The True Origins of 'X-Men'; Rolling Stone, 5/26/14

Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone; The True Origins of 'X-Men' :

"It's all there in The X-Men No. 1, almost everything that would become a billion-dollar movie franchise decades later (the latest movie, X-Men: Days of Future Past, hits theaters May 23rd): Professor Xavier, his school for gifted youngsters, the flirting and feuding mutants in residence, the humans outside who feared and hated them, even the helmet-wearing villain, Magneto, ready to achieve mutant liberation by any means necessary. The comic book debuted just after the March on Washington, and Professor Xavier, too, had a dream. In creating characters who faced prejudice because of inborn differences, Lee baked in an effectively malleable metaphor. "The main objective was to show that bigotry is a terrible thing," Lee says. "If you needed an objective for a superhero story!"...

Director Bryan Singer (of Usual Suspects fame) signed on, ready to shift the mutant metaphor yet again, letting it encompass homophobia (in his second movie, a mutant's mom asks, "Have you tried not being a mutant?")...

There are more X-movies on their way, and the central theme never stopped resonating, obvious as it may be: Stewart says it was a "strong incentive" for him and his friend Ian McKellen, the openly gay actor who plays Magneto (Fassbender plays a younger version). "It was dealing with a contemporary issue," says Stewart. "Prejudice, and the treatment of those thought to be different. That people should be allowed to express their individuality and should not be victimized for being different."