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The X-Men: Magneto (Max Eisenhardt) (

Magneto is a fictional character in X-Men comics who has the power to generate and control magnetic fields. He is initially portrayed as an antagonist who believes mutants are superior to humans. However, his background as a Holocaust survivor is later revealed, explaining his extreme views as an attempt to protect mutants from similar persecution. While often in opposition to Professor X and the X-Men's more peaceful approach, Magneto has also served as an occasional ally and even member of the X-Men. His character draws comparisons to civil rights leaders like Malcolm X in seeking aggressive action to achieve mutant rights.

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310 views

The X-Men: Magneto (Max Eisenhardt) (

Magneto is a fictional character in X-Men comics who has the power to generate and control magnetic fields. He is initially portrayed as an antagonist who believes mutants are superior to humans. However, his background as a Holocaust survivor is later revealed, explaining his extreme views as an attempt to protect mutants from similar persecution. While often in opposition to Professor X and the X-Men's more peaceful approach, Magneto has also served as an occasional ally and even member of the X-Men. His character draws comparisons to civil rights leaders like Malcolm X in seeking aggressive action to achieve mutant rights.

Uploaded by

Rengie Galo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Magneto (Max Eisenhardt) (/mæɡˈniːtoʊ/) is a fictional character appearing in American comic

books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by writer
Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, the character first appears in The X-Men #1 (cover-
dated September 1963) as an adversary of the X-Men.

The character is a powerful mutant, one of a fictional subspecies of humanity born with
superhuman abilities, who has the ability to generate and control magnetic fields. Magneto
regards mutants as evolutionarily superior to humans and rejects the possibility of peaceful
human-mutant coexistence; he initially aimed to conquer the world to enable mutants, whom he
refers to as homo superior, to replace humans as the dominant species. Writers have since
fleshed out his origins and motivations, revealing him to be a Holocaust survivor whose extreme
methods and cynical philosophy derive from his determination to protect mutants from suffering
a similar fate at the hands of a world that fears and persecutes mutants. He is a friend of
Professor X, the leader of the X-Men, but their different philosophies cause a rift in their
friendship at times. Magneto's role in comics has varied from supervillain to antihero to
superhero, having served as an occasional ally and even a member of the X-Men at times.

His character's early history has been compared with the civil rights leader Malcolm X[8][9] and
Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane.[10][11] Magneto opposes the pacifist attitude of
Professor X and pushes for a more aggressive approach to achieving civil rights. Magneto was
ranked by IGN as the Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.[12][13]

Ian McKellen portrayed Magneto in a majority of the X-Men film series, while Michael
Fassbender portrayed a younger version of the character.

Magneto first appeared in the debut issue of X-Men in 1963.[14] Through the 1960s, Magneto
appeared in several issues of the original X-Men comics, including Uncanny X-Men, X-Men,
Astonishing X-Men, Alpha Flight, Cable, Excalibur, The New Mutants, many X-Men miniseries,
and several other Marvel titles. His first solo title was a one-shot special, Magneto: The Twisting
of a Soul #0 (September 1993), published when the character returned from a brief absence; it
reprinted Magneto-based stories from Classic X-Men #12 & 19 (August 1987 & March 1988), by
writer Chris Claremont and artist John Bolton.

In a 2008 interview, Stan Lee said he "did not think of Magneto as a bad guy. He just wanted to
strike back at the people who were so bigoted and racist... he was trying to defend the mutants,
and because society was not treating them fairly he was going to teach society a lesson. He was a
danger of course... but I never thought of him as a villain."[15] In the same interview, he also
revealed that he originally planned for Magneto to be the brother of his nemesis Professor X.[15]

Writer Chris Claremont stated that Menachem Begin was an inspiration for Magneto's
development, as David Ben-Gurion was for Professor X. "There’s a lot of talk online now that
Magneto stands in for Malcolm X and Xavier stands in for Martin Luther King, which is totally
valid but for me, being an immigrant white, to make that analogy felt incredibly presumptuous.
An equivalent analogy could be made to [Israeli prime minister] Menachem Begin as Magneto,
evolving through his life from a terrorist in 1947 to a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 30 years
later."[16][17]
Prepared by:
Ma.Cristina G. Magallones
Evidence Wed 5-9pm CW 6
Asked about the Malcolm X/Martin Luther King Jr. parallels, Claremont also said "It was too
close [in the 1970s]. It had only been a few years since the assassinations. In a way, it seemed
like that would be too raw. My resonance to Magneto and Xavier was borne more out of the
Holocaust. It was coming face to face with evil, and how do you respond to it? In Magneto's case
it was violence begets violence. In Xavier's it was the constant attempt to find a better way... As
we got distance from the '60s, the Malcolm X-Martin Luther King-Mandela resonance came into
things. It just fit." [18][19][20][21]

Magneto's first original title was the four-issue miniseries Magneto (November 1996 - February
1997), by writers Peter Milligan and Jorge Gonzalez, and penciller Kelley Jones. In the
miniseries, Magneto had been de-aged and suffered from amnesia, calling himself Joseph; it was
later revealed that Joseph was a younger clone of Magneto. Later, Magneto became ruler of the
nation Genosha. Later, Magneto appeared in two miniseries; Magneto Rex (written by Joe Pruett
and drawn by Brandon Peterson) and Magneto: Dark Seduction (written by Fabian Nicieza and
drawn by Roger Cruz).

A trade paperback novel detailing Magneto's childhood, X-Men: Magneto Testament was written
by Greg Pak and released in September 2008. Pak based Magneto Testament on accounts from
Holocaust survivors. Before the publication of X-Men: Magneto Testament, Magneto's personal
background and history were invented[22] in Uncanny X-Men #150 (Aug. 1981). He was
portrayed as a Jewish Holocaust survivor; while searching for his wife Magda, a Sinti, Magneto
maintained a cover identity as a Sinti.[3] This created confusion among some readers as to
Magneto's heritage,[23] until his Jewish background was confirmed in Magneto: Testament.[1][24]

Prepared by:
Ma.Cristina G. Magallones
Evidence Wed 5-9pm CW 6

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