The X-Men is one of the most well-known superhero teams in all comic book fiction, but Gravity Falls seems to disagree with the ‘hero’ aspect of their title as the series hilariously mocks Marvel’s militarized mutant team.
The X-Men are a team of mutants who were brought together by Professor Charles Xavier to use their fantastic powers to protect the innocent from harm, and by doing so, earning the trust of humanity–thereby helping them in their struggle with mutant equality and civil rights (which isn’t actually a problem anymore since the formation of Krakoa, but it has been for the majority of X-Men’s publication history). While on the surface it seems like the X-Men are heroes who righteously use their powers to help those who look at them as freaks, or less than human, that’s actually not what fans are witnessing with every one of their adventures–and Gravity Falls points that out brilliantly.
Gravity Falls: Lost Legends–written by series creator Alex Hirsch with art by Joe Pitt, Ian Worrel, Asaf Hanuka, Dana Terrace, Jacob Chabot, Jim Campbell, Kyle Smeallie, Meredith Gran, Mike Holmes, Priscilla Tang, Serina Hernandez, Stephanie Ramirez, and Valerie Halla–is a graphic novel containing a collection of Gravity Falls stories that weren’t told during the original series, but took place during that summer. In the story titled “Comix Up”, Dipper, Mabel and the gang save Grunkle Stan after he is sucked into the world of comic books–traversing through the universes in which a number of graphic novels are set. After they rescue him, Grunkle Stan admits that–despite what he previously said in this story–he actually loves comic books, and he even names off a few of his favorites when he was a kid–and one of them was a book called the X-Cessive Force.
Gravity Falls Parody X-Men Perfectly Captures the Mutant Team
Obviously, ‘X-Cessive Force’ is a seemingly clear play on the much more intense off-shoot X-Men team, the X-Force, though this parody title appropriately captures the essence of the original team perhaps even more than the spin-off. Based on this parody, it seems as though Gravity Falls considers the X-Men to be less of a group of heroes and more of a militant unit–and honestly, the series is right. Since day one, the X-Men have stopped international terrorists and mutant extremists under the orders of their leader, Charles Xavier, all in the name of an agenda. The X-Men use ‘excessive force’ when dealing with these bad guys–especially if the villains are also mutants–to show humanity’s governing bodies that mutants can be useful operatives as well as productive members of society–and with the formation of Krakoa, this point becomes even more pronounced.
While operating under the recognized nation of Krakoa, the X-Men are now quite literally a military–one which serves an incredibly powerful country. This metamorphosis from team of heroes to national soldiers may have initially seemed shocking, but the X-Men were always militarized–now they just have a flag behind them rather than a civil rights agenda. Hardly anything the X-Men did was strictly heroic as there was always a purpose behind every mission they took on, and for the most part, every one of those missions required them to use excessive force–something that Gravity Falls hilariously, yet subtly, seems to point out with its mockery of the mutant team.
