The defining attribute of the X-mansion as a setting is the concept of sanctuary. The mansion provides the team with a pre-existing fulfillment (on the micro scale) of what they’re fighting for (on the macro scale), informing the mutant metaphor in important ways. 1/6 #xmen

Firstly, it enhances their heroism. They are not fighting for their personal comfort (they live in a mansion). They routinely depart from it, however, willfully walking into prejudice, violence, and even death in order to secure the safety and comfort of others. 2/6

In consequence, the setting takes on a life of its own. Any threat to the mansion is a threat to the safe space that the persecuted heroes desperately need. This creates a tension that makes it extremely tempting for authors to destroy the mansion to advance the narrative. 3/6

It also helps define particular eras. The Australian era, in which the X-Men are pushed out of the nest is one such example, as is the mutant massacre, with the tunnels forming a spatial metaphor of the X-Men’s vulnerability to their friends being hurt. 4/6

The sub-basement also forms a spatial metaphor. The surface mansion is quaint and genteel. The underground is a paramilitary training ground. This is an apt metaphor for the X-Men’s mission and its combination of gentle optics belying aggressive capability. 5/6

Though the literal setting changes, the metaphorical concept keeps re-emerging in more modern iterations such as Utopia or now Krakoa. In each of these instances the X-Men are given a privileged space from which to reach out and change the world. 6/6