Superhuman Registration Act

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In the Marvel Universe, the Registration Acts - the Mutant Registration Act (or MRA) and Super-human Registration Act (SRA or sometimes SHRA) - are legislative bills which, when passed into law, enforce the mandatory registration of super-powered individuals with the government.

As their names suggest the Mutant Registration Act and the Super-human Registration Act deal with the registration of mutants and of super-humans respectively. Numerous versions of each bill have been proposed at different times and in different jurisdictions in the Marvel Universe.

The concept has most extensively explored in comic books, though a version of them has featured in both the original X-Men animated series and the X-Men films .

The first mention of the broad concept was in Uncanny X-Men #141 (January, 1981). The term "Registration Act" was first used in Uncanny X-Men #181 (May, 1984).

A newly-passed into law Super-human Registration Act is a major plot point in Marvel's 2006 crossover limited series Civil War.

The issue has generally been portrayed in broad terms as being a debate between the rights of the individual (to freedom of action and expression etc.) on one side versus the rights of society at large (to safety from danger or harm) on the other. Does the super-powered individual (mutant or otherwise) have an absolute right to their abilities or does society have a right to constrain or at least monitor them and their expression of those abilities?

Debate on the topic of the registration of super-heroes or mutants as presented in Marvel Comics has generally tended to be slanted in favor of the anti-registration argument, due to the fact that the protagonists of the comics are the powered individuals - the people whose freedoms might be compromised by any such law.

As such the issue has most often been explored in a civil rights context, with the various Acts portrayed as persecutory measures seeking to legislate against a minority group whose minority status is basically innate - an obvious parallel with the struggle of many minority groups against prejudice.

This was especially been the case in the X-Men stories of Chris Claremont, when the "Act" pertained to mutants (the MRA). The plight of mutants has traditionally been used as an allegory for the struggles of real world minorities such as African Americans and in Claremont's (and other contemporary comic writers in the 1980s) stories the passing of the Mutant Registration Act was generally treated as a negative development, a harbinger of a more repressive climate for mutants, foreshadowing the possible post-apocalyptic future first shown in the "Days of Future Past" storyline.

When the topic of the original Super-human Registration Act was debated in Fantastic Four #335-336 the issue was explored in a national security context, with the utility of such a law being challenged. In the comics the Fantastic Four argue that super-heroes are already a hugely benevolent force for society and such an act would be unnecessary and possibly counter-productive.

When the issue of an SRA was raised again in Amazing Spider-Man #529 - 531 the prospect of a new SRA was explored once more from a security perspective, with reference being made to the fact that individual super-powered individuals often wield abilities which have massively destructive potential for use, making some mechanism to regulate their activities necessary. As such comparisons and allusions were made to real world issues such as gun control and arms control.

The writer of Civil War, Mark Millar, has stated that that storyline will explore the "civil rights" implications of the SHRA as previous stories have done, but will also explore the other side of the argument in more depth, in particular how Marvel super-heroes are, absent a SRA, illegal vigilantes, lacking proper legal authority or oversight.[1]

Also Iron Man's position in the Civil War storyline as a super-hero who is involved in the crafting of a regulatory system for his own community which seeks to protect it from its perceived self-destructive tendencies but ultimately proves overly restrictive to the rights and freedoms of expression of the community´s individual members may be a metaphor for the involvement of the major comic companies' with the creation of the Comics Code Authority in the 1950s.

Terms of the Registration Acts

In the comic books the various Registration Acts and their terms have been vaguely and inconsistently portrayed.

One aspect of the Acts which has been consistently depicted is their requirement that super-powered individuals surrender their real names to the authorities. For a lot of characters this would obviously entail the loss of their secret identities.

However, (with the possible exception of the 2006 Super-human Registration Act, see below) it has been unclear in the past exactly what, outside of the loss of anonymity, "registration" entails - whether it is enacted to enable the government to monitor all powered individuals or whether it is drafted to facilitate the government's licensing and/or employment of individuals who are actively using their powers.

It has also been unclear whether the terms of the various Acts compel all individuals with mutant or superhuman abilities to register with the government or whether only those individuals who wish to use those abilities actively need register. Further unclear is whether registration means that powered individuals are required to simply report their details to the government or whether registration entails an approval process where the powered individual must fulfill some requirements or meet some criteria before they are allowed to fully use their abilities.

This ambiguity may not apply to the 2006 SRA. In an interview conducted in April 2006, Mark Millar (discussing the Civil War series) indicated that the terms of the 2006 Super-human Registration Act would be clearly stated, and that it would enforce the mandatory licensing of all active super-heroes as law enforcement officials, making them government employees subject to a degree of official oversight and control.

Link to Millar's Newsarama interview

However, editor Tom Brevoort later stated that "You need to register if you possess superhuman abilities, but this isn't a draft-one is not forced to operate as a federalized super hero against one's wishes."

Link to Brevoort's Newsarama interview

Fictional history of the Registration Acts

Mutant Control Act

The first direct mention of a piece of legislation specifically aimed at super-humans in the Marvel Universe came in Uncanny X-Men #141 (January, 1981) in which the "Mutant Control Act", a law from the future, is mentioned.

In the course of the story, the first part of the two-part "Days of Future Past" storyline, Kate Pryde psychically travels back in time from a dystopian future to the present and possesses the body of her younger self, X-Men member Kitty Pryde. On revealing herself to Kitty's team-mates she recounts to them the series of events which led to her dark future, in the hopes that the X-Men might be able to prevent those events from coming to pass.

One of those pivotal events was the passing of a "Mutant Control Act" by the government of the United States. When the Supreme Court found the law unconstitutional the government responded by reactivating their robot Sentinel program so that they might police the mutant race. The Sentinels interpreted their mandate in such a way that they decided to forcibly take over the government of the country and instituted a harsh regime where mutants were severely persecuted.

The reference to the Mutant Control Act is brief and it is unclear exactly what its provisions would entail, though it would appear that registration forms at least one part of it.

In the course of the story the X-Men were successful in preventing one of the pivotal events which Pryde had described to them (the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly) from occurring, though the story's end is intentionally ambiguous as to whether Pryde's dystopian future was fully avoided. Although no Mutant Control Act has been introduced in the comics, the Mutant Registration Act may be its equivalent and the events of "Days of Future Past" continue to be alluded to in X-Men comics as a possible future.

Mutant Registration Act

Registration as a concept is first mentioned in Uncanny X-Men #141 where Moira MacTaggart suggests that Robert Kelly has decided the registration of mutants by the government is a necessity.

Her suggestion eventually turns out to be accurate, and in the Uncanny X-Men #181 (May, 1984) the first mention of a Mutant Registration Act is made when Kelly is seen discussing his introduction of the bill with a senatorial colleague. By #183 (July, 1984) the Act is mentioned as passed legislation, and in #188 Nightcrawler remarks that it appears to have become accepted as law, suggesting that, unlike the Mutant Control Act in the "Days of Future Past" timeline, it would not be repealed by the Supreme Court.

The passage of the MRA did not have an immediate impact on the plots of any Marvel series, but the legislation continued to be referenced intermittently in various titles. In at least one instance, (X-Factor #1; February, 1986) the Act is referred to as a "possible new law", an apparent contradiction with its previous depiction as passed legislation. In that story the prospect of the MRA is one of things which motivates Jean Grey and Cyclops to form X-Factor.

The legislation becomes a plot point later when government agent Val Cooper and the mutant terrorist Mystique form Freedom Force a government sanctioned superhero team (mostly comprising former members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants) in Uncanny X-Men #199 (November, 1985). Freedom Force went on to make many appearances where they sought to enforce the MRA by arresting unregistered mutants such as members of the X-Men (e.g. Uncanny X-Men #206; June, 1986), X-Factor (e.g. X-Factor #30; July, 1988) and the New Mutants (e.g. New Mutants #86; February, 1990). They also appeared enforcing the MRA in non-X-Men related titles such as Daredevil #269 (August, 1989).

U.S. Agent (John Walker) and Battlestar, who were, like Freedom Force, officially sanctioned, also briefly enforced the Act by capturing the unregistered mutant Meteorite for the government in Captain America (vol. 2) #343 (July, 1988).

During this period of active enforcement of the MRA, the only mutants who were shown publicly protesting the Act were those who were not aligned with the X-Men or its affiliated teams. For example, in X-Factor #33 the Alliance of Evil demonstrated against the MRA in Manhattan and after fighting X-Factor were arrested by Freedom Force and in Captain America #368 (March, 1990) a mutant group called the Resistants were shown protesting the Act in Washington D.C.. Indeed far from publicly agitating against the act, one X-team (X-Factor, in its original form) actually pretended in public to be supporters of the MRA who were actively enforcing it, though in actuality they were subverting it.

With Freedom Force (the characters most involved in the enforcement of the Act) disbanded following a disastrous mission in Iraq (X-Factor Annual #6; 1991) and Chris Claremont (the writer who developed the MRA as a sub-plot) no longer writing X-Men stories after 1992, the Mutant Registration Act stopped appearing prominently in Marvel Universe stories.

The fact that the disappearance of the Mutant Registration Act as a background element coincides roughly with the government's abandonment of their proposed companion Super-human Registration Act may indicate that following the latter's failure the government lost confidence the MRA and stopped enforcing it. A possible contributing factor to this is the fact that (as was first pointed out in Fantastic Four #335) it proved extremely difficult for authorities to distinguish between mutants and other forms of super-humans. However the current status of the MRA has not yet been clearly shown and it is unclear whether the Act is still in effect or if it has been repealed or modified.

With the enactment of a new version of the Super-human Registration Act in 2006, the status of the Mutant Registration Act is expected to be addressed in the upcoming Civil War: X-Men limited series.

1990 Super-human Registration Act

A variation on the concept of the Mutant Registration Act the Super-human Registration Act concept was originally proposed in comic books published circa the "Acts of Vengeance" storyline, such as Punisher (vol. 2) #29 and Avengers (vol. 1) #313 (both January, 1990).

During that period, in Fantastic Four #335 and 336 (February & March, 1990) the Fantastic Four went to Congress where a committee was investigating whether a SRA, similar in its provisions to the already in effect Mutant Registration Act was required for Super-heroes (the MRA only covers individuals who have their powers inherently at birth, not those who acquire their abilities artificially in later life).

In his testimony and in evidence he presented to Congress, Mister Fantastic argued that a Super-human registration Act is unnecessary as Super-humans have been largely effective and trustworthy in their actions and government regulation would only stifle their ability to protect the world. He argued that those individuals who were likely to act irresponsibly with their powers were likely to be super-villains and thus would not be candidates for registration anyway.

As the topic was debated he and his teammates were continually attacked by random super-villains whom they easily subdued, though it is unclear if this helped or hindered his arguments. In his final point concerning the lack of any workable definition of super-human Richards demonstrated a device that scanned a human for physical and mental capabilities and compared those to the national average and marking 'significant outliers', proving several regular humans, including committee members, to be superhuman according to those definitions. The proposed legislation was abandoned and registration of super-humans was not sought in the United States at that time.

1993 Canadian Super-powers Registration Act

However a similarly titled Super-Powers Registration Act was later passed by the Canadian government in Alpha Flight #120 (May, 1993). Introduced by a minister of the Canadian government called Robert Hagon, the Super-powers Registration Act was part of a complex plot engineered by the Master using the alias "Joshua Lord".

The terms of the act entailed the government employment of all super-powered individuals, including mutants, who were then enlisted in one of the government Department H "Flight" programs such as "Alpha Flight" and "Gamma Flight".

Although the Act was shown to be controversial and the series ended with the disbandment of the Canadian government's super-teams (the various "Flights") in Alpha Flight (vol. 1) #130 (March 1994), the Canadian SRA was never explicitly repealed or overturned in the comics.

Later Alpha Flight series did not acknowledge the law. In 2006, rumors began to circulate (encouraged by some Marvel creators such as Mark Millar) that a new Alpha Flight series of some form is in the planning stages [2]. The rumors suggest that the premise of this series would involve American super-heroes fleeing the United States for Canada to escape a newly enacted U.S. Super-human Registration Act. This suggests that registration is no longer mandatory in Canada.

2006 Super-human Registration Act

Interest in the concept of the act was revived in various Marvel comic books in 2006. In Amazing Spider-Man #529-531 (April-June 2006), following the events of "Decimation" and the sudden dramatic fall in the Mutant population, the U.S. government again considers a Super-human Registration Act and Spider-Man and Iron Man travel to Washington D.C. to discuss the issue. In those issues Iron Man is shown to be initially opposed to the idea, while Spider-Man is unsure of his opinion.

In The New Avengers Special: the Illuminati (May, 2006), Iron Man attempts to persuade his Illuminati colleagues to support the SRA, in order to diffuse it. Iron Man predicts that some super-human or group of super-humans will eventually make a mistake that will cost hundreds of lives (he specifically mentions the Young Avengers and the Runaways as candidates for causing such a catastrophe). After such an event, he went on to predict, the government would inevitably rush to make an example of someone, or everyone, in the super-human community by passing legislation that would be even more restrictive or persecutory towards them then the proposed SRA. By supporting the Act before it is passed, he suggests, he and his fellow Illuminati might be able to help avert such possible future tragedies and also, by becoming a part of the process, help moderate the legislation so that it would have the minimum possible negative effect on the super-human community.

In the same issue the first part of Iron Man's prediction are shown to be accurate when a conflict between the New Warriors and a group of super-villains ends with a massive explosion which kills hundreds of children attending a nearby school. Solicitations for the Civil War crossover and series suggest that the public outcry that follows this event leads the government (with the support of Iron Man and other Illuminati such as Reed Richards) to quickly enact the SRA.

This leads to a major schism and conflict among the super-heroes, with one side (led by Captain America) opposed to the SRA resisting registration and the other side (led by Iron Man) supporting registration and trying to enforce the new law.

Alternate universe Registration Acts

Exiles #12

In Exiles #12 an parallel world is shown, similar to the "Days of Future Past" timeline, in which the passing of a Mutant Registration Act led to the Sentinels taking over the world and herding mutants, Super-humans and eventually even humans into concentration camps.

The "Age of Apocalypse" version of Sabretooth, who at that point was a member of the Exiles, stayed on this planet in order to raise the infant David Richards (the son of the Rachel Summers and Franklin Richards of that reality).

Marvel Knights: 2099

In the possible future shown in the Marvel Knights: 2099 series of one-shots published in November 2004, a Mutant Registration Act is in effect which mandates that Mutants undergo a process which robs them of their abilities.

The Marvel Knights: Mutant 2099 one-shot explained that after the passage of this act the Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four opposed the government's enforcement of it and were eventually defeated in a major battle that was fought in front of the Baxter Building. This led all the remaining super-heroes to go underground.

The 1992 X-Men animated series

The first episode of the 1992 X-Men Animated Series (Night of The Sentinels (part 1); original air-date: 31st October 1992) mentions that some form of registration is in effect already.

In the episode Jubilee's parents worry that they may have to "register her with The Mutant Control Agency" after she manifests her powers for the first time. The government's persecution of Mutants was a consistent theme throughout the 5 season series.

The X-Men movies

In the first X-Men movie the events of the movie are precipitated when Senator Robert Kelly introduces a Mutant Registration Act to the Senate.

It is the prospect of this proposed legislation that motivates Magneto in his schemes in the film, as he sees it as persecutory towards mutants. He is eventually successful in replacing Kelly with Mystique who impersonates the Senator and removes the Act from consideration.

In the second movie, X2, the Mutant Registration Act is briefly mentioned when Storm speculates that Nightcrawler's attack on the White House might lead the government to reintroduce the legislation.

References

http://www.wikipedia.com