Tag: professor x

“Please, do not make me let you down.”

From: X-Men ’97

Genre: Cartoons, Television

Who said it?: Magneto

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from the Disney+ animated show, X-Men ’97. Based on the Marvel comics series, X-Men ’97 is a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series. The world thinks Professor X is dead and Magneto, the X-Men’s greatest villain, now is in control of the X-Men.

The quote comes from the second episode, entitled Mutant Liberation Begins. Magneto (voiced here by Matthew Waterson) subdues an attack by the Friends of Humanity on the United Nations during his trial. He mentions how he would’ve killed everyone in the past, especially due to how the X-Cutioner managed to remove Storm‘s mutant abilities during the battle. However, Professor X challenged him to try a different path and he is trying to be a better person. He closes the monologue by delivering the quote.

Geek wisdom: Sometimes, people would like to change and change for the better. However, a lot of us have difficulty letting go of the past. With that in mind, we should never try to hold them back just because of their past mistakes. In fact, we should encourage these people and help them as they are trying instead of telling them they cannot change. At the very least, get out of their way when they are trying to better themselves.

“Mutant and proud.”

From: X-Men: First Class

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Mystique

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from the 2011 action superhero movie, X-Men: First Class. A prequel to the previous films, this shows the origin of the first mutant team Charles Xavier assembled.

The quote comes in the middle of the film. Beast (played by Nicolas Hoult) has developed a serum that would inhibit all mutant genes. Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence) tells Beast not to take the serum as they shouldn’t aspire to be like regular people. This is when she delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: We should celebrate what makes us unique and different rather than shun them. We should be proud of who we are and what makes us individuals. Rather than hide who we really are because of others, it is the others who should be more accepting of what makes people who or what they are.

“If you know you can deflect it, then you’re not challenging yourself.”

From: X-Men: First Class

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Charles Xavier

The story behind the quote: The very first live-action X-Men films, which was shown in 2000, clearly showed that the friendship between Charles Xavier (who would become Professor X and the founder of the X-Men) and Erik Lehnsherr (also known as the mutant terrorist, Magneto) has ended. While they do behave cordially when they talk, it is clear that they have opposite ideals for how mutants should interact with the ordinary humans. However, the films never explored their friendship as deep as the pseudo-reboot in X-Men: First Class.

The film starts in the 60’s around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. A mutant named Sebastian Shaw is attempting to start World War III in the hopes that mutants will take over after the war. Erik Lehnsherr has a personal stake on this as he witnessed Shaw kill his mother during the Holocaust.

Since he has been training his mutant ability at an extremely young age, he believes that he has gained ultimate mastery of it. As proof, he tells Xavier to shoot at him point blank with a gun since he knows he’ll be able to stop the bullet as it fires. Xavier then tells him that, if that’s the case, then he’ll never really become as strong with his ability as he can.

Geek wisdom: It easy to play it safe and be satisfied with what we know, never really venturing outside our comfort zone. Even thinking of trying to do something that is extremely difficult makes us uneasy and, mentally, we can give up without trying. But the only way we can improve ourselves is if we try to do something difficult.

It’s like when we were toddlers; we could could move around by crawling. There was really no need to walk since crawling was sufficient. We don’t remember it but we all struggled with learning how to simply stand up and we fell down a lot. However, with practice, we all now able to stand on our own two feet.

Any task can seem daunting and even impossible. However, unless we try and practice several times, we will never really be able to say it’s impossible.