Lol the mutants world. Okay, first Peter is actually familiar with the classic X-men comics, he knows Magneto is Eric and that Charles is psychic and he recognized Wolverine. He also knew the first movie! So he was familiar with how they explained the mutations and well, he's met mind-readers, mind-controllers, telekinetics and pyrokinetics back home, so the idea of people having special powers is very easy for him to accept. However the whole separatist MUST DESTROY EVERY MUTANT thing that is going on in Josh's world makes no sense to him.
Like, okay. He can understand the discrimination, but having people with special powers on your side is an asset, so the MUST DESTROY makes no sense to him. And magic is not something he can understand easily either, so MUTANTS LOST THEIR POWERS WITH MAGIC sounds like a cop-out answer to him.
THAT ASIDE, he really likes all the mutant kids he's met. They're teenagers stuck in a really shitty situation with close to no adult guidance and they're coping as best as he can so he super wants to help them all. He felt kind of bad about Josh healing him, because Peter doesn't want Josh to feel he's just in it for the free doctor. LUCKILY Josh healed him without asking, so that saved him some of the awkward. (He won't bother him with minor stuff ever, btw)
SO BASICALLY HE LIKES THEM and wants to do what he can for them, but he's not currently in the position to do much other than be around for them if they need him.
HAHA, YEAH IT IS all just... really, really messed up. And the actual cause for the reason why 98% of the mutant population woke up without their powers one day actually is sort of due to magic, it's just that none of the kids know about what really went down. But what happened is that a mutant named the Scarlet Witch (who is Magneto's daughter) one day had a total breakdown and was convinced by her brother to use her reality warping powers to change things in their world so that the mutants rule supreme. It... doesn't go over well! But ultimately what ended up happening is that the Scarlet Witch got pissed at her dad and to get back at him for being a shitty parent, she used her powers to get rid of all the mutants. Once again proving that the Lensherr-Maximoff family is the most messed up family in all of the Marvel universe.
And y-yeah, Josh actually... understands to some extent where baseline humans are coming from with their prejudice and fear of people who have powers, and is very familiar with that way of thinking. But the thing is in the comic verse it just really goes WAY BEYOND 'holy shit, this person can blow stuff up with their mind! should I be worried about my safety?', because there really is a horrible 'well obviously they choose to be this way' or even 'they deserve all the bad things that happen to them' mentality amongst the human population in the comics. Like I'm not even talking about the hardliner, extremist groups who want to kill all the mutants (and there are several of them), this is pretty much the popular opinion amongst most of society. It is as ridiculous as it is TERRIBLE tbh.
And Josh's origin story is pretty interesting, because Josh is a nice kid who likes to do good things and doesn't want to hurt anyone! But fear and hatred of mutants is so widespread and institutionalized, that Josh's first meeting with the New X-Men actually happens on his first outing with the Reavers... an anti-mutant gang. Despite Josh knowing something was up, that he was different somehow, and knowing that hurting people (even mutants) was wrong. His fear of himself and being discovered, and internalized hatred due to growing up around nothing but bigoted people, led Josh to making an incredibly stupid decision which he will always regret, which was joining the Reavers (even though his time with them was very, very brief).
I mean in the end when Josh was forced to choose between helping the leader of the Reavers attack the mutants, or helping one of the mutants (Laurie) who'd been seriously injured, he chose instead to do what was right (which he should have done from the beginning but I guess that would not have made such an interesting story according to Marvel) and help her. But the only reason he even ended up going to Xavier's in the first place is because after this happened, he was kicked out by his parents when they found out he was a mutant and a group of his former friends curbstomped him in front of his house.
But Josh has definitely come a long way since those days, and is finally becoming the man he wants to be (as best he can when dealing with the terribleness that is the X-Men and their policies on child safety) rather than who he was always told he should be. I mean the sad thing is, Josh isn't even the first mutant teen to think and feel this way/be a part of an anti-mutant group. It's happened to a few of them and every time it's... just really messed up. So yeah.
And Josh was actually pretty surprised by Peter's offer of help! Because they... don't really get that a lot from normal humans. And usually not without there being some kind of ulterior motive behind it too. So Josh was left feeling a little bemused by Peter's insistence that he'd do whatever he could to help, though he doesn't really think he can do a lot- or really that ANYONE can do a lot to help, though Josh lives in hope- but he did really appreciate it.
And Peter. Peter what do you mean you don't want me to heal you? Peter I can heal you let me heal you. The X-Men always want me to heal them. I am a healer, the only one left. My entire purpose in life is to be the healer. What... what else... am I meant to do? /sad and traumatized mutant teen forever ;;
That is one idea :|a Now that he is not on a kill squad anymore, Josh could probably stand to fill up his hours learning some new hobbies. Like scrap-booking. Or even chess. Maybe Peter could even teach him magic tricks?
Josh would love to learn both those things, because he is trying to get Leto to do... any kind of activity really, and he thinks Leto is the type to like chess but Josh has NEVER PLAYED the game before, so he'd need to learn first before he would ask him to play. Even though he would lose every time.
Like, okay. He can understand the discrimination, but having people with special powers on your side is an asset, so the MUST DESTROY makes no sense to him. And magic is not something he can understand easily either, so MUTANTS LOST THEIR POWERS WITH MAGIC sounds like a cop-out answer to him.
THAT ASIDE, he really likes all the mutant kids he's met. They're teenagers stuck in a really shitty situation with close to no adult guidance and they're coping as best as he can so he super wants to help them all. He felt kind of bad about Josh healing him, because Peter doesn't want Josh to feel he's just in it for the free doctor. LUCKILY Josh healed him without asking, so that saved him some of the awkward. (He won't bother him with minor stuff ever, btw)
SO BASICALLY HE LIKES THEM and wants to do what he can for them, but he's not currently in the position to do much other than be around for them if they need him.
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And y-yeah, Josh actually... understands to some extent where baseline humans are coming from with their prejudice and fear of people who have powers, and is very familiar with that way of thinking. But the thing is in the comic verse it just really goes WAY BEYOND 'holy shit, this person can blow stuff up with their mind! should I be worried about my safety?', because there really is a horrible 'well obviously they choose to be this way' or even 'they deserve all the bad things that happen to them' mentality amongst the human population in the comics. Like I'm not even talking about the hardliner, extremist groups who want to kill all the mutants (and there are several of them), this is pretty much the popular opinion amongst most of society. It is as ridiculous as it is TERRIBLE tbh.
And Josh's origin story is pretty interesting, because Josh is a nice kid who likes to do good things and doesn't want to hurt anyone! But fear and hatred of mutants is so widespread and institutionalized, that Josh's first meeting with the New X-Men actually happens on his first outing with the Reavers... an anti-mutant gang. Despite Josh knowing something was up, that he was different somehow, and knowing that hurting people (even mutants) was wrong. His fear of himself and being discovered, and internalized hatred due to growing up around nothing but bigoted people, led Josh to making an incredibly stupid decision which he will always regret, which was joining the Reavers (even though his time with them was very, very brief).
I mean in the end when Josh was forced to choose between helping the leader of the Reavers attack the mutants, or helping one of the mutants (Laurie) who'd been seriously injured, he chose instead to do what was right (which he should have done from the beginning but I guess that would not have made such an interesting story according to Marvel) and help her. But the only reason he even ended up going to Xavier's in the first place is because after this happened, he was kicked out by his parents when they found out he was a mutant and a group of his former friends curbstomped him in front of his house.
But Josh has definitely come a long way since those days, and is finally becoming the man he wants to be (as best he can when dealing with the terribleness that is the X-Men and their policies on child safety) rather than who he was always told he should be. I mean the sad thing is, Josh isn't even the first mutant teen to think and feel this way/be a part of an anti-mutant group. It's happened to a few of them and every time it's... just really messed up. So yeah.
And Josh was actually pretty surprised by Peter's offer of help! Because they... don't really get that a lot from normal humans. And usually not without there being some kind of ulterior motive behind it too. So Josh was left feeling a little bemused by Peter's insistence that he'd do whatever he could to help, though he doesn't really think he can do a lot- or really that ANYONE can do a lot to help, though Josh lives in hope- but he did really appreciate it.
And Peter. Peter what do you mean you don't want me to heal you? Peter I can heal you let me heal you. The X-Men always want me to heal them. I am a healer, the only one left. My entire purpose in life is to be the healer. What... what else... am I meant to do? /sad and traumatized mutant teen forever ;;
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Also, he thinks magicians are just kind of cool.
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... just probably not with a metal coin.
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