Magneto

For other uses of this name, see Magneto (disambiguation).

Magneto in X-Men: Black - Magneto v1 #1.

Magneto is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Max Eisenhardt was a male human Mutant born on Earth during the early as the son of Jakob Eisenhardt. (X-Men: Magneto Testament v1 #1) His mother was Edie Eisenhardt with his family being of Jewish descent where they lived in Germany. (X-Men: Magneto Testament v1 #3) It was known that he had a sister by the name of Ruth Eisenhardt. (X-Men: Magneto Testament v1 #1)

Born in the late or early 1930s to a middle-class and educated Jewish family, the man who would one day be known to the world as Magneto spent much of his childhood in the Nazi death camp Auschwitz. There, he lost his parents and older sister, but he managed to survive.

In 1939, the Third Reich extended their power in Europe and annexed Poland. When he was still a child, Magnus was with his parents and sister when they were stopped by Nazi soldiers. The soldiers opened fire on his family. As he heard his parents’ screams, something awakened inside young Magnus. His powers first came to manifest as the firing squad shot his family where it came to deflect the bullets before they reached him. However, his family was killed but the young Mutant's survival astonished the Germans who decided to spare his life and sent him to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. (New Mutants v1 #49) He came to be one of the earliest prisoners of Auschwitz which was established in 1940. He could not have been more than thirteen when he entered the camp and grew to manhood within the barbed wire fences of the concentration camp. He was one of the rare younger prisoners to survive the hardships of the camp, where he was forced to join the Sonderkommando and given special duties within the camp assisting the Nazi guards with the processing of bodies. It was not uncommon for young men, almost always Jews, to be selected for such special duties. In exchange, they were given extra food and limited protection for as long as they were deemed useful. Magnus successfully avoided the medical examinations conducted by a mysterious doctor who was testing camp inmates for mutant genes. (Excalibur v3 #7)

Magnus used his status as one of the Sonderkommando to help others to survive as well. Many viewed his actions as heroic. His fierce determination to survive despite the abuse, malnourishment and constant threat of death was inspirational and gave hope to other prisoners. Among those that Magnus sought to protect was a young woman named Magda. The early days of 1945 marked a dramatic victory for the Allied Forces of World War II and a sweeping defeat to the Third Reich. Facing imminent defeat, the SS began to kill those who still survived in the camps to eliminate any witnesses to the atrocities they had committed. When a guard threatened to kill Magda, Magnus struck him with a piece of wood and killed him. He and Magda fled the camp mere days before it was liberated by Soviet troops. Together, they wandered for a time before settling in a Carpathian mountain village. The two were eventually married, and she bore him a daughter named Anya. They moved to the Soviet city of Vinnitsa, and it was here that he discovered his mutant powers. The inn he was staying in caught on fire, and the mob around him refused to let him save Anya, trapped in the apartment. Finally Anya fell from the burning building, and lay dead before him. Magnus, in a fit of rage and grief unleashed his newfound powers, killing all in the vicinity, save Magda. Shocked at what he did, at what he was, Magda ran off calling her husband a 'monster', leaving Magnus to bury their daughter. Thus he began his search for her, a search that would last several years. (Classic X-Men v1 #12)

The soldiers pursued Magnus and caught up with him the next morning. When they tried to arrest him for 'crimes against humanity', he renounced their authority over him and used his newfound powers to force them to kill each other. Unlike his early attack on the villagers of Vinnitsa, this attack was purposeful and controlled but no less deadly. Years of being hounded, persecuted and tortured by mankind’s capacity for inhumanity finally boiled over and Magnus gave in to the rage that had filled his life since youth, directing it against his would-be captors. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #304) Afterwards, Magnus began his search for Magda. He engaged the services of Georg Odekirk, a master forger, who created a new identity for Magnus, that of the Sinte gypsy Erik Lehnsherr. Magnus originally used the Lehnsherr identity in his efforts to locate Magda and evade arrest for the incident at Vinnitsa. Odekirk’s forgery was so complete that it would serve Magnus for decades before being revealed as a falsehood by the Israeli government. (X-Men v2 #72)

He even created an alias for himself- "Erik Magnus Lehnsherr," a Sinte Gypsy- in order to hide from the Soviet police and KGB, as well as to search for Magda among her people. Eventually, Magnus gave up his search and emigrated to Israel as "Erik Magnus". There he worked in a hospital to care for Holocaust victims, and where he met, for the first time, Charles Xavier and a patient, Gabrielle Haller, and the three became close friends. Soon, Baron Strucker (a Nazi war criminal and leader of HYDRA) attacked and kidnapped Gabrielle (he had implanted in her mind the location of a huge stash of Nazi stolen gold). Magnus and Xavier rescued her, revealing their mutant powers to each other. After killing the Nazis against Xavier's wishes, Magneto himself stole the gold, vowing to use it in the struggle to protect mutants.

Magnus took a job with the CIA (as a double agent, working for Israel as well) and began using the code-name Magneto. His primary job being to hunt down Nazi fugitives and turn them over to Israel for trial. He soon fell in love with another woman named Isabelle. However, she was soon killed by "Control" (Magneto's superior at the CIA), who had come to admonish him for turning the war criminals over to Israel. Control ordered his men to kill Magnus, and at this point, he truly declared himself "Magneto," a superior being: a mutant. He declared war on humanity and killed the CIA operatives.

At some point, he was known to had an affair with a married woman named Suzanna who became pregnant with his daughter. However, she returned to her husband and claimed the child Lorna Dane belonged to him. Later on, Magneto was drawn to a magnetic pulse where he came to encounter his daughter Lorna whose powers had manifested early where she unwittingly killed her mother and 'father' during their flight. Due to her age, Lorna was seen as too young to accompany Magneto and he decided to let her live a normal life where he had Jason Wyngarde rewrite her memories. This made her think that Magneto had destroyed the plane after being angered at Suzanna rejecting him thus sparing Lorna any guilt of responsibility for her parents death. (X-Factor v1 #243)

Around 20 years ago, he was in the Israeli seaport city of Haifa where he served as a volunteer at a hospital that treated survivors of the Holocaust with him working under Dr. Daniel Shomron. Whilst there, he came to meet Charles Xavier who was called by his old friend Dr. Shomron to help in the treatment of Gabrielle Haller. Miraculously, Charles managed to break the trauma over the girl and helped bridge the gap between her old self and the present. In those weeks, Magus came to forge a friendship with Xavier where they came to discuss human evolutionary mutation. Despite their kinship, the two came to disagree on how humanity would interact with mutants as Magnus believed that for homo superior to survive it needed to hold the reins of power. During this time, the hospital came under attack from Hydra who targeted Gabrielle Haller for capture on behalf of their leader Baron von Strucker. This was because she held knowledge as to the location of gold that had been hidden in the region. Both Magnus and Xavier came to work together using their respective powers where they defeated the Hydra forces as well as rescued Gabrielle Haller. Using his powers, Magnus came to take Xavier and Haller to safety whilst leaving Baron von Strucker in a collapsing as he took the gold from the cave for his own efforts. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #161)

He later spent some time working with a covert government agency, hunting down Nazi war criminals who had eluded capture prior to the Nuernberg Trials. His codename was Magneto and he used his powers to mete out justice to those who had persecuted his people. Magneto had begun to suffer intense headaches when he used his powers and, in between missions, he would travel to Rio de Janeiro to seek the help of his personal physician, Isabelle, in finding a means to ease his pain. During one assignment, Magneto unexpectedly happened upon and captured Hans Richter, a former Nazi officer. Magneto was unaware that his employers only wanted him to hunt down certain Nazis, and Richter was not among them, as he who was now aiding the Americans in their Cold War efforts against the Soviet Union. Magneto‘s handler, known only as Control, killed Isabelle in order to teach him a lesson. Enraged, Magnus lashed out at him easily overloading the protective device that Control wore to protect himself against Magneto’s powers. This incident cemented Magnus’ belief that humanity would not hesitate to exploit and eventually eliminate mutantkind. He vowed that he would lead mutantkind in supplanting humanity as the planet’s dominant species as Magneto. (Classic X-Men v1 #19) During this period, Magnus also developed an understanding of the world and investigated how humanity was responding to the emergence of mutants. He briefly interacted with Interpol agent Sean Cassidy and helped him to track down the rogue mutant killing machine known as Omega Red. His motives in doing so were not entirely clear but he told Cassidy that he believed that mutants like Omega Red and the humans who held his leash would prove a detriment to mutantkind in the coming genetic war. (Generation X v1 #10)

Magneto

Very little was seen of him for a while, but he spent the next few years trying to organize a mutant resistance. He constructed the first of his many bases, Asteroid M, in Earth's orbit. He also recruited a gang of mutants- Toad, Mastermind, and his two twin children by Magda- Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. He called his group, with ironic intent, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Their goal was to conquer the Earth and create a world where mutants ruled the humans, with Magneto ruling the mutants.

He was in Europe where he came to recruit the last two members of his Brotherhood. These were the twin brother and sister named Quicksilver as well as the Scarlet Witch. The two came to be persecuted as witches by the people of a village and formed a mob to kill them until Magneto saved them. This led to him recruiting the siblings into the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Magneto made his public debut several months later. He staged a massive display of power by thwarting a military missile launch and then claiming the Cape Citadel military base for himself. The human military forces were unprepared for Magneto’s superhuman abilities and easily fell to his power. However, during the long weeks that Magneto had been planning this attack, Xavier had gathered and trained young mutants as well, the original five X-Men. He sent his novice team to oppose Magneto. Despite the fact that this was their first field mission, the X-Men prevailed and, through teamwork, managed to surprise and overwhelm the more powerful Magneto, forcing him to flee. While his plans to conquer Cape Citadel may have failed, Magneto had succeeded in sowing the seeds of fear in humanity and officially declaring war on Homo sapiens. (X-Men v1 #1) Magneto led the Brotherhood with an iron fist inspiring loyalty through fear and intimidation, but only Astra dared to leave the group when Magneto rejected her romantic advances and when her greedy intentions clashed with Magneto’s grand scheme for mutant dominance. Whereas the sycophant Toad worshipped Magneto unquestionably despite being physically and verbally abused by his leader, Mastermind viewed the Brotherhood as an avenue to greater power. The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver despised Magneto and his controlling demeanor but felt they owed him a debt for saving Wanda’s life. This mismatched group was nonetheless effective in helping Magneto attain his goals. Marco with an illusionary army, created by Mastermind’s powers. After he installed himself as the new ruler, Magneto built a genuine army. It was not long before Xavier and his X-Men came to Santo Marco to oppose Magneto once more. Magneto anticipated this and laid a trap for the young mutants. He set a bomb to kill his adversaries and a larger nuclear device to obliterate all of Santo Marco if the first bomb failed. He and the Brotherhood fled the nation, but Quicksilver couldn’t stand the thoughts of numerous innocent people dying, so he remained long enough to assist the X-Men in defusing the nuclear bomb. (X-Men v1 #4)

Magneto opened his war against humanity by attacking the Cape Citadel missile base in Florida, and was opposed by Xavier's own students, the original X-Men. The two groups clashed many times, and eventually, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch abandoned Magneto and joined the Avengers. Magneto later showed up in the Savage Land and established a citadel there. He began performing experiments on the natives, transforming them into the Savage Land Mutates, which knew him as "The Creator."

He began many attacks on humanity and came to do battle again with the X-Men, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. He formed a new army of mutates and attacked the United Nations; however one of his creations, Alpha, used his powers and reduced Magneto to the form of an infant. Xavier took the baby to Muir Island, and entrusted him to the care of Moira MacTaggart.

Xavier planned to raise him to adulthood again, devoid of the horrors of Auschwitz. However, he never got the chance, as the Shi'ar agent Shakari restored Magneto to his prime, no longer a child, but no longer in the body of an elderly man. His powers were now at their peak, and his memories returned. He attacked and defeated the new X-Men. After teaming up with the Beast to defeat Doctor Doom and an encounter with Captain America, Magneto sought the X-Men out.

Magneto seized them from the mutant Mesmero, and entrapped them in his Antarctic base. He strapped them to chairs that suppressed their powers and reduced them to the level of infants, and leaving them in the care of a robot named Nanny, in an effort to do to them what had been done to him. The X-Men escaped and for the first time, this new team succeeded in defeating Magneto, destroying his base. He retreated to lick his wounds and returned again to a base in Bermuda, where he held the world hostage, ordering all to give up their nuclear weapons and surrender to his rule, with which he sincerely promised to bring order and peace to all. The Russians sent a nuclear submarine after him, the Leningrad, which Magneto destroyed. In retaliation, he raised a volcano in a Soviet city. Magneto was opposed again by the X-Men, who proved to be little match for him. However, in the end he stopped himself when he almost killed 14-year old Kitty Pryde, suddenly becoming aware of the monster he became.

New Mutants

Magneto disappeared to Asteroid M and brooded there for months, until it was destroyed and he fell to Earth. He was soon found floating in the Atlantic Ocean by Lee Forester. He fell in love with her and calmed down. He began to try a more peaceful path, and turned himself over to the World Court for trial when he was captured at a Holocaust memorial. Gabrielle Haller was his defense lawyer. The trial was disrupted by Baron Strucker's children, Fenris, but they were defeated. Xavier became gravely ill and went off to live with Lilandra, convincing Magneto to take over for him and train the New Mutants.

For a while, Magneto tried to follow Xavier's path, with the support of Lee and Storm, but he soon joined the Hellfire Club, becoming their White King. When Storm and the other X-Men seemingly died, Magneto started growing angry again, and returned to his old ways of thinking. He abandoned the New Mutants, claiming he had a higher purpose, but Moira called him on his excuses which she called "rationalizations." Magneto simply claimed he was going to give the world someone to hate, to play the part of the villain, but the death of Doug Ramsey and the imminent passing of the Mutant Registration Act accelerated his fears.

Magneto allied with Rogue (in fact, the two of them grew to love each other), Ka-Zar and SHIELD in the Savage Land, executing Zaladane despite Rogue's pleas not to.

Acolytes

He built a new Asteroid M and escaped there, living isolated and alone until the arrival of Fabian Cortez. With him was a group of mutants who proclaimed Magneto their "Lord" and called themselves the Acolytes. Cortez's goal was different- he was there to murder Magneto.

Cortez began amping Magneto's power, making Magneto dependent upon him, and engineered events that made him the enemy of the X-Men once again. Magneto also discovered that while an infant in Moira's care, she manipulated his genetic structure to make him better able to handle his immense power (she theorized that the more he used his power, the more insane it drove him). Magneto believed that Moira and Xavier tried to alter his mind, to control him and kidnapped them, forcing her to do the same to the X-Men's Blue Team. It did not last, and in the midst of battle with both X-Men teams, Cortez revealed his true colors, abandoning Asteroid M to attack from the Soviet Union. As Asteroid M fell to Earth, Magneto chose to die with his Acolytes. The Asteroid was destroyed, but Magneto himself was saved by one of his Acolytes, Chrome, who transformed Magneto's body to metal so he would survive. All the others died.

Badly injured, he hid in Antarctica till he encountered the mutant Exodus. With Exodus, Magneto took control of the space station Graymalkin and re-named it Avalon, to create a separate mutant homeland in space to protect them from humanity and the Legacy Virus. He invited many to join him, including a new group of Acolytes he seized from Cortez, as well as the X-Men and their allies. He visited them at Illyana Rasputin's funeral to pay his respects to her, and invite them to join him. Their response was to attack immediately, but ultimately Colossus joined him.

The governments of the world attempted to block Magneto from re-entering Earth's atmosphere by creating a net, shielding it from him. In response, he unleashed a magnetic pulse which killed thousands. In desperation, Xavier led a team to Avalon in a final attempt to stop Magneto. In self-defense, Magneto tore the adamantium from Wolverine's skeleton, and in response, Xavier did something he swore he'd never do: he attacked Magneto with his own Holocaust memories and finally mind-wiped him, leaving Magneto a mental vegatable. (The evil portions of Magneto's personality took root in Xavier's mind, however, and later formed the entity known as Onslaught.) Magneto was cared for on Avalon by Exodus and the Acolytes, but then Avalon was attacked and destroyed by the mutant Holocaust.

Barely surviving his attempt at conquering the world, the pod containing Magneto crashed on Earth where he was found by Astra who revealed that she had created a younger clone of him to replace Magnus. The clone was dispatched to kill him with Magneto being force to flee after being defeated. However, his attacker pursued him where they fought above the jungles of Central American. Nearly overpowered, Magneto came to send a piece of machinery flying at the clone's head knocking them unconscious and thus allowing Magnus to make his escape. (X-Men v2 #86)

Genosha

At some point Magneto regained consciousness at last, and escaped. He returned again to a base in Antarctica and began re-gathering his Acolytes, and sending an emissary to the United Nations. At this point, Magneto decided he would have his mutant nation by whatever means necessary. He seized control of the Earth's magnetosphere, and threatened to destroy the planet unless his demands were met. He was opposed by Xavier and the X-Men, and Joseph died to save the planet. However, the UN gave in to Magneto's demands and awarded him the island nation of Genosha, for him to rule as its sovereign leader. The UN hoped he would be busy distracted by affairs in his new state, such as the civil war between various factions of humans and mutants as well as the Legacy Virus, to bother the world again.

Unknown to anyone, the dark ego of Magnus came to break free from his body and lodged itself within the mind of Charles Xavier. This then took root inside of him with this entire event occurring in a split second and to the creation of psychic gestalt being called Onslaught. (Wolverine v2 #104)

One big secret Magneto kept was that he had exhausted his mutant power in his last great effort. He journeyed to Genosha and seized control of the country, putting down rebellions against him and manipulating his son Quicksilver into joining his Cabinet (Quicksilver hoped to be the voice of reason there) along with his ambassador to the UN Dr. Huxley (she manipulated the deal). He also brought Fabian Cortez on board, whom he gave the choice to amplify his power (in order to keep up appearances) and promised to kill at the first sign of treachery. He gave the previous leaders and upper class 24 hours to leave, and then he closed the country's borders.

He later allied with the X-Men when Apocalypse began seeking and imprisoning the twelve most powerful mutants on Earth. He hoped to draw on their power when he took the body of the mutant Nate Grey, aka X-Man. Apocalypse succeeded in capturing them, but Magneto proved to be the weak link when his power was drained prematurely. It was enough for the X-Men to break free and defeat Apocalypse. During the battle, Magneto drew on the magnetic powers of the mutant Polaris to great effect, greater than Cortez was able to provide, and he convinced Polaris to return to Genosha with him. Polaris accepted, as she too was intrigued by the power and sensations she felt when Magneto drew energy from her.

Shortly after, he survived a coup attempt, when the High Evolutionary disabled mutant powers across the planet, but held out and defeated the humans through Polaris when their powers returned. Magneto had almost secured control of the entire country, save the city Carrion Cove where the last remnants of the resistance held out. Scarlet Witch came to Genosha to inspect the status of the country for the UN, as well as for the United States, to see whether Magneto was planning to turn Genosha into a haven or a launchpad for conquest. She found that Magneto had installed a socialistic government, and even allowed her to privately interview the human population. Except for the resistance, Magneto had done an admirable job of repairing the country, and he would even allow the humans to leave for the mainland once things were truly stable.

Truly fearing Magneto, the UN sent in the Avengers to assist the resistance at Carrion Cove. It was later revealed why Magneto was desperate to truly take control of Carrion Cove at this time. A genetic enhancer was there, which had been used in the past to create Genosha's mutate slaves, and he sought to use it to regain is full power. After battling his way through the Avengers with help from Polaris, he found the last obstacle to the device, his own two children. He decided that it would be an acceptable loss to forfeit his last chance at reconciliation with them, and knocked them out before entering the machine. Polaris turned against Magneto at this point, but he managed to turn her own power against her. With nothing left to stand between him and the machine, he activated it, and his powers were restored- in fact, he was even more powerful now. It took him mere seconds to cripple the Avengers and evict them from Genosha when he threatened to rain nuclear missiles down on cities if they did not stand down. He took the time to properly execute Cortez for treachery. Now, Genosha was truly his.

The last obstacle in his way was the Legacy Virus, but that was no longer a problem when Colossus sacrificed his life to cure mutants all over the world of it. Magneto was now ready: he began traveling the world, tearing down various mutant factions (since he would no longer tolerate his people being divided), and regrouping them on Genosha, forging an army of mutants ready to conquer the world. He kidnapped Xavier and brought him to Genosha, chaining him to a crucifix in the heart of the island, which he named "Magda Square." He used his power to slow the iron in Xavier's blood making him into a vegetable for revenge, and forced Xavier to watch the armies of Genosha gather (he placed a headset on Xavier that kept him from closing his eyes). Unbeknownst to him, the X-Men Wolverine and Cyclops infilitrated Genosha to destabilize things from within and help human refugees escape.

Meanwhile, Jean Grey was gathering together a new group of mutants to face Magneto. These 'new' X-Men, along with Jean Grey and Dazzler, crashed into Magda Square, where Magneto came out to deal with them personally. Though amateurs, they at first caught Magneto off guard, but he managed to defeat them before Cyclops and Wolverine stormed Magda Square and attacked him. Dazzler freed Xavier, and he in turn used his psychic powers to disable Magneto's powers. Xavier made one last attempt to reach out to him, but Magneto vowed that this was not the end. Then Wolverine decided to end things himself; with Magneto's powers disabled he stabbed Magneto through the stomach with his restored adamantium claws, and left him for dead.

Magneto survived and was recovering in his capital in a wheelchair, when Cassandra Nova unleashed a new army of giant Sentinels on Genosha. Magneto was apparently killed when one Sentinel crashed into the capital building and destroyed it.

Decimation

Recovering in his wheelchair, he was on Genosha when it came under attack from Wild Sentinels sent by Cassandra Nova who committed a massacre that killed over 16 million Mutants and leaving the island a ruined wasteland. (New X-Men v1 #115) It was believed that Magneto was killed in the incident when in reality he came to survive amongst the ruins of Genosha. In the meantime, an imposter was said to had taken his identity and came to operate in the world at large. (Excalibur v3 #2)

In anger and grief, Wanda was driven mad by Magneto's actions including the violence he had perpetrated towards Pietro. As a result, she came to blame him for how she and her brother turned out where she said that he had always loved Mutantkind more than his actual children. Out of spite, she came to alter reality once again restoring the universe back to its prior version but had said the words "No More Mutants" in an attempt to remove the X-Gene from all realty. As such, the majority of Mutants had lost their powers where only a small number retained their abilities due to the intervention of Doctor Strange and Emma Frost. Magneto came to find himself on ruined Genosha having been among the ones to lose his powers with him being left a broken man as a result. (House of M v1 #8)

Afterwards, Quicksilver came to Genosha after having stolen some of the Terrigen Mists and claiming that he wanted to use them to restore the abilities of depowered Mutants. Magneto though admonished Pietro and stated that the mists were dangerous to non-Inhumans leading to Quicksilver attacking him and savagely beating him until he was stopped by Luna. The pair then departed where sometime afterwards the Inhuman Royal Family arrived at Genosha as they were hunting Quicksilver with Magneto telling them of his encounter with his son. (Son of M v1 #5)

With the loss of his powers, Magneto sought to have them restored to him and sought out the High Evolutionary. The scientist agreed to aid Magnus but to do this he needed to take something from the Dreaming Celestial that now resided in San Francisco. For this, the High Evolutionary created an advanced suit that was able to replicate Magnus's magnetic powers. With these, he attacked the newly unveiled X-Centre where in the fight Magneto's suit was damaged thus exposing that he was powerless. Despite that, he managed to create enough of a destruction for the High Evolutionary to achieve his goal. Magneto then teleported away to an orbiting ship where the High Evolutionary began his work in returning Magnus his Mutant given powers. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #500) Whilst in space, their vessel came to notice a giant planet-killing projectile traveling through space that had been phased by Kitty Pryde where he decided not to investigate the matter but instead focused on the efforts to return his magnetism. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #522) The dissected portion from the Celestial was then used by the High Evolutionary to successfully restore Magneto his abilities. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #507)

Regenesis

Following the Schism, Magneto came to join Cyclops side where he was also recruited into his Extinction Team. (Uncanny X-Men v2 #1)

Around this time, Magneto came to find himself framed for the murder of humans during an anti-Mutant rally with the Avengers investigating the incident. Erik himself decided to find the culprit who masqueraded as him and learnt that it was Joseph who was back to life. (Magneto: Not a Hero v1 #1)

AXIS

Working on his own, Magneto began to hunt down humans that had been targeting and killing Mutants. In this time, he encountered a human unwittingly turned into a cyborg who had been murdering Mutants. (Magneto v3 #1) This led to Magneto investigating the incident whilst he was being hunted by S.H.I.E.L.D. (Magneto v3 #2) It was then he found a hidden facility that was abducting the homeless and converting them into cyborg Proto-Sentinels. He then learnt that the site was a human commune who had found a decommissioned Master Mold and intended to use it to segregate their community from Mutants. Magneto though decided to kill everyone at the scene and had the Master Mold destroy itself. (Magneto v3 #3)

Uncanny X-Men

He then gathered a team of Mutants where they began to target the activities of Someday Corporation who had been involved in the abduction of Mutants. One of these involved a convoy in Detroit, Michigan that were carrying Mutants in a state of suspended animation. (Uncanny X-Men v4 #1) However, they came to discover that the Dark Riders had been targeting and killing Mutants with healing powers. (Uncanny X-Men v4 #2) Moving to stop them, they then moved to save Triage and Shen Xorn from elimination with the team dividing to cover the targets.

House of X

He later came to reside on Island M when he was approached by Charles Xavier and the seemingly returned Moira MacTaggart. Through a telepathic exchange, he came to learn that Moira was in fact a Mutant who had lived through multiple timelines where she had revealed herself so that a new future could be made for Mutantkind. Erik though had no desire for simple survival but MacTaggart stated that she had planned for more than this and had in fact wanted a homeland for their people. (Powers of X v1 #2) This led to the formation of a Mutant nation-state that was headquartered on the living island of Krakoa. (House of X v1 #1) It came to be recognised internationally whereupon Magneto found himself among its ruling body that was the Quiet Council of Krakoa. (House of X v1 #6)

Magneto then went to examine the new S.W.O.R.D. station after the program was reinstated and funded by Krakoa. Whilst there, he met Abigail Brand where she showed him the new frontiers that the program was engaging in as they were dedicated in the defence of the Sol system. (S.W.O.R.D. v2 #1) With the contest over, the Quiet Council looked for unity between Krakoa and the island of Arakko along with their respective Mutant populations. However, Arakko refused to bond with Krakoa as it felt that they were now too different from one another. Professor X and Magneto then decided to entreat the Mutant population of Arakko where they met with Isca the Unbeaten where she believed that the Krakoans were too soft and weak. Thus, she refused and said that they make themselves stronger before coming to Arakko again as they were a warrior people who did not know peace. Afterwards, Magnus and Xavier had a meeting to decide on new seats for the lost Quiet Council members where they wanted Jean Grey and Cyclops to take the positions. Despite the offer, they refused and instead wanted to devote their energies into forming a team of X-Men to serve as Krakoa's defenders with elections being made to allow people to join their ranks. (X-Men v5 #16)

Afterwards, there was growing issues of Arakkii Mutants causing disruptions in various human nations with Magneto bringing the matter to Isca though she showed no interest in the matter. The Quiet Council then decided to embark on an ambitious venture and one that would deal with the issue of Arakkii Mutants. This involved a grand effort by Omega-level Mutants to terraform Mars and even listed a number of members of the Great Ring of Arakko. Magneto himself used his abilities iron-heavy asteroids to the red planet to create conditions for terraforming. Ultimately, their efforts were a success and they made the planet habitable whereupon they teleported Arakko to Mars that was now the first colonised Mutant world that was re-named planet Arakko. (Planet-Size X-Men v1 #1)

After the Hellfire Gala, an incident emerged when it was discovered that the Scarlet Witch had been killed on Krakoa. An X-Factor investigation team came to conclude that the assailant was Magneto though he denied being responsible. At the time, he was in a session of the Quiet Council where he wanted to use the past backup of Wanda Maximoff in the Resurrection Protocols to bring her back to life. Ultimately, a vote held where they decided not to revive the Scarlet Witch with this decision angering Magneto. Storming from the chamber, he was then attacked by X-Factor, X-Force and the X-Men who wanted to bring him into custody. He managed to fight them all off but then Quicksilver arrived to attack Magneto in order to avenge his sister. Knocked unconscious, he was then taken into custody as the people on the island looked to uncover the death of Wanda Maximoff. (X-Men: The Trial of Magneto v1 #1)

In the aftermath, Magneto decided to step down from his seat on the Quiet Council as he intended to retire to Planet Arakko which led to an immediate selection of his replacement. (Immortal X-Men v1 #1) This saw him relocating to the planet where he crafted a metallic castle for himself as he intended to live in solitude. However, he was approached by Sunspot who decided to recruit him onto a team that looked to investigate the activities of Abigail Brand with Storm joining them as they formed a new Brotherhood. (X-Men: Red v2 #1)

Overview

Personality and attributes

A young Max Eisenhardt at Auschwitz in X-Men: Magneto Testament v1 #2.

It was said that he was older than he looked to people. (Classic X-Men v1 #12) As a Mutant, he came to be known by the name of Magneto. (X-Men v1 #1) Due to his powers, he came to be known as the Master of Magnetism. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #196) It was his ruthless nature that led to him being referred to as the Merciless Magneto. (X-Men v1 #5) To the Savage Land Mutates, he came to be revered as the Creator. (X-Men v1 #63) After taking the Hellfire Club, he took over the organization and named himself the Grey King. (New Mutants v1 #75)

It was said that he had an insatiable hunger for knowledge that was coupled with a wildfire intelligence. (Classic X-Men v1 #12)

Magnus had said that his first trade had always been building houses. (Excalibur v3 #8)

Similar to Xavier, he fought for a cause he fervently believed in with the him willing to pay any price to achieve his goal. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #150) He believed the human race no longer deserved dominion over the planet Earth and that the age of Mutants had come to rule it. (X-Men v1 #1) Magneto believed that he could usher in a golden age if he ruled Mutants as they became the dominant race on Earth. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #150)

Magneto believed in the concept of 'an eye for an eye' where he wanted his enemies to suffer the way he had suffered. (X-Men v1 #112) It was said that in his heart that Magnus was not an evil man and given different circumstances he could have been a hero. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #150)

For a long time, Magnus was said to had known that humans would turn away in horror from loved ones upon learning that they were Mutants. Thus, he cared little for them and was instead focused in ensuring the ascendancy of Homo Superior as the lords of the earth. He believed that Homo Superior could not survive unless they took the reins of power. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #161)

In the course of his life, he admitted that he had committed many sins and said that he would answer for them one day. He though said that he would not answer for his wrongdoings soon as he intended to make others pay their due first. (Magneto v3 #1) It was for this reason that he admitted that he had a shadow on his soul. (Excalibur v3 #2)

He was known to carry an archive containing an hologram with the names of numerous mutants violently killed. (Magneto v3 #4)

It was noted that Erik was prone to headaches that he had ever since his powers became active. (Excalibur v3 #2)

Max Eisenhardt was the son of Jakob Eisenhardt who was of Jewish descent and had served in the German military during World War I with him being commended for his service to the nation. (X-Men: Magneto Testament v1 #1) His mother was Edie Eisenhardt who was a devoted wife to her husband. (X-Men: Magneto Testament v1 #3) It was shown that he had a sister by the name of Ruth Eisenhardt. (X-Men: Magneto Testament v1 #1)

Despite his family dying so long ago, he still vividly remembered the time of their death with every detail etched in his memories. (New Mutants v1 #49) It was said that he once had a large family until they were all slaughtered with none bearing his name in his homeland. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #150)

He later married Magda where she bore him a daughter that the couple named Anya. She was said to had been his hope and talisman with her birth making everything he had endured worthwhile. (Classic X-Men v1 #12)

At some point, he had an affair with a human named Suzanna who was married at the time but returned to her husband. She became pregnant with Magneto's child with this being a daughter who came to be named Lorna Dane. Magneto was shown to had been saddened at her death where he commented that she could have been the mother of his children and that her demise was a disappointment. (X-Factor v1 #243)

One of his closest friends was Charles Xavier where they first met over 20 years ago in Israel. Though having a shared heritage as Mutants, the two came to disagree on Homo Superior's place in the world. He felt that Charles was a naïve idealist who would either die from those beliefs or come to know the same lessons as Magnus. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #161) Erik had said that he was always impressed at Xavier's resourcefulness. (Excalibur v3 #2)

Powers and abilities

Master of Magnetism in X-Men v5 #1.

The Merciless Magneto in Magneto v3 #1.

When he was a young boy, he was noted to had been the top of his class in every subject. (X-Men: Magneto Testament v1 #1) Though possessing no psionic talent, Magneto had a will that was second to none. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #150) In fact, he possessed natural psychic defences that were as formidable as the likes wielded by telepaths such as Charles Xavier. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #161)

As a member of Homo Superior, he possessed powers and abilities that set him apart from common humanity. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #150) It was noted that his powers first manifested when his family was executed where they helped save him from certain death. (New Mutants v1 #49) Originally, he was classified as being an Alpha-level Mutant. (X-Men v2 #97) However, it was later confirmed that he was in fact an Omega-level Mutant. (House of X v1 #1) The energies he wielded were said to enact a toll on his body that made it prone to headaches. (Excalibur v3 #2)

As a Mutant, he had extraordinary powers beyond those of a normal human where he control surges of pure magnetic energy. This allowed him to control anything made of metal which he could do so remotely over great distances. Magneto could alter magnetic waves to either positive or negative states allowing him to either attract or repel objects. Such was his skill that he could cause small objects such as firearms to become heavy or he could redirect the path of missiles and animate tanks to follow his commands. (X-Men v1 #1) It was a simple act for him to magnetically freeze the firing circuitry of missiles to disarm the warheads and modify their trajectory even so slightly so that they harmlessly fall to the ground. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #150) Magneto was shown to be strong enough to hold together the headless body of a Celestial. (Uncanny X-Men v2 #2)

He could also sent out a magnetic pulse and use it to map a location in his mind. (Magneto v3 #3)

Magneto was able to cover himself in armour that could match that of the Iron Man armor. It was shown that he could steal power from planetary objects in space an use it to increase his own strength to a point. (AVX: Vs v1 #1)

In addition, he could direct this magnetic energy to create a shield for himself to protect him from harm and even use it to encase enemies to trap them in an invisible barrier. (X-Men v1 #1) He first manifested this instinctually when he tried to save himself and Magda from a fire at an inn. Whilst there, the barrier protected him and his wife from both the fire as well as falling wreckage. (Classic X-Men v1 #12) This could be used to project a magnetic force field around himself to protect him from falling debris such as a wall. Alternatively, he could encase a person in a magnetic field trapping them in place and ensuring that they did not interfere in Magnus's plans. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #150) He could encase a house in a shield and pull it into orbit where he was the only one maintaining the atmosphere within the structure. (X-Men v2 #2) Such was his control that he could automatically put up barriers to protect his body whilst he himself was in a deep trance-like state. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #522)

With the speed of thought, he could create walls of magnetic force that could send opponents flying across a quarter mile above the ground. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #150)

Magneto could also fly through the air by means of magnetic repulsion allowing him to move without aid across great distances. (X-Men v1 #1)

This first manifested in an outburst of rage over the death of his first daughter where lightning erupted from his eyes and kill people immediately around him. (Classic X-Men v1 #12)

He was capable shaping the magnetic forces of the planet itself to create a 'bottle-effect' around his target with this allowing him to draw out their life-energy out like a sponge. (X-Men v1 #112) It was shown that he could also absorb lightning strikes made against him to make himself stronger. He could also warp magnetic fields in a storm drawing down lightning bolts from the sky and filtering them so that he could absorb their power. Such a move had the dual effect of rejuvenating himself and injuring an opponent in the path of the bolt. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #150)

Magneto could generate an electromagnetic pulse over a country capable of crashing every computer network with even shielded military nodes being seriously degraded. (X-Men v2 #2)

He demonstrated the ability to use his powers to create a wormhole-like effect allowing him to making a portal to travel from one location to another. (Excalibur v3 #8)

His costume was made of a metal-mesh armoured fabric that Magneto could pull towards him with his magnetism. It moved through the air like mercury and formed around his body. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #150)

After M-Day, he came to lose his powers and was forced to wear a priceless suit whose technology replicated his magnetic abilities. It was crated by the High Evolutionary where it made it seem that Magneto still retained his powers until the suit was damaged. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #500)

One of his creations was a robot named Ferris that acted as a servant to him where the robot floated in the air with no legs but had a humanoid upper body with two arms. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #350) Another machine that served him was Nanny that was a more feminine robot who was tasked with being a twisted perfect mother to her charges. In reality, these were prisoners with any Mutants having their powers nullified through machines locked to the target's central nervous systems. (X-Men v1 #112)

He made use of a device similar to Cerebra but instead his powers allowed him to plug himself into the planet's magnetosphere. Once done, he could then create an electromagnetic map of the world and use it to find a person with similar abilities as himself. Magneto was said to had based the machine conceptually on Cerebra but required a telepath to access his mind map for it to be effective. (Magneto: Not a Hero v1 #1)

Another of his secret headquarters was an isolated landmass that was known as Island M. (Powers of X v1 #2) He later established Asteroid M that was an orbiting space facility built into an asteroid. (X-Men v2 #1) In the Savage Land, he created a secret headquarters for himself at one point that he called War Room X. (Uncanny X-Men v4 #5)

Originally, he was the founder of a team of Mutants who followed his ideology with this being the Brotherhood of Mutants. (X-Men v1 #1) Later on, he would find himself a revered figure amongst a cadre of Mutants that came to be known as the Acolytes. (X-Men v2 #2) On Utopia, he came to be among the members of the Extinction Team which consisted of some of the most powerful Mutants on the planet. (Uncanny X-Men v2 #1) Magneto would later come to be one of the most prominent figures on the Quiet Council of Krakoa. (House of X v1 #6)

Notes

• Magneto was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance in X-Men v1 #1 (September, 1963).

Alternate Versions

• In Earth X, an alternate version of Magneto appeared in a world established in the Multiverse. In the wake of Plague X, a new wave of Sentinels were unleashed in a vain attempt to contain the mutation. Eventually, these Sentinels faced Magneto, who defeated them in the Savage Land and used their bodies to create Sentinel City, a new haven for mutants. After the removal of the Celestial embryo from Earth, the magnetic polarity of the planet shifted, somehow transferring Magneto's powers to Toad. Toad used his newfound powers to make Magneto his slave, in vengeance on Magneto for his past bad treatment of him (despite Magneto's attempts to treat him fairly in Sentinel City). However, after normal magnetosphere of Earth was restored, Magneto regained his powers, and made it clear to Toad that he wanted to treat him as an equal from then on.
• In Exiles v3 #6 (2018), an alternate version of Magneto was shown to exist in a world in the Multiverse that resembled the American Wild West. This version headed the criminal Magnus Gang that were outlaws who travelled into a town and started abducting people with Magneto himself having the powers of magnetism allowing him to shoot bullets with his abilities.

In other media

Television

• In X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, Magneto made his first actual animated appearance in the pilot episode of the television series where he was voiced by actor Earl Boen.
• In X-Men, Magneto appeared in the setting of the 1990s animated television series where he was voiced by actor David Hemblen
• In X-Men: Evolution, Magneto appeared in the setting of the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Christopher Judge.
• In Wolverine and the X-Men, Magneto appeared in the setting of the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Tom Kane.

Films

• In X-Men, Magneto appeared in the setting of the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Sir Ian McKellen.
• In X2, Magneto appeared in the setting of the 2003 live-action film where he was portrayed again by actor Sir Ian McKellen.
• In X-Men: First Class, Magneto appeared in the setting of the 2011 live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Michael Fassbender.
• In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Magneto appeared in the setting of the 2014 live-action film where an older version was portrayed by actor Sir Ian McKellen whilst the younger was portrayed by actor Michael Fassbender.

Video games

• In X-Men: Children of the Atom, Magneto appeared as a non-playable boss character in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor George Buza.
• In X-Men Legends, Magneto appeared in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Tony Jay.
• In X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Magneto appeared in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Richard Green.
• In Marvel Heroes, Magneto appeared as a boss and a playable character in setting of the MMORPG where he was voiced once again by actor James Arnold Taylor.
• In Marvel: Future Fight, Magneto appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
• In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, Magneto appeared as a playable character in the setting of the video game where he was voiced once again by actor Tom Kane.

Appearances

Magneto

• X-Men v1: (1963)
• Uncanny X-Men v1:
• New Mutants v1:
• X-Men v2:
• New X-Men v1:
• House of M v1:
• X-Men: Legacy v1:
• AvX v1:
• Magneto v3:
• X-Men: Blue v1:
• Secret Empire:
• Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor v1:
• X-Men: Black - Magneto v1:
• House of X v1:
• X-Men v5:
• S.W.O.R.D. v2:
• Planet-Size X-Men v1: (2021)
• X-Men: The Trial of Magneto v1: (2021)
• Inferno v2:
• Immortal X-Men v1: (2022)
• X-Men: Red v2: (2022)

External Links

• Marvel.com Entry
• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry