Mutant (Marvel Comics)

In American comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism (usually otherwise human) who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities. Human mutants are considered to be of the subspecies Homo sapiens superior or simply Homo superior, an evolutionary progeny of Homo sapiens, and are considered the next stage in human evolution, though whether this is true or not is a subject of much debate in-universe.

Unlike Marvel's mutates, which are characters who develop their powers only after exposure to outside stimuli or energies (such as the Hulk, Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, and Absorbing Man), mutants are those whose mutations are pre-natal, and whose powers typically manifest at puberty.

Background

A March 1952 story in Amazing Detective Cases #11 called "The Weird Woman" tells of a woman describing herself as a mutant who seeks a similarly superhuman mate.

Roger Carstairs, a mutant who can create illusions, is shown in Man Comics #28, dated September 1953.