1. A History of Superhuman Registration Laws in the Marvel Universe

2. Uncanny X-Men #141 “Days of Future Past” (1981)
Somewhat confusing storyline: Kitty Pryde’s consciousness is sent back from the future (2013) to the present (1980)
She warns the X-Men about the future, where after the assassination of anti-mutant Sen. Robert Kelly by evil mutants, a newly elected government rides anti-mutant sentiment to power and enacts the “Mutant Control Act.” The details of this law aren’t specified
The Supreme Court strikes down the law as unconstitutional so the government responds by re-creating the Sentinels, a robot army that goes haywire and enslaves/persecutes/kills any mutant they can find
“Registration today, gas chambers tomorrow” – Moira McTaggart, a non-mutant ally of the X-Men, on Senator Kelly’s ideas about a law specifically designed to target mutants
Later titles implied that concentration camps for mutants were an element of the Mutant Control Act

3. Uncanny X-Men #181, #183, #184 (1984)
First mention of Senator Robert Kelly’s Mutant Control Act in the present timeline (not the future, like in “Days of Future Past”)
Resulted in the arrest of unregistered mutants (including the X-Men)
Captain America (John Walker – not the same guy as in Civil War) eventually enforces the law in a 1988 comic

4. The Fall of the Mutants (1987)
Marvel’s promotional advertising for the comic featured postcards supporting the fictional legislation arriving in comic book stores and inside other comic series. The back of the postcard asked people to fill out the form on the back and register themselves with the government as mutants
One storyline in “The Fall of the Mutants” featured the X-Men pursued by the Freedom Force, a group of mutants under order from the US government to arrest mutants who haven’t registered under the Mutant Registration Act

5. X-Men: The Animated Series, “Night of the Sentinels part I” (1992)
Shows consequences of Mutant Registration Act
Young mutant Jubilee’s dad registers her with the government, with severe consequences…

6. Uncanny X-Men #508 (2009)
Mutants make San Francisco a budding safe community for themselves (parallels to LGBT history)
A group called Humanity Now! pushes for law called Proposition X which would require the government to force birth control/sterilization on all known mutants and make marriage illegal for mutants
Allegory for Proposition 8, which was a California law passed in 2008 (by voter referendum) that made same sex marriage illegal in California. (That law has since been overturned)

7. Fantastic Four #336 (1990)
Fantastic Four testify to congress about a proposed Superhuman Registration Act that is like the Mutant Registration Act
Reed Richards argues that the bill is unnecessary

8. Superhuman Registration Act (2006)
Iteration of SRA in Marvel’s Civil War
Requires all superpowered people – no matter how their powers were acquired – gods and aliens to register as “living weapons of mass destruction”
Superpowered individuals must reveal their secret identity to the government, undergo training and meet safety standards before they can fight crime as an employee of the government
Superpowered individuals aren’t mandated to fight for the government, but they still must register
Superpowered people who do not comply with the law are sent to a prison outside of the USA. Therefore individual liberties or civil rights afforded prisoners by the US constitution do not apply
This time, Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards supports the law

9. Questions for today:
Why would Marvel have Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) switch from anti-Registration in 1990 to pro-registration in 2006?
Are the stipulations of the SHRA (2006 edition) an appropriate response to the changing world of Marvel’s Civil War?
How closely does the SHRA’s stipulations, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s powers and Captain America’s arguments against registration connect with our modern world?
Before next slide: ask what might’ve happened in the real world to make Marvel Comics shift Richards from being anti-registration to pro-registration

11. USA PATRIOT ACT
Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism
Passed just after September 11, 2001 (October 26, 2001)
Passed both the senate and house by very wide margins (98 – 1 in senate, 357 – 66 in house)
Justified the limitation of some civil liberties in favor of national security

14. Guantanamo Bay
Prison owned by USA on a US Naval station on the southeastern tip of Cuba
Opened following 9/11, at peak had 684 detainees in 2003, currently less than 60
Center of debate regarding civil liberties in USA – Obama ran on platform to close “Gitmo”
Detainees are combatants considered terrorists or enemies of the state
Rights groups (and lawsuits) have shown civil liberties abuses at Gitmo: indefinite detention without trial, abusive practices, isolated confinement, among others

19. For today:
Alone or with a small group (2-3 people) scan through Civil War and find quotes and images that correspond to the following:
9/11 and post-9/11 response
Elements of the USA PATRIOT Act
Mass surveillance
Extraordinary rendition
Guantanamo Bay