Dimensional Villain into a Tragic Jewish Styled Anti-Hero .” Claremont wound up drawing on his own Jewish heritage and crafted Magneto's Holocaust survivor backstory; this wrinkle to his history and motivations instantly made Magneto one of Marvel's deepest villains, this would later be shown within the Pages of “Captain America #367”, where he literally confronts the Red Skull in attempt to avenge his Jewish Family for this is the Red Skull that worked with the Nazi Leader, Adolf Hitler, it’s nice to see Magento not even mentioning anything Mutant-related here:

Outside of the Pages of X-Men, Claremont would also write the Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Series until the series became cancelled, however he soon had her written in “Avengers Annual #10” (which was in attempt to clean up the Mess within the pages of Avengers #200, where the issue was generated considerable to be controversy concerning the circumstances of Ms. Marvel's unwilling pregnancy with Marcus Immortus), thus Ms. Marvel would end up quitting the Avengers (for allowing Marcus to make off with her) & soon found herself a new role as supporting character during Clarmeont’s X-Men, where eventually (during the Brood Saga), she gained new abilities, thus becoming Binary (Picture, Right). Also it was this time that she would square-off with former Villain turned X-Men Member, “Rogue (Anna Marie)”.

Claremont also created the X-Men spin-off book, “The New Mutants'' (the name was based on Stan Lee’s original Name pitch for the X-Men, “The Mutants”). Claremont completed his X-Men run by 1991 & (during the Heroes Return Event), he wrote the 1st several issues of the New Fantastic Four before returning to the world of the X-Men (I read a bit of his Fantastic Four Run, bit confusing from the Lee-Kirby's Run that I’ve read).

So now that you know the History of Chris Claremont’s X-Men Run, allow me to explain what, in my honest opinion, X-Men (in general) represents for the Asperger Community. For starters, while Asperger's (and other Disability communities) don’t really have superpowers, we are (in someway) outcast by a society that hardly understands us, for many Neurotypical people often see Asperger's as a disease that needs to be cured, which isn’t true. Sometimes the way that society perceives us, without knowing anything about neurodivergent people, hurts us and makes us confused and frustrated.

As an Asperger Person, I see myself as “Magneto”, as Co-Creator Stan Lee said that “he didn’t think of Magneto as a bad guy. He just wanted to strike back at the people who were so bigoted and racist... he was trying to defend the mutants, and because society was not treating them fairly he was going to teach society a lesson”, which is what many Asperger communities are trying to do, in a positive and functional way, not in an aggressive manner. We’re just trying to make society treat us as equals for we (The Asperger Community) deserve better in life, for we have vast ideas that we want to share with society, but how can we share our resources & ideas if they’re just gonna treat us like weirdos.

Just don’t expect me (Ethan Stranger) masquerading as Magneto, striking down on the Neurotypical Community, demanding them to treat the Asperger Community with a little more respect & fairness! That wouldn't be fair to them in the first place and I don't believe in solving things with violence! My greatest hope (for the future) is that Society itself can begin to open more to the Asperger Community, while finding new/helpful methods for people like us (in an attempt to survive within the real world itself)...until then, Ethan Stranger signing off.