Why the"X-men"?
- It was the year 1963. Marvel Comics had already bestowed "The Fantastic Four", "The Incredible Hulk", and "Spiderman" upon an unsuspecting though greatful world. But the comic-book-reading public's appetite proved to be instable.They demanded more, still more Super Heros - and we were determined to rise to the chalange. Staring at my typewriter (alas, the personal computer had not yet been invented) I endeavoured a team of super heros with unique powers. But even before dreaming up those powers, I knew I'd have to explain where they came from.
You may recall that the fantastic four had been inundated by cosmic rays, the Hulk had been a victim of a massive gamma ray explosion, and Spider Man had been bitten by a radioactive spider. That acounted for Cosmic rays Gamma rays and Radioactive spider bites. But I knew I couldn't keep hitting the public with a constant barrage of rays and radiation.
Suddenly, and idea hit me; an idea that was simplicity itself and which guranteed I'd never have to worry about explaining the origin of a superpower again!
It hit me when I thought of the word "mutant". We all know that mutations occur in nature. For no apparent reason a frog will be born with three legs, or a banna will be the size of a watermelon, or a child prodigy will have the ability to play mozart at the age of three. And the beautiful thing about these mutations is, they dont require any explanation. They can happen to anyone. Once i decided our little cast of characters would have mutant powers, the rest was simplicity itself. I merely had to decide who our team would be and who would lead it.
For their leader, I thought it would be intresting to have a man who was seemingly the weakest of all, a man in a wheelchair. But that man, Professor Charles Xavier, would have incredible mental powers and would be able to mould others into a formidible fighting team. For sheer strength, I created the beast, but once again due to the usual cliche, i made him the most literate and eloquent of the team. Then haveing always liked the fantastic four's Human Torch, I thought it would be fun for our new group to include his exact oppisite, Iceman. And the winged flying Angel, the telekinetically powered Marvel Girl, and the somewhat tragic Cyclops, who always had to wear special eye glasses to shield his deadly eye beams, and you had the orignal X-men - a far cry from the countless new and fantastic members that have been constantly added to the worlds most colourful cast of characters ever since those early days.
Another character I was always extremely fond of was the villain Magneto. I felt that his mastery of magnitism was one of the most intresting powers of all. And I'll admit for haveing a soft spot in my heart for the Blob, Juggernught, and the Toad as well. Today of course, there are so many X-men Heros and villians that hardly anyone can name them all without refuring to a refrence book. Over the years wolverine has definetly become the star of the series, although everyone has his or her own particular favourites.
Now before I turn you loose, you may have wondered how the title "X-men" was chosen. Here's the inside scoop...
I originally wanted to call the book "The Mutants" but my plublisher rejected the title because he doubted that most comic-book readers would know what the word "Mutant" ment. After thinking about it for a while, it occurrd to me that all our characters had an extra power and their leaders name was Professor Xavier - so i suggested the name "X-men". My publisher okayed it, but I laughed to myself as i left his office thinking,"If people wouldnt know what a "mutant" is, how on earth would they know what an "X-man" is?" However, happy that we had a title at last, I never posed that question to him.
