Humanity is terrorised and disgusted by mutants, and they suffer severe prejudice. Because of extremists like Magneto, humans around the world have come to regard mutants as abnormal and devastating threats.

Their reaction is a knee-jerk one, seen prominently in the world today: Attack the alien culture, without making an attempt to understand it.

The X-Men, therefore, has become a series battling prejudice faced by minority groups of all kinds: Religious, cultural, sexual, and ideological.

Also read: The queer world of the X-Men (Erik Dussere, Salon.com)