What makes a mutant a mutant?
JB: The X-Books have been responsible for more muddying of the basic concept of what makes a mutant than you would think possible –especially since the definition (as seen in the MU) started in those books! Mutants are, as noted, entities born with “powers” that their parents do not possess. This does not necessarily mean their parents must be mere mortals — Namor and Franklin Richards come to mind — but it usually makes for cleaner storytelling if they are. I recall a letter I got while I was doing the FF, around the time I was starting to grumble about Chris trying to turn everybody into a “mutant” — he was convinced Reed’s intelligence made him a mutant! — in which the writer said he loved the FF, they were his favorite mutants. sigh Once upon a time, there were three settings: Human — no powers at all. (J. Jonah Jameson, Aunt May, Willie Lumpkin) Non-Mutant Variant — a term that also originated in X-MEN and described the likes of Spider-Man or Captain America, the Inhumans o
