Marvel changed forever in 1975, when Giant-Size X-Men #1 made readers pay attention to the X-Men for the first time in years. The X-Men became the bestselling team in comics throughout the ’80s and ’90s. This was an extremely fruitful time for the mutants; creators like Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson peopled the X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe with its own constellation of heroes, villains, and supporting characters. However, there was one team of mutants that had existed nearly as long as the X-Men themselves, a team of villains that have morphed and changed as well over the years — the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (or as it’s now known, the Brotherhood).
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The Brotherhood started out as the X-Men’s evil opposite team. They followed Magneto, and battled the X-Men. Eventually, Magneto would leave the team, and Mystique would take over, leading to one of the most interesting evolutions in the history of the X-Men. Toad would eventually even have his own Brotherhood. Since then, several new versions of the Brotherhood have popped, with Magneto and Storm starting the latest version. However, looking at the early years of the Brotherhood, the Magneto and Mystique years specifically, an argument can be made that that the Brotherhood were never actually the bad guys and weren’t wrong. They may have been antagonists, but they weren’t actually evil.
The Brotherhood Evolved Significantly as the Years Went On
The original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants were Magneto’s strike team, consisting of Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Toad, Blob, and Mastermind. While the question of Magneto’s morality is a big deal nowadays, there was no question in the Silver Age. Silver Age Magneto was still the cackling Stan Lee-style hyperbolic villain, and wanted to destroy humanity. However, knowing what we know now about Magneto and why he feels the way he does about humanity, it’s hard to argue that Magneto and his Brotherhood were wrong. Magneto wanted to save mutantkind from the racism of humanity. His actions were monstrous, but he was doing it for the right reasons.
The Brotherhood’s goals are ostensibly heroic, but the way they were going to save mutantkind was evil. All of that would change when Mystique and Destiny took over the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, along with Pyro, Blob, Avalanche, Crimson Commando, and Sabre (they’d join later in the team’s existence). Mystique and Destiny weren’t leading the Brotherhood to destroy humanity, they were doing it to save mutantkind. Honestly, the best way to describe Mystique’s Brotherhood is as Punisher-style antiheroes. Destiny’s visions guided the two of them, which is why they tried to kill Senator Kelly. Say what you will about Mystique and her motives, but it’s not all self-aggrandizement. Mystique and company would get respectability.
Eventually, Mystique’s group was recruited by the government and renamed Freedom Force. This was an interesting change for the Brotherhood, as the Freedom Force became the law and the X-Men were often outlaws at this time. Eventually, the Freedom Force would be fired from government work and an all-new Brotherhood would show up, with Toad bringing together Blob, Pyro, Fantazia, and Sauron fighting X-Force. However, again, this team was basically just a group meant to help mutants through violence against humans (an interesting tidbit about the early days of X-Force is that they fought both the Mutant Liberation Front and the Brotherhood, two teams that were fighting for mutantkind with more violent methods). This has been the throughline of most versions of the team.
Readers’ views on mutant villains has changed a lot over the years, and that has painted the actions of many versions of the Brotherhood in a new light. The Brotherhood were rarely a team with world-destroying power; they were instead doing the same thing as the X-Men were, just with different methods. This is why it wasn’t so weird when Storm and Magneto decided to create a new Brotherhood on Arakko. The Brotherhood had always been a pro-mutant team that would go further than any other pro-mutant force did. We can admit that the Brotherhood has done immoral things, but calling them villains isn’t correct. In fact, in later years, the X-Men would take on many elements of the Brotherhood’s actions to protect mutants.
The Brotherhood Aren’t Heroes but They Aren’t Monsters Either
The Brotherhood was cut from the same mold as the Avengers’ enemies, the Masters of Evil, but they weren’t a bunch of world-conquering villains. They existed to fight for mutantkind, they just went a lot harder with their actions. Over the years, the Brotherhood dropped the “of Evil Mutants” part of their name because they really weren’t evil. If someone like Wolverine or Cable can still be superheroes despite killing thousands of people over the years, then there’s no reason to think that the Brotherhood are evil.
There have been multiple different Brotherhood rosters; some of them were about fighting for mutants in any way (Xavier even led his own Brotherhood while he was trying to battle the sentient Cerebro), and others had their own goals (Daken’s Brotherhood was basically just Wolverine villains out to kill him and X-Force). The Brotherhood as an organization was meant to fight for mutants in a way that no one else did, and much of their history shows this. The X-Men have faced a lot of villains, but the Brotherhood aren’t one of them.
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