Marvel’s SeniorX-MenEditor offered fans a cautionary note on whyX-Menneeds to stay mutant-focused; while readers know that several iconicX-heroes are not actually mutants, Editor Tom Brevoort is adamant that including too many non-mutants on X-Men teams is a “slippery slope” toward taking away what makes the franchise special.
As part of the latest Q&A on his Substack page, Brevoort gave an honest account of his “thoughts on non-mutant characters being members of an X-team,” in response to a question posed by a fan. In short, while the Senior Editor acknowledged that these exceptions have always been made, his instinct is to limit them.
“It isn’t really an X-Men team if the membership isn’t primarily, if not exclusively, mutants,” Brevoort wrote, bringing his authoritative perspective as the head of Marvel’sX-Office into the discussion.
Tom Brevoort On What Defines An X-Men Team
Both the fan who asked the question, and Brevoort himself in his answer, acknowledged that theX-Menfranchise has a long history of including non-mutant characters, frombreak-out pop culture icon Deadpoolto the Juggernaut, who arguably has hadone of the greatest redemption arcs inX-Mencanon. Yet the success of those characters isn’t necessarily a signal that the franchise should become less focused on mutants, as it has been since its inception – at least not to the currentX-Office regime, led by Brevoort.
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Instead, according to the longtime Marvel Editor, these exceptions should be celebrated, surely, but ultimately limited. As Brevoort explained:
I think that there are characters who have existed in and around the X-Universe for so long, Joe, that it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. Juggernaut is certainly one of those, as is Deadpool, as is Longshot, etc. But in general, I find that a slippery slope to go down. as it isn’t really an X-Men team if the membership isn’t primarily, if not exclusively, mutants.
In other words, certain non-mutant characters have been “grandfathered in,” so to speak, havingestablished their role inX-Menlorein the distant enough past that their appearance in future stories, regardless of how they got their abilities, is taken for granted. To Brevoort, however, these characters are not a blueprint for future success,because he views mutantdom as central to the identity of the X-Men.
Non-Mutant X-Men Characters Like Deadpool, Longshot & Juggernaut Are Anomalies, According To Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort
Marvel’s Unofficial Cap On Non-Mutant Team Members
While it shouldn’t be considered an official “policy,” or anything to that degree, Tom Brevoort’s comments aboutnon-mutant X-Men membersdoes make it clear that these kinds of characters – have to, at the very least, justify their inclusion by being part of a great story, in order for them to appear in contemporaryX-stories. Juggernaut, Deadpool, and characters like the ultra-lucky alien Longshot are deviations fromwhat theX-Menfranchise is all about, andwhile they shouldn’t, and won’t be, excised completely, their acceptance into the X-Men’s ranks is meant to be anomalous.
While the heroic journeys of the franchise’s most memorable non-mutants share many parallels with the best mutant character arcs, the essence of being a mutant, and what that entails, remains the most foundational part of the franchise.
The upside of this is that it reinforces Marvel’s commitment to its mutant population as an important part of what makes the Marvel Universe unique as a shared superhero continuity, and what distinguishesX-Menas a franchise. While the heroic journeys of the franchise’s most memorable non-mutants share many parallels with the best mutant character arcs, the essence of being a mutant, and what that entails, remains the most foundational part of the franchise, at least toX-MenSenior Editor Tom Brevoort.
