#mutant names

[whereintheworldiskamalakhan]

if you were a mutant, would you...

come up with a really cool code name

be stuck with the lamest one ever

Voting ended onDec 27, 2024

no middle ground option, you're either a Phoenix or a Marvel Girl, no in between

[ndscottsummers]

House of X #3

[ndscottsummers]

briefly setting aside HEY ESME AND SOPHIE, hey mutant name/human name

[ndscottsummers]

okay I read your thoughts on Mutant names and since I’m me I’m thinking: for people who survived some crazy alt future and or the weapon x program, how would they identify with their Mutant Names? Specifically I’m thinking Laura, who went only by x-23 for YEARS, and still does so now, but also has expressed discomfort with the name? Like how do you think that works overall

ooh that’s a good question. i think it’s going to be largely dependent on how the name was acquired - in laura’s case it was a name someone else gave her, not even really a name but just an identifier (and a dehumanizing one at that), so it makes sense that she’d feel better about ‘talon’ or ‘wolverine’, respectively a name she chose for herself and a name she took to honor a loved one. for alternate universes, there’s any number of sources a mutant name could have: a dehumanizing identifier like laura or something used to otherwise keep them down/mock them; or it could be self-chosen or given by the community, in which case it’s likely to have a positive connotation and maybe be even more of a revolutionary thing than it is on 616; or it could be a mark of a violent/traumatizing past that they want to leave behind.

mutant names are super cool and we see a lot of variability in how different communities use them (morlocks use them as a rejection of mainstream society, x-men use them as a name that overlaps with superhero codenames but also serves a separate purpose as a marker of belonging to the mutant community at large, etc) and tbh i hadn’t thought too much about how alternate universe/future stuff ties into that but now i have something new to chew on hmmmm

[ndscottsummers]

Fallen Angels #2

i’m always here for the practicalities of mutant names, and while i don’t have very specific thoughts rn about theresa identifying her mutant name as a less formal means of address than her legal name it’s something to chew on