YEAH YEAH YEAH I LOVE THIS imo it doesn’t seem like the x-men in general consider themselves as part of the greater superhero community - even the ones who try to play nice with non-mutant superheroes seem to approach it from an outside perspective, which is interesting! and also not really surprising lbr
but yeah i bet the non-superhero mutants who are superhero fans probably don’t like associating the x-men with the rest of them, at least in general, and there’s probably a lot of discussion in social justice circles about how acting like the superhero community is one big homogenous mass erases the identity of mutant superheroes and their unique position as superhumans
I THINK THE THING THAT DIVIDES THEM IS THE FACT THAT NON-MUTANT SUPERHEROES GENERALLY HAD A CHOICE #LIKE RANGING FROM NM SUPERHEROES WHO MAGICALLY/SCIENTIFICALLY AUGUMENTED THEMSELVES TO BECOME SUPERHEROES #TO THE WHOLE GREAT POWER/GREAT RESPONSIBILITY THING #ALL OF THEM HAD A CHOICE #WHEREAS WITH MUTANTS #THE WHOLE MUTANTS-AS-HEROES THING STARTED AS A BID TO MAKE THEM ACCEPTABLE AMONG HUMANS #SO IT STARTED AS A METHOD OF SELF-PROTECTION AND IT JUST BECAME MORE OBVIOUSLY THAT AS THE MUTANT POPULATION GREW #IN AN IN-UNIVERSE SENSE THE REASON THE X-MEN HAVE THEIR OWN SET OF VILLAINS IS BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE LIKES TO KEEP MUTANT PROBLEMS… MUTANT #AND YOU MIGHT CALL THE X-MEN AND RELATED TEAMS “SUPERHEROES” BUT THEY’RE NOT. REALLY. #THEY’RE A COMMUNITY STRUGGLING TO PROTECT THEMSELVES #THEY’RE CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS AND 20-SOMETHINGS RAISED IN A CULTURE THAT HAS TO WEAPONIZE THEM TO ENSURE THEIR SURVIVAL #IN THEIR SCHOOLS THEY HAVE 19-YEAR-OLD TEACHERS PRESENTING BULLETPROOF UNIFORMS TO 13-YEAR-OLDS #AND WHEN THOSE SCHOOLS GET ATTACKED (BY BIGOTS. BY HUMANS AND NON-MUTANT SUPERHUMANS) IT’S THOSE SAME STUDENTS WHO PICK UP THE PIECES #NOT THE AVENGERS #NOT SUPERHEROES #BECAUSE SUPERHEROES HAVE A CHOICE AND NONE OF THEM WOULD EVER CHOOSE THIS