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Hearing those angry words did nothing to calm Mystique down. Instead, she became even more furious.
"If your death could save mutants from the situation they're in today, you'd already have been killed by the man standing next to you!"
Magneto had just been caught in the crossfire for no reason. He froze for a moment, unsure how to respond.
Logically, Henry shouldn't know the background behind that statement, but judging from the movie timeline, this was probably old history being dredged up yet again.
Back in 1973, Mystique had left behind a blood sample during her attempt to assassinate Bolivar Trask. That sample ultimately allowed the Sentinel program to develop its terrifying adaptive abilities, turning the Sentinels into mutants' greatest enemy.
After learning this from the future Wolverine, Magneto's solution had been simple: kill Mystique before the U.S. military got their hands on her. Then the two sides had ended up fighting each other...
Looking at the mix of anger and awkwardness in the room, Black Superman mischievously sidled over to the speechless Magneto and said,
"Looks like she's still holding a grudge."
"Shut up!"
"Stop talking!"
The two mutants shouted in perfect unison before glaring at each other irritably.
Black Superman quickly retreated several steps to avoid getting caught in the pressure radiating from the pair. He even made a zipping-his-mouth gesture, indicating that continuing to speak would be idiotic.
The older Magneto was long past the stage where a few harsh words from a woman could leave him flustered. His expression now carried traces of annoyance, disappointment, and a faint sense of for fuck's sake, how many more years are we going to keep bringing this up?
Whether because she had lost the momentum of the argument or because she wanted to preserve some dignity for the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants, Mystique finally let out a frustrated roar.
"Whatever! Do whatever you want!"
Then she stormed out of the small conference room.
Black Superman watched her leave and asked curiously,
"Is she going through menopause or something? Why's her temper so bad?"
"With that mouth of yours, anyone would end up losing their mind. Do you know how hard I'm working to control my temper right now?"
Seeing the old man clenching his fists and looking one step away from a stroke, Black Superman raised both hands in surrender and backed up another few paces.
If he managed to annoy Magneto to death while the two of them were alone in the room, no amount of explanation would clear his name.
After taking several deep breaths and finally calming himself down, Magneto asked,
"What do you think is the root of the mutant problem today?"
"You really want to discuss a topic that big? We could talk for three days and three nights and still not finish," Black Superman said in surprise.
"Actually, I think the issue is very simple."
Magneto's expression turned serious.
"This world contains two kinds of people: un-evolved humans and evolved mutants. If that divide no longer existed, wouldn't discrimination disappear as well?"
"So you're planning to wipe out all humans? Interesting idea, but count me out. And I assume you're not planning to exterminate all mutants either."
The interruption left Magneto momentarily wondering why he had invited this guy here in the first place.
To give himself a cerebral hemorrhage?
After reorganizing his thoughts, he continued:
"Of course not. I'm not talking about eliminating either side. Well... in a certain sense, perhaps you could describe it that way.
"But what I want isn't the biological extinction of humanity. If we could somehow turn all humans into mutants, wouldn't the issue of discrimination disappear?"
Stroking his braided beard, Black Superman thought for a moment.
"That's certainly a creative proposal. Let's put aside whether transforming all humans into mutants is even possible.
"Do you really believe discrimination would vanish just because everyone became a mutant? Isn't that a little naïve?
"You think all those struggles by Black people against white people, or by women against men, were about nothing important?"
Magneto argued forcefully,
"At the very least, being a mutant would no longer be a reason for our people to be persecuted. Everyone would be the same."
Black Superman chuckled.
"Magneto, you're not three years old. Do you actually believe that yourself?"
Magneto answered earnestly,
"At least it would be the first step. Just like every social movement and every form of progress—it starts somewhere. Only after taking that first step can we continue fighting for more.
"If we can't even take that step, if we stay frozen in place forever worrying about this and that, then we'll never gain the opportunity to walk openly beneath the sun."
"Heh."
Black Superman let out another pair of cold laughs.
"And then what?
"You think society will somehow return to a harmonious state where everyone lives happily together?
"Impossible.
'When a man carries a sharp blade, murderous thoughts arise of their own accord.'
"Do you know how difficult it is for people to restrain their desires? To avoid abusing power or strength to bully others?
"Countless petty people spend their whole lives powerless. The moment they gain power, their first thought is revenge. Whoever wronged me by one measure, I'll repay them twofold.
"And even if nobody wronged me, I'll still flaunt my authority every chance I get, making sure everyone fears me, dreads me, and dares not offend me.
"They hate being bullied. Yet the moment they stand above others, they become bullies themselves. They'll use bloody examples to tell the world they're not to be messed with.
"In the end, they become exactly what they once hated.
"Have you thought about how you'd stop that?
"Or are you thinking: No, we don't need to worry about that yet. Let's take the first step first and fix the problems later. There may be a painful transition period, but people will gradually learn and improve."
He snorted.
"As long as it's other people suffering, as long as someone else pays the price, then it's easy to feel morally righteous, isn't it?
"Don't assume that if everyone becomes a mutant, discrimination will disappear because there are no longer any differences.
"The truth is that mutants discriminate against each other already.
"Don't you classify mutants according to their abilities? From weakest to strongest, you divide them into five categories:
Epsilon Class (ε), Delta Class (Δ), Beta Class (β), Alpha Class (α), and Omega Class (Ω).
"Someone as powerful as you—would you actually listen to an Epsilon-class mutant if their opinion conflicted with yours? What would you do then?
"When you're utterly convinced you're right, can you truly accept another person's view?
"Even if their proposal benefits the majority, would you accept it if it harmed your own interests?
"And the most fucked-up part of this whole thing is that nobody knows what class of mutant they'll become before their powers awaken. Nor can they control what power they'll get.
"That means the daughter of a prestigious family could end up awakening as a weak Epsilon-class mutant.
"Meanwhile, the child of an undocumented immigrant family could awaken as a powerful Alpha-class mutant.
"When those two come into conflict, what do you think happens?"
He looked directly at Magneto.
"Do you see it now?
"The world you're hoping for isn't a return to some harmonious society.
"It's a complete restructuring of civilization.
"You'd be creating a new world where the strong rule everything—and where who qualifies as 'strong' is determined entirely by random chance."
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