Magneto

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Lore & Background

Magneto's experiences during the Holocaust—Nazi Germany and Auschwitz—shaped his outlook on the situation that mutants face in the Marvel Universe. Determined to keep such atrocities from ever being committed against mutantkind, he is willing to use deadly force to protect mutants. He believes that mutants ('Homo superior') will become the dominant life form on the planet and sets about either creating a homeland on Earth where mutants can live peacefully, or conquering and enslaving humanity in the name of mutantkind. His first villainous act was attacking a United States military base called Cape Citadel after bringing down missiles, driven off by Charles Xavier's mutant students, the X-Men. He created Asteroid M, an orbital base of operations in a hollowed-out asteroid, and gathered a group of angry and disillusioned mutants including Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, forming the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. (Note: While Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were later retconned as Magneto's children in the 1980s, they were not established as such at the time of their debut in the original Brotherhood.)

In Their Own Story

Max Eisenhardt was born in the late 1920s to a middle-class German Jewish family. Surviving discrimination and hardship during the Nazi rise to power, the passing of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, and Kristallnacht, Max and his family fled to Poland, where they were captured during the German invasion of Poland and sent to the Warsaw Ghetto. His mother, father, and sister were executed and buried in a mass grave, but Max survived, possibly due to the manifestation of his mutant powers. Escaping from the mass grave, he was ultimately captured yet again and sent to Auschwitz, where he was branded with the inmate number 214782 and eventually became a Sonderkommando. While at Auschwitz, he reunited with a Romani girl named Magda, and they escaped during the October 7, 1944 revolt. After the war, they moved to Vinnytsia, and Max adopted the name 'Magnus'. They had a daughter named Anya, but an angry mob burned down their home with Anya still inside. Magnus's powers were unleashed, killing the mob and destroying part of the city. Magda left him and later gave birth to the mutant twins Pietro and Wanda before she died. Magnus paid a Romanian forger to create the cover identity of 'Erik Lehnsherr, the Sinte gypsy'. Erik moved to Israel, where he met and befriended Charles Xavier while working at a psychiatric hospital near Haifa. There, they debated the consequences humanity faced with the rise of mutants, though neither revealed to the other that they were mutants. They were forced to reveal their abilities while facing Baron Strucker and Hydra. After the battle, Erik left with a cache of hidden Nazi gold, which provided him with the finances to pursue his goals.

Reader's Guide

Magneto's primary strength lies in his ability to generate and control magnetic fields, allowing him to manipulate metal on a global scale. He can create Asteroid M as an orbital base of operations, bring down missiles, and capture enemies. His kit typically features high mobility, allowing him to glide across the field using magnetic currents, making him difficult to pin down. He can launch devastating attacks by hurling heavy metal objects at opponents or creating localized gravitational anomalies that disrupt enemy formations. Defining moments in his arc often revolve around the tension between his protective instincts and his ruthless methods. While he frequently clashes with heroic teams, his ultimate goal remains the survival of mutantkind, making him a tragic anti-hero rather than a simple villain.

Did You Know?

• Magneto first appeared in The X-Men #1 (cover-dated September 1963) as an adversary of the X-Men.
• He was created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby.
• His birth name is Max Eisenhardt; he also uses the aliases Erik Lehnsherr and Magnus.
• He was a Holocaust survivor, branded with inmate number 214782 at Auschwitz.
• Writer Chris Claremont compared Magneto to Israeli opposition leader Menachem Begin.