The Thomas Kinkade X-Men painting is bizarre

polygon.com:

Although Thomas Kinkade died in 2012, his legacy lives on at Thomas Kinkade Studios, which partnered with Marvel Comics back in 2021 to release an art print of a baseball game played by the original X-Men lineup, plus a few more obscure mutant pals. The painting recently resurfaced thanks to a viral tweet from ComicBook.com editor Jamie Lovett, and since then, we here at Polygon have been preoccupied with identifying all of the cameos and Easter eggs in this kitsch masterpiece.

First things first: Let’s discuss the phenomenon of X-Men baseball. Much like Twilight’s vampire family, the X-Men often play baseball while using the full range of their superpowers; they’ve also been known to play basketball and American football. Mutant-powered sports are collectively referred to as “mutant ball” by the characters.

All that said, Kinkade Studios’ description of this painting specifies that it depicts one of the rare moments when the X-Men are playing baseball without using their powers. Not unheard of, but not necessarily the norm. Also not the norm? Playing in their full superhero outfits. Furthermore, Iceman and Colossus are visibly using their powers. Anyway, here’s the official description:

In this scene, Professor Xavier has gathered the Super Heroes to square off against each other in a friendly baseball game to build their teamwork further. The Golden Rule of this game is, “Play without the use of your Super Hero powers.” As Cyclops pitches to his girlfriend Jean Grey, Professor X sits quietly at the mansion, acting as umpire using his telepathic ability. Which side will win the game, or are the X-Men even keeping score?

Apparently, Xavier is allowed to use his abilities, but nobody else is. (That does sound like him.)