The life of mutant is not an easy one. We discover this through Claremont and Anderson’s X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills as we experience the lives of mutants and their struggle in society. They are treated as animals, but only because of the irrational fear of humans brought on by Reverend Stryker. His group called the Purifiers is a cult bent on the extinction of mutants, as they are deemed dangerous. As we explore the comic, we begin to see how similar the mutants are compared to humans. They feel hate, love, anger, stress, sadness, and all the other emotions that we have come accustomed to. The extraordinary thing about these mutants is that they show no ill will towards humans such as Night Crawler. Although Magneto is not necessarily on the same page of Professor Charles Xavier’s ideals, he still wants peace within the world. This story shows just how irrational our fears can be when we turn a blind eye to the facts. There needs to be some sort of co-existence between the mutants and humans as we begin to realize this near the end of the comic. People at the sermon understand just how wrongly suited Stryker is for humanity’s purpose and turn against him. The humans realize that the mutants want peace and stability just as much as they do. If anything, humans are just as much as animals as the mutants are. What makes us human is our character and how we live our lives. The song “Animal I Have Become” by Three Days Grace is a perfect example of the struggles that mutants face everyday of their existence.
There are a few parts of Three Days Grace’s “Animal I Have Become” that really hit the dot in relation to mutants. The first line “I can’t escape this hell, so many times I’ve tried” directly coincides to Chapter 1 after the team finishes watching the debate between Professor Xavier and Reverend Stryker. Colossus explains the irrational argument of mutants being feared as he says “To think us evil, simply because we exist? It is madness” (Ch. 1). Another excerpt from the song is the line “so many times I’ve lied” explains how mutants must be kept in the dark at all times to escape persecution. We see this during Stryker’s sermon as even one of the Senators is experiencing excruciating headaches, which were only meant to harm mutants (Ch. 4). Lastly, the chorus of the song strikes true when it says “So what if you can see the darkest side of me? No one will ever change this animal I have become”. It basically states that these were the cards dealt, and there should be no shame in a animalistic manner, if that what everyone is to think of the person. Cyclops arguing with Stryker is in relation to those previous lines when he says “You’re a lucky man. Thanks to you- Mutants live in fear every day of our lives, and sometimes, those lives are very short. Less than a week ago, two children in Connecticut were murdered, Stryker- Condemned solely for an accident of birth” (Ch. 4). As we come to re-see the values and virtues of humans and mutants, the song and comic both exemplify our need to co-exist. Animal or not.
Claremont, Chris, and Brent Anderson. “X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills.” 2nd ed. New York: Marvel Comics, 2014. Print.
Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqds0B_meys
Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/threedaysgrace/animalihavebecome.html
Literary Darwinism 