Ultimate X-Men: Anti-Religious?

A few years back, Marvel comics revamped some of their best selling comic lines by starting over in a new universe called the Ultimate Universe. The heroes that got the new make-over included Spider-Man, the X-Men, Avengers (now called the Ultimates), and the Fantastic Four. The move was designed to target the younger generation as the story lines of such titles as the Uncanny X-Men had become too complicated for a new comer to just pick up and understand everything that was going on.

I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical about this move. After all, I grew up with Peter Parker being in college and then marrying Mary Jane Watson, all at the same time being a photographer for the Daily Bugle. Now, he's a fifteen year old kid, has a crush on Mary Jane and is a web designer for J. Johna. The new X-Men costumes really turned me off too as they got rid of the colorful tights. But, I decided to sit down and read the compiled volumes that are not available at almost any bookstore that sells graphic novels. I was quite pleased with the way they portrayed Spider-Man as they transfered the problems of an every-day married man to a high school kid who had to juggle high school crushes with bone crushing enemies. Pleased with Spider-man, I decided to tackle the X-Men as they were my favorite as I grew up. I knew that comic books aren't really the most friendly place for religious people, but I was quite surprised to see a secondary underlying message in the Ultimate X-Men comics: the first being of anti-racism, the second being that of anti-religion.

These instances are pretty subtle and can easily be missed, but others are more obvious and blatant. Everyone has a freedom of opinion, speech, and belief, after all, those are the foundations of this great nation, but for a comic whose main purpose is to preach open-mindedness, isn't it kind of hypocritical that they would be close-minded about religion? Before I even get into that though, it would be appropriate to mention some instances where Ultimate X-Men show their view point on religion.

The most obvious instance would be when Kitty Pryde first comes to the X-Mansion. Her mother is having tea or coffee with Professor X as they discuss what the school actually teaches. Professor X explains to Kitty's mom that along with teaching how to control mutant powers, the school's main purpose is to teach the academics so that the students can graduate and be integrated into society. He continues to explain that along with the humanities, he teaches the evolution of genetics and how mutation is a natural course. Kitty's mom, in response, says that she is happy to hear that and that as long as the school is not teaching the "creationist crap that they teach in schools" she's happy. Fact is, most schools were banned from teaching creationist theories until quite recently. Now, they opt for the dualist version: there's creationism and evolutionary theories.

Another example would be when the Dark Phoenix takes over Jean. Originally, Dark Phoenix is sort of a supernatural, god-like creature that burns away everything. When she is first introduced, Dark Phoenix is portrayed in that light as a cult that worships her tries to bring her back through Jean. After the fiasco with the Dark Phoenix, Jean and Professor X explain that it is impossible for the Dark Phoenix to be a supernatural entity but instead is a potent psychological representation of her mutant powers.

Another example is the fact that Nightcrawler is no longer a priest. In the original series, he was a devout Catholic and his faith was very apparent. This was one of the most distinguishing features of Nightcrawler as it was a huge part of his personality. Now, if he was to say that he has faith in anything, it is in the person he is talking to. This is very subtle, but in the original comics, his faith is always placed in God.

The final examples are brief mentions in the script that have certain people saying how the X-Men are causing a ruckus in the Bible belt or that their presence has brought church leaders to a large discussion on the theories of evolution. A lot of the protesters and people who are anti-mutant in the comics are usually associated with religious people as well.

Now, for a comic that is supposed to be about anti-racism and open mindedness, shouldn't that extend to everything, even religion? Yes, there are religious fanatics out there that give a bad name to any religion. You have the Jihad and terrorists who claim to do what they do under Islamic faith, but that's not what Islam teaches. There are those Christian fanatics who are led to bigotry and racial-hate crimes because they believe they are the chosen and misuse the words of the Bible. Wherever you go and whatever you believe in, there will always be those that are extremists and make a bad name for the rest of their affiliates: a prime example would be the Brotherhood, a mutant extremist group. In that light, shouldn't religious people who aren't extremists be given a fair shot and a voice to be heard? Should they be categorized as a small faction that are usually denounced by the larger group? As much as people say Christians or Muslims or Jews or whatnot are hypocrites, aren't they just bringing themselves down to "that level" by having a closed mind about it?

So is Ultimate X-Men truly anti-religious? Are the writes hellbent on saying religion is just mumbo jumbo? Probably not but they're definitely not promoting it either and they're probably showing the side of atheism a bit more than they are of religion.