Warning: contains spoilers for X-Men #3!

The X-Men are using their version of The Avengers' shawarma scene to make the world a better place, ending their recent adventures with team meals that - while heroic - almost certainly have an ulterior motive. Mutantkind has been making some big moves lately, first establishing the mutant nation of Krakoa on Earth, then terraforming Mars, populating it with mutants, and declaring it the capital planet of the solar system (a decision which suddenly made Storm Marvel's most important hero as the new 'Voice of Sol.') Amid this seismic change, Cyclops and Jean Grey re-formed the X-Men, arguing that while mutants might now have laws and leaders, they also need heroes.

The Avengers' shawarma scene was an after-credits scene in the team's first movie paying off an earlier moment where Iron Man suggested they all try the dish after the Battle of New York. While initially presented as a joke, the movie ends with the team silently chowing down, showing that they did actually go for a meal together once the chaos subsided. While it was mostly just a fun moment, it was particularly enjoyable for comic fans, as it finally depicted the team not as solo heroes butting heads, but as an actual group of friends comfortable in each other's company.

Related: X-Men Could Join the MCU as 'Nephilites,' Not Mutants

The X-Men have traditionally been even closer than the Avengers, forming a found family in a world which hates and fears them, and the new team is no exception. Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Rogue, Synch, Polaris, and Sunfire may have been elected by the citizens of Krakoa, but they're superheroes in the classic sense, leaving Krakoa for a treehouse base in New York and using their missions to show humanity that while mutants may be stronger than ever before, they're still concerned with saving lives and making the world better for everyone. Recent X-Men comics from Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz have seen the team driving this message home in a familiar way, as they repeatedly make time to eat with the civilians whose lives they've just saved.

X-Men Eat with civilians shawarma

X-Men #2 and #3 both depict the team dining with the humans they just saved from the genocidal efforts of various alien factions who are competing to wipe Earth clean of life. In both Kansas and Da Nang, the X-Men fend off extinction-level threats, only to be offered a warm meal as thanks for their efforts. While Sunfire attempts to refuse out of politeness in X-Men #2, Jean Grey interrupts him, telepathically explaining that they should accept not for themselves, but for the comfort and happiness of the people they just saved, comparing their offer of food to his own newfound desire to improve the world by serving others.

X-men 3 meal shawarma

While the X-Men don't need the opportunity to bond in the same way as the MCU's Avengers, this trend of eating with those they save does serve Jean and Cyclops' remit of behaving like superheroes and making mutants seem less mysterious and threatening. Cyclops believes this will help humans and mutants live in harmony, building bridges from a new position of power and grace. It's not the first time Cyclops has taken charge of the optics of mutantkind - he even had Kate Kildare work as mutantkind's PR specialist when the X-Men were based in the San Francisco Bay - but that doesn't mean this new habit is purely cynical.

Cyclops, Jean, and the rest of the team truly believe in their new mission, and acting as real, approachable people rather than high-handed saviors is a crucial part of the outreach they hope will allow humans and mutants to live in true harmony. The Avengers' shawarma scene may have shown they were finally a real team, but the X-Men's version is far more ambitious, as they break bread with humans all over the world in a natural recognition of shared humanity, sending the same message that they've always stood for - that humans and mutants can live in peace if that's what both groups truly want.

Next: X-Men's Secret Workshop Makes Iron Man Look Like An Amateur