History
A Young Magneto in a Nazi death camp
Auschwitz
The man now known as "Magnus" was born Max Eisenhardt and spent his early teens imprisoned at the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz, Poland, after witnessing the brutal murder of his immediate family by the Nazis. While in Auschwitz, Max served in the Sonderkommando, the squad of Jewish men who were forced to help their Nazi masters run the gas chambers, ovens, and fire pits of the camp. The only member of his family to survive the Holocaust, Max learned how brutally human beings could treat minorities whom they considered different. While in Auschwitz, Max fell in love with a gypsy or Roma girl named Magda. He saved her from the gas chambers and then from execution; as Auschwitz was being evacuated, the two of them escaped together. For several years, Max and Magda lived in a Carpathian Mountain village, and eventually they were married. They had a daughter, Anya.
Max at this point sought out a forger named Georg Odekirk, who was supposed to be amongst the best, and asked him to create a new identity for him. Odekirk used the identity of the deceased "Erik Lehnsherr, the Sinte gypsy" so he could live more easily amongst Magda's own people. Not satisfied with the simple life of a mountain village, Erik moved his family to the (then) Soviet city of Vinnitsa, so he could better himself. Erik was unable to access his mutant powers at puberty, like most, due to a bout of hepatitis. On their very first day in the city, Magnus consciously used his powers for the first time. He magnetically hurled a crowbar at his boss who was cheating him of his pay. When he returned to the inn where he, Magda, and Anya were staying, he saw it was on fire, and his daughter Anya was trapped on the upper floors. He tried to use his new-found powers to save his daughter, but his boss had called the KGB, and they beat up Magnus and held him down, preventing him from rescuing Anya. The child fell, burning to her death, in front of her father. Magnus then used his powers to destroy the men holding him, the crowd watching, and a large section of the city of Vinnitsa in revenge. Terrified by her husband's powers and overwhelmed by the tragedy, Magda fled as her husband called out to her to help him bury their child. She never revealed to him that she was pregnant. At some unspecified time later, soon after giving birth to twins, Wanda and Pietro, under the care of Bova on Wundergore Mountain, Magda wandered out into the snow, never to be seen again; presumably dying. As Magnus attempted to bury his daughter, more soldiers arrived after hearing what he had done and attacked him. After being shot in the head, Magnus forced the soldiers to turn their own guns on themselves.
Charles Xavier
Eventually Magnus traveled to Haifa, Israel, possibly under the guise "Erik Magnus". He worked there as a volunteer orderly at a psychiatric hospital for Holocaust victims. It was here he first met and became friends with Charles Xavier. Magnus and Xavier frequently debated the subject of mutants' coexistence with the rest of humanity, though neither revealed to the other that they were mutants. After the two men joined forces to rescue their friend Gabrielle Haller from Baron von Strucker and his HYDRA agents and revealed their powers to each other, Magnus seized Hydra's Nazi gold, and left for parts unknown, realizing his and Xavier's views were incompatible[2].
Mutant War
For some time after, Magnus attempted to stay on the path of righteousness and used his powers to help track Nazi war criminals. However, while working for one of the Western intelligence agencies (most likely the CIA or the British SIS or MI6), he was also working for Mossad, the Israeli Secret Service; and instead of turning the Nazis over to his "Control" government after he found them, he was giving them over to Israel for trial. It seems his "Control" knew about Magneto's status as double-agent, and let him give the Nazi war criminals to Israel, as long as they were Nazis that the USSR had optioned. But when Magneto captured and attempted to give Nazi Hans Richter (one of "our" Nazis) to Israel, agents from the unnamed Western intelligence agency decided to put an end to Magneto's activities. They murdered Magneto's girlfriend at the time, Isabelle, right in front of his eyes. In a rage, Magneto killed his "Control" and cohorts, and vowed from that time on, he would be called "Magneto" and began planning his campaign against the human race.
Years later, Magneto reemerged in costume and helmet designed to shield from telepathy, determined to conquer the human race to prevent their oppression of mutants as the self-proclaimed savior of mutantkind. It is certain at this time, Magneto was in a psychotic and manic state, brought on by a combination of factors, including the overuse of his immense powers.
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
X-Men and the Brotherhood
Professor Xavier's, as Charles was now called, original team of X-Men thwarted Magneto's first act of genetic terrorism in his war with humanity, the takeover of the Cape Citadel missile base[3]. When they next clashed, Magneto was leading his original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants[4], which included Wanda and Pietro, now known as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, but unaware that they were the children that Magda hid from him. Not until years later would Magneto learn that they were actually his children.
At one point, Magneto came across what seemed to him to be a treasure trove of alien records and scientific equipment, which had actually been left for him to find by the master geneticist Maelstrom. Using these resources, Magneto genetically engineered a being called Alpha the Ultimate Mutant[5], who rebelled against him and turned Magneto back into an infant[6]. Prof. Xavier gave the baby into the care of his colleague, geneticist Dr. Moira MacTaggert, at the Mutant Research Center on Muir Island. Dr. MacTaggert tried to alter his genetic structure so his brain -- his mind -- would be able to handle the enormous energies he controlled, and he wouldn't be driven insane again. She hoped, given time and the right upbringing, he would grow up to become a better man. However, not long after, the Shi'ar, Davan Shakari (alias Erik the Red), returned Magneto to adulthood, albeit one younger than before[7]. Magneto thereafter had a series of battles with Prof. Xavier's new team of X-Men. First battling for payment for Erik the Red restoring his age, then later after rescuing them from Mesmero, who had controlled them to perform in a circus, to have them imprisoned by his robot, Nanny.
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"Rescuing" the X-Men from Mesmero
Due to the rapid re-aging of Magneto by Erik the Red, his body had been healed of the damage he'd done to it by the overuse and abuse of his powers, but his mind had taken longer to heal -- as the brain needs to rewire itself, and damage isn't easily repaired. So, after a brief time of more psychotic behavior, Magneto began to calm and began to think about his past. After Cyclops and Lee Forrester stumbled upon his island base in the Bermuda Triangle, Magneto decided that he would take control of all world governments and end the nuclear arms race, but the Soviet submarine, Leningrad, attacked him. After destroying the sub and all crew members aboard, Magneto battled the X-Men again, but underwent a crisis of conscience after almost killing young Sprite, a fellow mutant and Jew, and abandoned his plans of world conquest[8].
Magneto was among those that were teleported to an area of spacetime near a galaxy far from the vicinity of Earth's. Similarly, a large number of costumed criminals, including the Absorbing Man, Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, the Enchantress, Kang, the Lizard, the Molecule Man, Ultron, the Wrecker and the Wrecking Crew, as well as the planet-devourer Galactus, found themselves in another construct within this same area of spacetime. Aboard the constructs the passengers watched in awe as the galaxy nearest to them was annihilated by an unseen force, except for a single star. Then, before their eyes, a planet, which became known as Battleworld, was created to orbit that star. Finally, a rift opened in spacetime, from which poured a blinding light, and the passengers within the constructs heard a voice telling them, "I am from beyond! Stay your enemies and all you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!" The passengers were then sent to Battleworld. There, over the next several days, they engaged in a "secret war" amongst themselves; most of the criminals sought to destroy the heroic adventurers in order to gain the prize that the Beyonder had promised. Magneto was immediately dismissed as a villian and decided to stay-out of the direct conflicts and become a third-party. During his time there, Magneto was mostly allied with the X-Men. It all ended after Dr. Doom killed all of the heroes, only to be manipulated by the Beyonder, in Klaw's body, to resurrect them.
After being returned to his orbital spacestation, Asteroid M, the arrival of Warlock, crashing through his space station, sent Magneto plummeting to Earth. He arrived in the ocean where he was saved from a shark attack from Cyclops' ex-lover, Lee Forrester. Lee took Magneto to his old base in the Bermuda Triangle and nursed him back to health, despite his distaste for humans. Lee warmed Magneto's heart after saving his life and the two became lovers. On the following day, Lee was reminded of the monster that Magneto once was and left him.
Leading New Mutants
Joining X-Men and Leading the New Mutants
Feeling the return of the Beyonder, Magneto once again joined forces with the X-Men. This time, due to Prof. Xavier's weakened state from being attacked by a group of mutant haters, Magneto temporarily joined the team. Completely out of character, Magneto stopped Rachel Summers from killing a human that shot at her, stating that she would only prove them right that mutants are murderers. While visiting the National Holocaust Memorial with Kitty Pryde (Sprite) (Shadowcat, as she was then called), Kitty is amazed to learn that Magneto knew her grandaunt and saved many lives in Auschwitz before Magneto is attacked by the Freedom Force and later gave himself up for trial by the World Court. Magneto's old friend, Gabrielle Haller, was his defense attorney and Sir James Jaspers prosecuted him. The trial was disrupted by an attack of the Fenris, the twin children of Baron von Strucker, and Prof. Xavier was almost killed. As Professor Xavier lay dying, the Shi'ar appeared to take him into outer space to be healed by their science. At this point, Prof. Xavier begged Magneto to take over for him and be headmaster of the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters for the New Mutants[9]. Magneto began splitting his time between being a member of the X-Men and teacher for the New Mutants. With the X-Men, Magneto again battled the Beyonder.
While the X-Men rebuilt San Francisco after the battle with the Beyonder, the New Mutants were obliterated from existence by the virtually omnipotent Beyonder and then recreated by him, angry that Magik refused his 'gift' of her power being transferred to Shadowcat, to use them as guinea pigs. In being recreated, the New Mutants, somehow, lost much of the proficiency in using their superhuman powers that they had learned at Prof. Xavier's school and seemed detached. In time, Magneto's fears, insecurities, paranoia, and temperament slowly began to get the best of him and he was tricked by Empath into having the New Mutants join the Hellions to see if Emma Frost could help. Upon realizing the manipulation, Magneto raced to rescue the children and battled the Avengers, believing Magneto was planning to kidnap the children, along the way. After the New Mutants arrived to rescue Magneto, he and Emma worked together to cure the children of their trauma at the hands of the Beyonder. After being turned to X-Babies by Mojo, the X-Men battled the New Mutants until they were broken of their brainwashing and defeated the spineless one, Mojo. The X-Men, later, attempted to rescue the Morlocks after Mr. Sinister´s Marauders began to indiscriminately massacre them and Magneto was charged, by Storm, to stay at the mansion, watch over the New Mutants, and tend to the wounded. Colossus was injured by Riptide's shurikens, which caused energy leaks in Colossus' body without penetrating his armored skin, and Magneto used his power to mend the wounds, but Piotr was left in a temporary paralysis. The New Mutants wondered into the tunnels, to help, at the same time Thor created an enormous burial fire for the murdered Morlocks and the New Mutants were thought dead also. Magneto, later, joined the Hellfire Club as co-White King of the Inner Circle, at Storm's behest. However, when she and the other X-Men appeared to die in Dallas, and the Mutant Registration Act was proposed by the U.S. government, he spent more and more of his time with the Hellfire Club. It is also possible that the White Queen, Emma Frost, was manipulating him. He joined Frost in a coup against Black King Sebastian Shaw, and declared himself "Grey King." But he did not stay with the Hellfire Club. He left the New Mutants so he could play villain again for the world, he would explain to Dr. MacTaggert, so the world would focus on him as the highest profile mutant terrorist. He felt he could not be a substitute for Charles Xavier, that he could not adopt Xavier's methods, and that Xavier's way was not his way.
The Return of the King
He next appeared in the Savage Land. He and the X-Man Rogue for a time developed a close relationship, while fighting a crazed Zaladane, who had stolen the magnetic powers of both Polaris and then Magneto. Zaladane was defeated brutally by Magneto. Rogue left the Savage Land in tears as Magneto declared that he and she could not be on the same side.
Seeing conditions for mutants grow progressively more perilous, Magneto began seeking allies to protect mutants from humanity. He participated in the "Acts of Vengeance" alongside such established villains as Doctor Doom, the Wizard and the Mandarin. He also confronted Red Skull, an unrepentant Nazi war criminal, on whom Magneto took revenge by entombing him alive[10].
Eventually tired of the constant state of strife, Magneto built an orbital base where he hoped to live a life of quiet seclusion. He was, by this point, a figurehead for the cause of mutanthood and was sought out by a group of new mutants calling themselves the Acolytes.
After this, Magneto set his sights significantly lower than world conquest; he wanted only a haven for mutantkind. He first attempted to make the orbital base known as Asteroid M such a haven, but was opposed by the governments of the world and the X-Men. The X-Men did not know whether or not Magneto was returning to his villainous ways, so they confronted him. Feeling betrayed by his former allies, Magneto escaped after a brief skirmish in which he sustained near-fatal injuries from Wolverine.
Shortly after, Magneto renewed his war with the human race and the X-Men, and gathered about him his team of mutant underlings, the Acolytes, who virtually worshiped him.
The Rise of a Savior
The United Nations Security Council, in response to a resurgent Magneto, voted to activate the "Magneto Protocols" - a satellite network, in slightly lower orbit than Avalon (his new orbital space station), which skewed the Earth's magnetic field enough to prevent Magneto from using his powers within and from returning to the planet's surface. The attempt to limit him was met with an electromagnetic pulse-wave that not only destroyed the satellites, but deactivated every electric device on Earth within minutes. Xavier and a select team of X-Men traveled to Magneto's orbiting Avalon base to confront him. During the battle, Magneto used his powers to extract the adamantium molecules from Wolverine's skeleton, causing him tremendous agony. Infuriated, Xavier used his mental powers to shut down Magneto's mind. For a time, the Acolytes cared for Magneto at their orbiting base, but when it was destroyed, Magneto returned to Earth.
Subsequently, an amnesiac man emerged who called himself Joseph, possessing powers over magnetism, and the appearance of Magneto if he were still in his twenties. He joined the X-Men, who believed him to be Magneto, somehow rejuvenated and reformed. Joseph himself came to believe he was Magneto, until the real Magneto reappeared and began his campaign of terror against the human race anew.
It was at this time that Sabra, a mutant, Mossad agent, and member of Xavier's Underground, discovered that "Erik Lehnsherr the Gypsy" was a complete forgery, and she revealed this information to Gabrielle Haller. Sabra would declare a personal war against Magneto, whom she now regarded as a traitor to the human race, their mutant-kind, and their Jewish people.
Genosha
After seizing control of the planet's magnetosphere from the north magnetic pole and blackmailing the world into creating a mutant nation, the United Nations ceded to Magneto the island nation of Genosha, which had no recognized government, as a homeland for mutants. At this time, however, Magneto nearly lost his powers for unknown reasons.
Magneto was met with armed resistance on Genosha. He used Fabian Cortez, and then Polaris, to augment his powers and was able to gain control of all parts of Genosha, after battling the Avengers, and destroying the city of Carrion Cove. Hidden in caves above Carrion Cove was a device that Magneto knew would restore his powers to dangerous levels, and he attacked his own children, Wanda and Pietro, who tried to stop him from using it. Once he accessed this genetic enhancer, he regained his powers over the electromagnetic spectrum, but the overwhelming energies drove him psychotic and manic once again.
After the Legacy Virus was cured, Magneto suddenly found himself with tens of thousands of healthy mutants on Genosha. He sought to raise an army from this mass of disaffected, recently cured mutants. Jean Grey formed an interim X-Men team that was barely able to stop him. Wolverine again struck a critical blow, gutting Magneto and reportedly severing his spine.
Magneto, recovering and wheelchair bound, was attended to by Polaris. She had always had a Magneto-father fixation, and now she stole what she thought was a tissue sample of Magneto's, had it genetically cross-matched with a sample of her own, and discovered that she was actually Magneto's biological daughter. Whether this is true or not, remains to be seen; Magneto certainly needed her assistance, and he knew that she'd never leave him if she thought he was her biological father. As of now, Polaris or Lorna Dane, is considered Magneto's daughter.
A Martyr of the Mutant Cause
"Death"
When new mega Sentinels attacked Genosha, Magneto was still wheelchair-bound and seriously injured to the point that he could not effectively use his powers. It appeared he was killed in the attack. Months after the event, a team of X-Men searching in the debris found what was apparently a recording of Magneto's last words. Mutant-supremacist ideas, attributed to him, became wide-spread in the mutant community with some holding him as a martyr of the mutant cause. Magneto had become a Che Guevara-like revolutionary figure in the mutant community. T-shirts and posters with Magneto's face and the phrase "Magneto Was Right" became popular items, even amongst certain students in the Xavier Institute.
Around this time, an impostor emerged and wreaked havoc in New York City. All the while, Magneto gradually found his way out of the rubble, and somehow survived until he was apparently contacted by Xavier. Magneto had no memory of what happened to him, from the time the mega Sentinels attacked to the time Xavier contacted him. With the world again thinking Magneto was dead, as Wolverine had beheaded the Magneto-impostor in New York, Xavier and Magneto decided to work together to help rebuild Genosha.
House of M
Unfortunately, Magneto's daughter, the Scarlet Witch, lost her grip on reality following the death of her children, and attacked her fellow Avengers, forcing a distraught and remorseful Magneto to come to her aid after she was rendered unconscious by Dr. Strange. In Genosha, Magneto had heard Wanda's psychic cry for help and, using a wormhole, whisked her away before the Avengers could do anything. Back in Genosha, Magneto tended to Wanda, becoming more withdrawn and angry, and allowed only Xavier to visit, in the belief that Xavier could help Wanda. During this time, Pietro (Quicksilver) manipulated his insane sister into altering reality and creating the House of M universe.
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A Royal Bloodline
In the new reality that formed, Magneto appeared as sovereign of the world's mutants and ruled his subjects from Genosha. Magneto had been granted dominion in this realm after revealing an alleged international anti-mutant conspiracy involving Richard Nixon in 1979. Believing Magneto to be the one responsible for the change in their world, a group of heroes, who had their memories of the "real world" restored by Layla Miller, banded together and attacked Magneto in Genosha. During the battle that ensued, Layla was fortunate enough to be able to restore Magneto's memories, as she had done for the others. When Magneto found out about Pietro's role in warping reality, he attacked his son, enraged at all that he had done in his name, and killed him by ultimately crushing his body under the weight of a Sentinel.
Following the revival of Quicksilver and desperately depressed and dismayed by what her family had done, Wanda blamed her father for what Pietro and she had become, and altered reality once more, declaring "No More Mutants." At her command, the mutant population of Earth had been decimated. Magneto was left powerless, a normal Homo-sapiens, along with most of the world's mutant population. The X-Men left him amidst the ruins of Genosha, a broken and shell-shocked man.
When Quicksilver came to Genosha to restore the mutants' powers with the Inhumans' Terrigen Mists, Magneto condemned his actions, pointing out the disastrous effects the Mists had on non-Inhumans. An angry Quicksilver attacked Magneto with his new powers from the Mists, savagely beating him until his daughter Luna begged him to stop. When the Inhumans later came looking for their Mists, Magneto told them what had happened.
Powerless
Thereafter, the Collective (a being comprised of energy from all the former mutants' powers) repowered Magneto and revealed itself as Xorn, the impostor who had devastated New York. Xorn explained that he took the image of Magneto because he knew mutants would follow him, but that they needed the true Magneto once again. Magneto, not in control of himself, began attacking the New Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Xorn nearly destroyed while he pleaded for them to kill him. He was taken down with a direct attack to his brain from mutant S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Daisy Johnson. Iron Man, Ms. Marvel and the Sentry combined their powers and sent the Collective/Xorn into the sun, Michael was separated from the Collective and an unconscious Magneto was loaded into a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter. The helicopter, however, exploded upon take-off through unknown means; his body was not found among the rubble[11].
Afterward, Magneto was being looked for by the U.S. Government, the Morlocks, and the X-Men. Professor Xavier was unable to locate Magneto with Cerebro, in spite of the increase in power to his recently restored telepathy, suggesting either that his re-empowerment by the Collective was temporary or that he may somehow have been masking his presence to avoid detection. Xavier and Nightcrawler found traces of Magneto paying his respects at a local graveyard, standing in front of a tombstone belonging to one of his very first henchmen. Also, the Morlocks came after Magneto for reasons of their own and used him to justify their terrorist acts.
Magneto spoke to a crippled, depowered Morlock, claiming he had lost what once made him superior, implying that the restoration of his powers by the Collective was indeed temporary. However, when Skids found him at a local cemetery sometime later, and gave him a mysterious book that Masque had in his possession that claimed to chronicle the future of mutantkind, she stated that the book said Magneto was still a mutant, thereby possibly refuting his previous claim of being depowered again. Whether or not this is true remains to be seen.
Apparently at the behest of Exodus, Magneto appeared to help restore the broken psyche of Professor Xavier. He claimed that he was still powerless while he reminisced about the past between the X-Men and the Brotherhood with Omega Sentinel. Together they managed to revive Xavier before being attacked by Frenzy. Magneto wounded Frenzy by firing a medical laser into one of her eyes, prompting Exodus to ask what punishment he would have instilled on a human who injured a mutant (as the Acolytes considered him a human, Exodus even claimed that Magneto was dead and that Lehnsherr was just a shell that was left over). Magneto replied "Death" and Exodus proceeded to choke him with his telekinesis before Xavier challenged Exodus on the astral plane. After Xavier defeated Exodus, he left Magneto and Karima to try and rebuild his lost memories.
His powers were artificially recreated by a suit designed by the High Evolutionary, He re-activated Sentinels to attack the X-Men at a "mutant kische" event in San Francisco. The attack itself was a distraction, so the High Evolutionary could gain an unknown object from the Dreaming Celestial, in order to further a shared goal between Magneto and the High Evolutionary[12].
After extensively examining the Dreaming Celestial, the High Evolutionary subjected Magneto to an extremely dangerous technological procedure in an attempt restore his powers, which succeeded as he referred to himself as Magneto rather than his alias as Erik Lehnsherr[13]. Since the Evolutionary's equipment was destroyed in the process of repowering Magneto, he could not use the process to reverse the Decimation effect. Magneto then went to space trying to find another way of saving mutantkind, but to no avail.
Nation X
Shortly after the funeral of Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi on Utopia (previously known as Asteroid M), Magneto confronted the new inhabitants of his former home. Magneto stunned everyone by telling them he had come in peace and wished to speak with Cyclops. Professor Xavier was unconvinced, believing the entire ruse to be a trap and attacked him telepathically. In spite of this, Magneto did not fight back. Instead, he got down on his knees and repeated his peaceful intentions. Cyclops ordered Xavier to stand down and agreed to talk with Magneto, but kept Psylocke close by in case Xavier was right. Magneto expressed his admiration to Cyclops for finally doing what he and Xavier couldn't: uniting mutantkind together. Magneto feared that mutantkind was doomed until Cyclops told him that Hope Summers, the Mutant Messiah was alive and well[14]. In order to gain the X-Men's trust, Magneto tried to bring Kitty Pryde back to Earth, cracking the bullet and bringing Kitty out of it. Because of the duration and severe intensity of using his powers, Magneto was rendered comatose. During Bastion's attack on the X-Men, Magneto came out of his coma.Attributes
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Powers
Magneto is a mutant. He is one of the most powerful beings on Earth.
The Master of Magnetism
Magnetic Field Manipulation: Superhuman power to channel and manipulate magnetic fields that exist naturally or artificially. Magneto's power is, for all practical purposes, limitless. Magneto can maintain total control of an entire planet's electromagnetic field and manipulate it accordingly. Magneto has harnessed magnetism to stop armies, raise islands from ocean floors, move mountains, change the course of rivers, and threaten to devastate the world with apocalyptic floods and continent shaking earthquakes. Magneto once blanketed the entire globe with a self-generated electromagnetic pulse that caused widespread devastation. Moreover, he can use his magnetic powers in more than one way simultaneously. He can completely assemble a complicated machine within seconds through his powers. It is unclear, however, whether he must draw magnetic force from outside himself (if so, then he can do so over vast distances), or whether he can also generate magnetic force from within himself. Nor is it clear whether Magneto's power is psionic or purely physiological in nature.
- Magnetic Force-Fields: Magneto usually protects himself with a personal force field that he can quickly expand to protect large areas. His force field has withstood the effects of multiple nuclear weapons, volcanic eruptions, the depths of space and attacks from multiple Avengers or X-Men, including Phoenix, Thor, and even Galactus.
- Magnetic Flight: Magneto is also capable of sustaining flight for very long distances and at varying speeds. He apparently has several means by which he achieves flight, one of which is by gliding along the planet's natural magnetic lines of force, another by simply creating a repulsive force between himself and the planet, propelling himself thus. By using his magnetic powers, Magneto can virtually travel at trans-light speeds; however, in order to travel in space, Magneto also requires his force field to breathe.
- Matter Manipulation: Magneto is able to manipulate matter even to the subatomic level for a number of purposes[15]. This might explain why, his not limited to objects with metallic properties and is able to manipulate objects with non metallic properties like wood, stone, plastics etc.[16].
- Electromagnetic Sight: By concentrating, Magneto can perceive the world around himself as patterns of magnetic and electrical energy. He can perceive the natural magnetic auras surrounding living beings.
- Metallic Bonding: Magneto has recently presented the power to atomically bond metallic substances to any designated surface material. This newly developed technique allows Magneto to blend metallic alloys with the earth, water, and air (HoM).
- Organic Iron Manipulation: Magneto can control the traces of iron within organic matter, which allows him to have full control over an opponent's body. He can manipulate the iron-enriched blood-flow to one's brain to induce aneurysms or unconsciousness, alter thoughts and perceptions, or blank a person's mind completely. He can even remove ferrous compounds from the bloodstream entirely through a person's skin. Magneto has used his magnetic abilities to extract the Adamantium bonded to Wolverine's biomolecular skeletal structure.
- Geomagnetic Link: Magnus is tied very closely to Earth's EM Field. As is it effected, so is he. He knows instinctively all that happens to it, and with this link, is granted an odd sort of immortality. Earth lends him strength by it's simple existence. He draws on it all unconsciously.
- Superhuman Strength: Under normal conditions, Magneto possesses the physical strength of a well conditioned athlete. However, he can channel vast amounts of magnetic energy through his body for the purpose of granting himself vast superhuman strength which limits are unknown. Whatever those limits might be, he is ultimately able to lift far in excess of 100 tons with ease.
- Superhuman Stamina: As a result of increasing his strength, he dramatically increases the overall efficiency of his musculature. While magnetically enhanced, his muscles produce considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a normal human. Magneto can exert himself physically for up to at least a few days before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood starts to impair him.
- Superhuman Durability: Under normal conditions, Magneto possesses the physical durability of a well conditioned athlete. However, he can channel vast amounts of magnetic energy through his body for the purpose of granting himself vast superhuman durability, to the point he can shrug off punches to the face from super humans such as Namor and Colossus while weakened and remain unharmed[17].
- Superhuman Reflexes: He naturally possesses enhanced reflexes. He can further enhance this reflexes with magnetic energy, to the point he can pluck out of the air with his hand, superhumans as swift and fast as the likes of Northstar with ease.
- Superhuman Speed
Electromagnetic Spectrum Manipulation: Although Magneto's primary power is magnetism, he has some ability to project or manipulate any form of energy that is related to the electromagnetic spectrum. He can fire and absorb bolts of electricity and magnetic force, reverse lasers and other forms of radiation or energy, create enough intense heat as infrared radiation to level a city, manipulate gravity, and become invisible by deflecting visible light around his body. Infrared radiation is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which also includes visible light, radio waves, ultraviolet light, gamma rays and x-rays -- Magneto can project any of these. Magneto has demonstrated the capacity to produce a wormhole, and to safely teleport himself and others by means of the wormhole.
Astral Projection (Possibly Formerly): Magneto has occasionally been said to be able to manifest an astral projection of himself[18]. However, like all formerly attributed psychic powers, this has been retconned out of existence at least once [19], and hasn't been used by Magneto since the "Silver Age" (chronologically speaking), possibly implying any such abilities were lost during his regression to childhood by Mutant Alpha[citation needed].
Telepathic Resistance: Magneto has trained himself extensively for fighting telepaths, and is resistant to telepathic attack. This training is similar to that given to the X-Men and New Mutants by Professor X, although the effects are further augmented with the aid of his helmet (see below). Additionally, Magneto is possessed of a strong will, which also aids him in resisting telepathic assaults.Abilities
Genius-level Intellect: A mastermind, Magneto is a genius within various scientific fields. He is an expert on genetic engineering and mutation, with knowledge far beyond that of contemporary science. He can mutate humans in order to give them superhuman powers, instill genetic mind-control, create adult clones of human beings, and then manipulate the genetic structures of these clones during their development. He has designed magnetically-powered aircraft and spacecraft, complex robots and computers, and magnetically-powered generators and created artificial living beings, space stations said to possess technology even Reed Richards would envy, and machines capable of nullifying mutant powers within a radius of several miles.
Military Training: Magneto is a skilled strategist and has more than a rudimentary knowledge of hand-to-hand combat.
Excellent Strategist: Magneto is an excellent strategist, both in actual battles and games of chess.
Multi Lingual: Magneto is fluent in English, French[20], Polish[20], Russian[20], Hebrew[20], Arabic[20], Ukrainian[20], German[1], and Yiddish[21][22].
Template:Power GridWeaknesses
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Magneto's Helmet: Magneto's helmet is built to shield his mind from psychic probes and manipulation.
- Armour: The costume that Magneto wears is actually a type of armor that he has created through the use of his magnetic powers. The costume is actually an amalgam of various lightweight, but highly durable, metallic alloys that further protects him from many forms of physical injury.
Weapons
Transportation
Notes
- Magneto's magnetism is so strong that he was able to bend the adamantium in Wolverine's skeleton and remove it from his body.
Trivia
- After Magneto was believed dead in the Genoshan holocaust, he became a popular t-shirt logo and grafitti image. (Refer to the "Magneto Was Right" image above.)
- A Jack Kirby close up image of Magneto's face was used as source material for Roy Lichtenstein's Image Duplicator (1963).
- While Magneto is Jewish, he maintained a cover identity as a Sinte Gypsy when searching for his wife Magda. This created confusion amongst some readers as to his heritage[23], until it was authoritatively confirmed that he is Jewish[1][24][25]. It should be noted that this confusion probably stems from a comic book published in the early 1990s which attempted to retcon Magneto into being a Sinte, possibly because Marvel was preparing to make Magneto a deadly villain again in the crossover called "Fatal Attractions" and they did not want to draw accusations of Anti-Semitism by having one of their main villains be Jewish. This attempted retcon was corrected a few years later when it was revealed that the name "Erik Lehnsherr" and the Sinte ethnicity were part of a cover identity, as mentioned above.
- Magneto's redemption was chronicled in the pages of New Mutants. Uncanny X-Men #150 is the first issue to start developing Magneto's origin as a prisoner of Auschwitz and his marriage to Magda.
- Magneto's Auschwitz tattoo was originally seen as # "214782" in Uncanny X-Men #161. However, the artist at the time did not realize how the numbering systems at Auschwitz worked and had given Magneto a number too high for him to have been among the first group of Jews to be tattooed there. The number was retconned in Excalibur (Vol. 3) #2 to # "24005".
- "Eisenhardt", or rather "eisenhart" means "hard as iron"; a convenient name for the Master of Magnetism...
See Also
- 853 appearance(s) of Max Eisenhardt (Earth-616)
- 29 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Max Eisenhardt (Earth-616)
- 244 minor appearance(s) of Max Eisenhardt (Earth-616)
- 491 mention(s) of Max Eisenhardt (Earth-616)
- 24 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Max Eisenhardt (Earth-616)
- 1305 image(s) of Max Eisenhardt (Earth-616)
- 106 quotation(s) by or about Max Eisenhardt (Earth-616)
- 45 victim(s) killed by Max Eisenhardt (Earth-616)
- 10 item(s) used/owned by Max Eisenhardt (Earth-616)
Links and References
- Marvel Directory
- Marvel.com Magneto bio
- Magneto's bio at UncannyXmen.net
- Alara's Magneto Page
- Metaphilm: The Dark Wisdom of Erik Lehnsherr
- Polar: The History of Magneto
- Magneto is Jewish FAQ
- Magneto and the Sonderkommando
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 X-Men: Magneto Testament #1
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #161
- ↑ X-Men #1
- ↑ X-Men #4
- ↑ Defenders #15
- ↑ Defenders #16
- ↑ X-Men #104
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #150
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #200
- ↑ Captain America #367
- ↑ New Avengers #20
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #500
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #507
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #515–516
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #87 , Uncanny X-Men #212, Classic X-Men #19, Uncanny X-Men #210
- ↑ Classic X-Men #12 , Uncanny X-Men #112, New Mutants #40, Uncanny X-Men #275, X-Men (Vol. 2) #2, Excalibur (Vol. 3) #14
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #113 , New Mutants #40
- ↑ X-Men #6 , X-Men The Hidden Years #4
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #150
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 Magneto #0
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #522
- ↑ The (Yiddish) words used are a bit unclear, but this is most likely a minor mistake by the writer.
- ↑ The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Character Erik Magnus Lehnsherr – Magneto. URL last checked 2007-09-12.
- ↑ Protocols of the Elders of Marvel
- ↑ , New Joe Fridays Week 28
- ↑ X-Men: Earth's Mutant Heroes Vol 1 1