Two things that fascinated men for all times from my perspective

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Sex and mutation!

Sex, I believe, has no need to contest for. We can talk about it later.
Mutation- you don't agree?

It was 1963, Marvel Comics had already bestowed 'The Fantastic Four', 'The Incredible Hulk', and 'Spider-Man' upon an unsuspecting though grateful world (then). But the comic-book-reading public's appetite proved to be insatiable. They demanded more, still more Super Heroes - and Stan Lee was determined to rise to the challenge.

Staring at his typewriter (typepad today), he endeavoured to create a team of yet another team of Super Heroes with unique powers. But even before dreaming up those powers, he knew that he had to explain where they came from.

You may recall that the Fantastic Four had been inundated by cosmic rays, the Hulk had been the victim of a massive gamma-ray explosion, and Spider-Man had been been bitten by a radioactive spider. That accounted for cosmic rays, gamma rays, and radioactive spider bites. But Stan Lee knew that he cound not keep hitting the public with constant barrage of rays and radiation.

An idea hit him; an idea that was simplicity itself and which guaranteed he did never have to worry about explaining the origin of a superpower again!
It hit him when he thought of the word 'mutant'. We all know that mutations occur in nature. For no apparent reason a frog will be born with three legs, or a banana will be the size of a watermelon, or a child prodigy will have the the ability to play Mozart at the age of three. And the beautiful thing about such mutations is, they do not require an explanation. They can happen to anyone!

Once Stan decided that his little cast of characters would have mutant powers, the rest was simplicity itself. He merely had to decide who his team would be and who would lead it.
In the next blog, we check out the lead was created and how he applied the concept of duality into the characters.