5 Real Life Lessons We Can Learn From X

The X-Men came out in the ’60s, when the United States was changing. While creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby didn’t make the book to be a civil rights allegory – they were just trying to make a cool new superhero team at first – it ended up becoming one as the decade went on. Marvel’s merry mutants have become household names, with generations of fans starting when they were young and growing up with the group. Reading X-Men comics is different from reading other superhero comics; the men and women of X fight to the save the world like the other heroes, but they’re also a racial minority dealing with the bigotry of a world that won’t accept them.

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Comics have been used for decades to teach their readers lessons and the X-Men books have been especially good at this. The team has to deal with situations unlike anything other heroes do and this has allowed creators to teach their readers a lot of valuable lessons. This is why the X-Men books are Marvel’s most important comics; they go far beyond the simple good vs. evil narrative and teach their readers the most important messages. These are five life lessons you can learn from the X-Men comics, each of them making you a better person.

5) Everyone Deserves a Second Chance

One of the best things about the X-Men is that they are all about second chances. They know the dangers of being a mutant, of the threat that mankind poses to them, so they understand why mutants could become villains. However, they do everything they can to give them another chance. There are so many examples of this over the years, like Wolverine, Rogue, and Emma Frost, but the best is that of the mutant master of magnetism. Magneto has become an X-Man in good standing, joining the team to help them protect mutants. He realized that his way of doing things was a problem and he changed.

You never know what’s going on in someone else’s life. You never know what has happened to them to make them the way they are. Sometimes, like Magneto, their pasts were so terrible that they can’t help who they are. The best way to help people change is to reach out a hand, to show them you haven’t given up on them. The X-Men could have given up on lots of people over the years, but they didn’t and that allowed those people to find better lives.

4) Dreams Die

The X-Men all started because of a dream. Charles Xavier traveled the world after his powers manifested and he realized something – all people want the same things, so why are we fighting each other? Mutants just wanted a life where they could live like their human cousins. Xavier dreamed of a world of racial harmony and he created the X-Men to fight for that dream, something they did for years. However, humanity never even tried to be better and it killed the dream, something that the X-Men and their fans have been dealing with since the Krakoa Era revealed the demise of Xavier’s dream.

Dreams dying are the hardest moment in life and it’s something that most pop culture doesn’t really prepare you for. In most stories, the protagonists’ dreams come true, but the real world isn’t like that. Dream die. It can be difficult to deal with, but that’s life. Dreams are just that – dreams and you can’t always make them a reality. Learning to accept that and how to move on is important and the X-Men books have been dealing with that for a while now.

3) Never Stop Fighting for What’s Right

The Krakoa Era is a beloved part of X-history, as the mutant race tried their best to create a home and failed miserably for a variety of reasons. The X-Men had to watch the world do everything it could to destroy them and Krakoa ended in sadness, a promised land pulled away from the mutant race. However, did they stop fighting? Did they hang up their fighting togs and hide? No, they kept fighting for their people. They kept saving humans. They remained the X-Men.

Over the years, the team has dealt with some of the biggest blows imaginable. However, they’ve never given up. Life can beat you down in a variety of ways, but you can’t give up. There’s always a chance of victory of some kind. The X-Men have lost everything more than once, but that’s never stopped them. Things always get difficult, but you can’t give up.

2) Representation Matters

The X-Men represent a hated minority, battling against the bigotry and hatred of the people around them. The central metaphor of the team is all about a group of people standing up and saying that they won’t sit down anymore, that they’ll fight for their rights and their people, and that they won’t let hatred overcome their love. The X-Men comics have introduced readers to characters from all kinds of minority groups for years; just look at the team in Giant-Size X-Men #1; there was an African, a Japanese man, a Native American, all working together with various people of European descent. As the years went on, the X-Men have introduced readers to members from many different marginalized groups, their books looking more like the real world.

One of the best things about being an X-Man fan is talking to someone and them telling you that seeing someone like them in the comic made them love the team. During the Krakoa Era, I remember numerous queer readers talking about how happy they were to see a place where people like them could be free from bigotry and hate. Despite what some people tell you (people who see themselves everywhere and have for centuries), representation matters. The X-Men comics have become even better as the years went on because of this, better representing marginalized groups and creating one of the most diverse fandoms ever.

1) Racism and Bigotry Must Be Stamped Out

The X-Men face the most dangerous villains out there, but their worst enemy isn’t an enemy in a garish costume or a mutant-killing machine. Their greatest foe is the hatred and bigotry that lives in the hearts of people, be they humans who want to destroy mutants or mutants who believe their powers make them greater than humans. Hatred and bigotry made the dream necessary. Hatred and bigotry have affected the lives of every mutant and the X-Men have made it their mission to stamp it out everywhere they can.

Racism and bigotry have become more damaging than ever, affecting people the world over. It wins because there are some people out there who don’t fight it, who don’t think it’s their responsibility. However, the X-Men comics show differently; only one side fighting against racism means it will still win. The lesson of the X-Men comics is to always fight racism and bigotry in every one of its guises and it feels like it’s a lesson that more people need to learn.

What lessons have you learned from the X-Men comics? Sound off in the comments below

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