By virtue of its mutant species premise, X-Men comics evoke key philosophical aspects of a genre of Science Fiction called posthumanism, one that focuses on exploring how the end of the human species is inevitable. #xmen 1/9

The term posthumanism refers to multiple branches of philosophical thought, predominantly associated with lines of inquiry devoted to destabilizing anthropocentrism, the belief in the universal centrality of the human species on this planet/plane of existence. 2/9

In SF, posthumanism as a sub-genre evolves from post-apocalyptic SF. The difference is that posthumanism tends to perceive the end of humanity as an inevitable process tied to natural properties of ecology, rather than a spectacular act of self-destruction. 3/9

In posthuman SF, we find stories of humankind evolving into something new, or aliens slowly taking over, or technology augmenting us beyond our natural limitations (transhumanism). The genre is thus known for existential dread – reminding us that humankind is finite. 4/9

Because mutants in X-Men are written as an evolutionary mutation resulting in a superior species (homo-superior), the stories have the capacity to evoke in readers the same sense of posthuman anxiety. 5/9

Claremont is able to draw on that anxiety to craft key pieces of X-Men continuity, such as the future enslavement and genocide of the mutant race at the hands of human-deployed technology in Days of Future Past. 6/9

At the same time, however, this anxiety humanizes the human characters () who oppose the X-Men due to the simple fact that the reader happens to be a member of the threatened species, and the heroes we identify with are of the invasive (kind of) species. 7/9

This creates a dichotomy, where the reader is positioned to root for the X-Men to succeed as a dominant species at times, but also to support the X-Men in X’s mission of peaceful cohabitation without domination, because that way they don’t kill us. 8/9

Thus, connecting X-Men to posthuman anxiety can involve the reader in a number of compelling and even contradictory ways, but always by deepening the sense of scope and scale of the evolving conflict between mutant and human factions. 9/9