Callisto is one of the most gender-deviant characters in the entirety of Claremont’s run, to such a degree in fact that later authors (and even Wikipedia) failed to grasp Claremont’s complex treatment of the character’s relationship to her gender in a notable story. 1/8 #XMEN

In Greek Mythology, Callisto was a follower of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. Zeus falls in love with Callisto and transforms into Artemis to trick Callisto into sleeping with him. The gender-queer symbols of the myth are thus extensive and well-documented/well-painted. 2/8

In UXM 259-263, Callisto’s rival Morlock, Masque, captures her and alters her appearance to that of a supermodel, a highly feminized symbol. Colossus becomes obsessed with her, and sees beyond the illusion (through a combination of suppressed memories and his artist’s soul). 3/8

According to Wikipedia, and to later UXM writer Scott Lobdell, Masque’s torture was taking away her newly-gifted beauty, which would make Callisto align with gender-normalizing Fairy Tale Princesses to some degree, but a close reading of Claremont’s scenes shows the opposite. 4/8

For Callisto, the supermodel aesthetic is the cruelty – she describes it as “a mask that defines my life and being that I can’t ever be rid of.” She feels commodified by it, telling Piotr “All I am anymore, Peter, is a package.” She rejects culturally prescribed femininity. 5/8

In Claremont’s hands, Callisto’s story is one of gender deviance that expresses the damaging effects of a literal forced gender performance in contrast to the freedom and power that Callisto achieved (and continued to desire) through rejection of the norm. 6/8

In her later incarnation, she’s just another archetypal witch character filled with rage over her lost beauty, a take that ultimately validates existing cultural attitudes about expectations for women within society and the naturalness of their desire to conform. 7/8

Claremont’s gender politics here are again ahead of his time and the fact that a contemporary writer and an errant modern day Wikipedia contributor both completely failed to see the underlying message of Callisto’s story is perhaps reflective of this state. 8/8