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Hypocrite / X-Men

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X-Men

Hypocrite in this franchise.

The following have their own pages:


  • William Stryker manages to be a massive hypocrite in God Loves, Man Kills and other comics when it comes to his anti-mutant dogma. Firstly he declares that mutants are abominations in the eyes of god and his ways are pure, however Stryker uses Charles's telepathic powers to make the X-Men seem evil showing he's not above using mutant powers to further his and Purifiers's own goals. Secondly he values humans above mutants, but his Elite Mooks actively kill normal people who get in the way of them hunting the X-Men. Worst still The Purifiers and Stryker in later comics "enhance" themselves to further their ability to cleanse mutantkind despite being questionably human themselves at that point.
  • Wolverine can be like this at times, and it's almost become his defining character trait post-Schism. Examples include:
    • Despite a body count too long to list and being the X-Men's go-to-guy for doing the dirty work none of the others are willing to do (Hell, the entire reason he was recruited onto the Avengers was to be the guy who killed), he's completely against the idea of anyone else killing. It's explained that he believes that he should shoulder those burdens, and this just happens to mean he decides who gets killed and when.
    • He's suddenly against what the X-Men have done from their very inception by training younger mutants how to fight and defend themselves. Logan has almost always been a mentor to a younger female mutant since Kitty Pryde was introduced, and his school that he started right after breaking up the X-Men over this topic does that very thing. It's meant to be a mark of his character development brought about by Rahne and Laura being on X-Force, but it comes across rather dickish that he demonizes Cyclops over this despite Cyke being trained since he was a teen.
    • At one point, he throws a fit over Cyclops naming his new mutant school the New Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, believing it to be in bad taste, probably because Cyclops killed Xavier (in self-defense and while possessed, but Logan likes to ignore that). This is despite Logan having named his school the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, after a Cyke's dead wife who he obsesses over right in front of Cyclops and also killed in the past (and that wasn't in self-defense, though she did come back right after). Yeah, bit late to bring up what's proper once you do that.
  • To be fair Cyclops himself is also highly hypocritical at times especially when it comes to his long-time Love Interest Jean Grey, despite having Mental Affairs with Psylocke and Emma Frost he still gets pissy at Wolverine for getting cozy with Jean, gets jealous of Mastermind bewitching Jean and even threatens to drop a truck on Gambit when he hears Jean gush about him. That's not mentioning the time he ditched Madelyne Pryor (Jean's clone, who was pregnant with his child) just to be with the real deal.
  • In X-23's solo series, Logan and Gambit, of all people, also treat Hellion like a criminal and keep him locked up in a cell at the school after he uses his powers to kill Karima (who even begged him to kill her before her corrupted programming took over again!). Despite both of them having done far, far worse in their lives themselves and been forgiven for it. And, for that matter, while giving Laura a pass on all of the things she had done.
  • Emma Frost has many moments of hypocrisy. She has a haughty Rich Bitch attitude and considers herself emotionally mature and physically superior to others (especially to other female X-Men members) but Emma herself proves to very childish at times being clingy and jealous and very much lives in the shadow of Jean and aware of it. Her "the best body money can buy" line is also ironic when she feels threatened by a grown-up and naturally beautiful Kitty Pryde who’s had none of the privileges that Emma has had. Like Mystique below, Emma also criticised Rogue's taste in men, for reference Emma has relationships with Sebastian Shaw and Namor both of whom are highly amoral and cruel.
  • During the Spider-Man and the X-Men miniseries, the majority of the X-Men are against the idea of the web-head becoming a teacher at their school, mostly because he isn't a mutant like them (despite the fact that they've allowed several non-mutants into their ranks over the years). Storm also cites Spider-Man's poor public image and his being wanted for arrest by the authorities. This seems pretty rich, considering the X-Men don't exactly have a spotless reputation (and were even branded as outlaws themselves for a time), and have often faced persecution from humans for being different. Spider-Man is quick to lampshade this:
    Spider-Man: I never thought people living in a world that fears and hates them could be so fearful and hate-y.
    • When Rachel Grey reads Spider-Man's mind and learns that he's Peter Parker, who at the time was head of Parker Industries, she immediately decides he's no better than the industrialists who built the Sentinels and the collars used to imprison mutants in her time, essentially showing the same kind of prejudice mutantkind have suffered from humans.
  • Mystique dislikes her adoptive daughter's Rogue's relationship with Gambit citing his criminal nature (she's one to talk) as unworthy of her daughter right up to their wedding. This is same woman who slept around with the likes of Sabretooth (who makes Gambit look innocent by comparison) so Mystique has no business deploring any man her daughter loves. Not to mention she personally tried to seduce Gambit multiple times, by turning into Rouge (her daughter).
    • Mystique has a lot of cases of this, her Freudian Excuse is hinted at being due to abuse she suffered under her father's hands yet, Mystique herself treats her children (Nightcrawler, Rogue, Graydon etc) horribly either manipulating them or outright trying hurt and kill them. Also despite forming The Brotherhood of Mutants with Destiny who are against humanity, she's worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past.
  • A common thread for Magneto's motivation in most X-Men media is he fights humanity because they will eradicate mutants if he doesn't. However, this is spurred by a desire not to relive The Holocaust in the modern era and such a dogmatic belief that he's averting a genocide causes him to succumb to the same rationale that an escalation of effort is necessary and humans must recognize mutant superiority if there is to be any justice. While he has been proven right in instances like Days of Future Past, Professor X has a more level-headed approach that doesn't undermine his message of equality for all.
  • Destiny has a big case of this in X-Men (2021). Upon meeting her daughter Rogue and Gambit in a bar, Destiny extensively bemoans her daughter’s choice of husband and even claims when she learned Rogue had married a “bumpkin thief from the bayou” she asked to be killed again before listing off more of Gambit’s flaws that make him ill-suited for her daughter. Destiny says all this despite having herself married Mystique, whose rap sheet by comparison makes even Gambit look like a saint, displaying a ironic lack of foresight.

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