X-Men: Are They Rectors or Actors? (Reed) Isabella Tuch (Revised)

 

In this image, we see the X-men in an older edition of one of the comics (also seen in both film, television, and more). This image is meant to convey heroes with bright colors and bold font typically known to appear on comic book covers. However, they do not look like the typical heroes we have come to know. This image displays their powers-- even conveying some as monsters. We see The Beast in the corner, covered in blue fur-- are we meant to believe that he's a hero? Are we meant to believe that Wolverine with his claws, Gambit with his ability to turn anything into bombs, and Rogue with her ability to suck the life and power out of anything she touches are heroes? Here, we see some of the first flawed superheroes-- a strict contrast to the classic Superman with super-strength and the ability to fly to swoop people to safety. X-men, written by Stan Lee, depicts flawed mutant heroes that struggle with their own values of what is right and wrong in the face of non-mutants that consistently view their heroes as monsters of which to be feared. 

Isaac Reed, through his research to conceptualize power, sees a relationship between rectors, actors, and others in which "rectors bind actors to their projects" of which to benefit the others. In the instance of the X-men, we see the others as non-mutants. I think that it would also be clear for the X-men to be consistent actors. However, who would be the rector? Could it be Professor X, the leader and creator of the X-men, or could it be Cyclops, the team leader in this particular edition? Could it be Magneto, who consistently fights for the mutants' rights at the expense of non-mutants, or one of the villains that force the X-men to act for the others that do not see them as people? Displayed in Stan Lee's metaphor for racialization, othering, and oppression, I see that the others, the non-mutant humans, also act as rectors through their consistent display of hate both through socialization and systemic oppression. 

In the instance of Magneto who by no means is a classic evil villain, he feels as though he has no choice but to go past a point of civil disobedience to true warfare in order to ensure that mutants, those with no choice but to be born with powers and more, can live freely. His need to fight like so is his position as an actor to the hate and rectorship of non-mutant people. The treatment of the mutant people has caused him to see patterns similar to his experience as a Jewish boy in the Holocaust. These experiences led him to believe that he had no choice but to act, causing him to be an actor along with the rest of the mutants.