20 Things You Somehow Missed In X-Men
14. Political Paraphrasing
It's no secret that the X-Men series is itself a general allegory for prejudice and persecution in our own world, but the script actually goes beyond that to literally have its characters paraphrase historical figures.
In an establishing scene, Senator Kelly (Bruce Davison) says of the mutants, "We must know who they are and, above all, we must know what they can do!"
This is clearly inspired by the writings of Communist-hunting American Senator Joseph McCarthy, while Magneto's (Ian McKellen) climactic claim that he'll fight the humans "by any means necessary" is a phrase coined by none other than Malcolm X.
Trust X-Men of all things to pay homage to one of the few civil rights figures with an "X" in their name.