X-Whatever

So let's laugh and cry for a bit. Laugh because what we're about to discuss is hilarious and cry because it's true. Yahoo News posted a story on my newsfeed that stated that someone at Marvel was recently promoted (article here). The reason behind the promotion wasn't revealed but the person in question was quoted as making an interesting...scratch that stupid statement. The statement in question? This person is quoted as suggesting dropping "Men" from the title of "X-Men" because it's outdated...Yeah. I'll explain (as if I need to) why this is stupid. So in the words of Trick Daddy, LET'S GO!

So it should go without saying that the "Men" in "X-Men" is a generic noun, similar to "mankind" or "kinsman", it does not imply that all members of The X-Men are in fact men, that'd be silly, women have been in the X-Men since it's conception. So saying the name should be changed is silly. But the damning thing, in this case, is that these words aren't coming from a person unfamiliar with the comic books (or at least they should be familiar with the books) this is coming from a Marvel executive (movie or comic book shouldn't matter, you're an executive at a company and if you open your mouth about a property your company owns you better make sure you understand it) someone who should at the very least understand the usage of " men" in "X-Men". But apparently not.

This was no doubt prompted by the most recent " X-Men" movie "Dark Phoenix" in which Jennifer Lawrence (playing Mystique) tells Charles that the women seem to be saving the men so he might wanna rethink the name, a "girl power" moment no doubt but for someone with actual ties to the company agreeing with the statement is well...dumb and shameful but let's play ball. Say we do remove "Men" from X-Men, what should they be called? X-Force? Oh wait, that's already being used, X-Group? X-People? The Mutants? No name really seems to fit, does it? But furthermore, why is it that once again we have a woman (as this executive is female) saying that "men" is an outdated term? Why is the removal of "men" more "inclusive"? Would she have a problem if the group was called "X-Women", I'd hope so but somehow I doubt it.

Furthermore, let's ask ourselves an even more important question, shall we, and I think we shall, why is this news? People get promoted left and right and don't end up on newsfeeds and say if someone does get promoted, more often than not their accolades and accomplishments are mentioned to explain why this person has elevated in rank. But in this case, no accolades are provided (and to be fair there are a few but you have to click on the deadline link to read about it) just a quote. Now I know it's the news' job to stir the pot but c'mon. They're writing and posting this so idiots like me can write articles like this and call us sexist and while I am an idiot writing articles like this I'm not a sexist because I could care less about her gender, I care more about what she said and her obvious lack of understanding of the English language. The problem is that her gender is part and parcel the focal point of this problem by her actions, not mine.

She made the claim that "men" in "X-Men" was outdated by saying that there are women on the team as well, so she made this about gender and being a woman (who clearly has an agenda to say something that stupid) she clearly has a dog in this fight and if her fight is with the title of "X-Men" and she claims it's outdated then it stands to reason that she should at the very least have a better title in mind. Because at this point changing the name of X-Men would be silly because now they're a brand. It'd be like if Coke decided to change their name because they didn't wanna be affiliated with coke (like cocaine). All in all, if these are the kind of people getting promoted I shudder for the future of The MCU because geez...Women have been reading comic books for AGES and none of them have a problem with the title X-Men. The X-Men have ALWAYS been a wide and diverse cast of characters and they've had more than enough women to avoid The Smurfette Principle, so implying sexism in the name of the group is...well something a real fan and English speaker wouldn't do and I'm not much on gatekeeping (fans will be fans) but to be an executive of a company and not have a basic understanding of the property is laughable and would make me raise a consider eyebrow. That's all I have to say. I'll catch you kids later!