[SpiritWarrior]

Originally Posted by Cerek You are right that there really is NO difference between Colossus and Thing, or Iceman and the Human Torch, except those born with mutant powers are inexplicably considered inherently more "dangerous" than those who get saturated by cosmic rays or splashed with toxic waste.

But there's no real reason given as to why they're more dangerous. Mutant is not contagious. Nobody in the general public know whether Spiderman is a mutant or not (i.e. was he born that way or did he somehow become that way?). Yet nobody seems to care. You'd think that after the whole mutant hysteria took over in the wake of the X-Men, they'd say "Well, we didn't know what that spider-freak was until now - but now we know he's a filthy mutant, let's hunt him!". No such luck. Parker lives out the rest of his days in his NY apartment, never having to hide or run from the government the way Charles and those kids do. They somehow quietly seperate Spidey from all that, when really, it would be the most obvious thing to point out.

And there is nothing more or less dangerous about mutants vs. super-powered beings. The only thing that's different is whether they were born that way. If a mutant has kids it will likely inherit the gene, but the same goes for metahumans like Spidey. I remember during the Onslaught saga, Peter's child was scanned by a sentinel when it saw MJ, and it was revealed to be a metahuman child. Basically, Spiderman fathered a mutant because when the spider bit him, it made him one.

The only logical explanation is that Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, et al used the X-Men as a way of addressing bigotry and prejudice, trying to teach future generations (if you will) that others are not "bad" just because they are different from us.

Well, there just seems to be a different tone to FF, bestowed by Lee and the early writers. While Spiderman and the X-Men were struggling with earthly issues like fitting into scoiety and graduating highschool, the FF are off fighting Skrulls or Galactus. I guess that in order for them to do the whole cosmic battle thing unhindered, he had to "let them off the hook" and not burden them with the problems of neighbouring superheroes. The only issue for me is that it makes for a glaring double-standard, like you say. It just doesn't seem believable how similiar the FF's powers are to the X-Men (there are even X-Men who can strecth like Reed), yet they get a complete pass on the whole "You're a freak" trend.

I don't think the FantastiCar is any more "campy" than the Batmobile myself. While the special armor, weapons and advanced technology were explained easily enough in the new series, the ability for the humvee to spontaneously "jump" over chasms or rivers also required stretching the imagination just a bit, IMO.

Really? The Batmobile wasn't invented by Batman for starters. It was a car that he invested heavily into modifying. And Bruce Wayne didn't take credit for inventing the automobile. Richards basically invented a flying buggy for 4 people. In the recent movies, they do another take on the Batmobile to make it more believable; It was a military prototype that never took off. If they did something like this to at least normalize it somewhat, I could accept it. Look at the X-Men's Blackbird. It's a jet. But they don't try to claim Xavier invented the plane. I can buy the fact that mutants somehow got their hands on a fighter jet because it's handled with care. IIRC someone even exclaims "You have a jet!" or something, to emphasize the fact that this is quite a feat. Then, the government guys have pictures of the jet coming up from the ground and express grave concern about it. But nobody is concerned that 4 mutants have a buggy that can fly..?

In the FF movie, Richards pretty much pulls the thing out of nowhere, proclaims that he's been working on it with a grind, and it works flawlessly. I dunno, it's just not handled as realistically as it could be. Thus the whole campy aspect to it. "Jump in my flying car and let's go!". All they need now is an equally corny motto as they take off.

Oh...and Reed Richards probably COULD create the Iron Man armor on his lunch break because his IQ IS that much higher than Tony Stark's. That is one reason a lot of the things associated with the FF are explained by saying "Reed Richards is a genius".

But see they don't sell it as belieavable in the context. I am aware of how smart the character is supposed to be, but they need to retcon his IQ back or something to fill in the holes. They've done it before with his storyline and background. If he is indeed so amazing, then it stands to reason he should have solved the many burning issues that plague society. He could save thousands of lives just by thinking up solutions and inventions at home, instead of being off in a space-buggy with the Human Torch. or, do like most braniacs do, and join a think-tank.
In contrast, look at Charles Xavier. His intellect is accepted as being on genius level, but it's tempered and normalized. Same with Beast. I don't think Stark is as smart, but has an aptitude for all things tech and business. Reed apparently could undo the world with his brain. If so, let's see him fix it then.