The X-Men comic book launched in the 1960's during a period of extreme racial injustice. The author of the storyline, Stan Lee, ushered in a chronicle that resembled the same struggle people of color were experiencing in the United States. No longer in hiding, mutant kind had surfaced to the mainstream and were dealing with the same oppressive issues as Civil Rights era bigotry. Stan didn't have to go far to baseline his plot, our country was stricken with a myriad of racial turmoil that was effortlessly transferrable to fiction.
It's easy to compare Professor X to Martin Luther King with his efforts to salvage mutants from inequality, injustice, and discrimination. He was progressive enough to understand the footprints of this process is for mutants to understand themselves and find humanity. Mutant's initial charge towards freedom was to learn who they are and educate themselves with others who share extraordinary power or genetic malfunction. The mentality of "we must help ourselves before others can" is more in common with the philosophy of Malcolm X then MLK. Charles Xavier believed in conservative segregation so mutants can train to comprehend their powers, educate themselves in harmony (Xavier Institution) and blend in to society as equals. At no expense of caution he also created the "X-Men” to defend his people from injustice and protect humans who were in jeopardy against rogue mutants. This innovative idea leans very much towards conventional extremism.What happens when you train and educate an oppressed people to understand justice and protect themselves by any means? It creates fear and apprehension for the non-oppressed class. Malcolm X is often considered radically aggressive because he advocated protection and defense against injustice. The same story arch is fundamental throughout the X-Men series. If the name doesn't sell the similarity (X) then the storyline does.
