History ComicBook / Magneto

* MayDecemberRomance: Some fans are bothered by the age difference between himself and the lovely Rogue, even though thanks to being turned into a baby by Alpha the "Ultimate Mutant" and later returned to adulthood by a Shi'ar agent, he now has a body that is physically in its thirties. The age difference is never brought up when people talk about Wolverine's romantic relationships with women of roughly Rogue's age (ComicBook/JeanGrey, Mariko Yashida, Yukio, etc.) even though Wolverine is old enough to be ''Magneto's'' grandfather. Regardless, Rogue and he have married and started a family in [[ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse at least one universe]].

** Magda means "girl" or "maid".

In the face of ever growing anti-mutant persecution, he remade himself as Magneto, a living example of [[IronicEcho mutant superiority]], of mutant ''existence'', so as to make a statement that mutants no longer had to hide in the shadows. He declared war on humankind, because he concluded that force was the only thing humans understood, and the only thing that would save mutants from an identical fate. Xavier, now a cripple, made clear he opposed his plans, and he clashed time and time again with his band of mutant heroes, the X-Men. They thwarted plan after plan, and battled him and his [[Characters/XMenBrotherhoodOfMutants Brotherhood of Evil Mutants]], amongst whom were two bitter young mutant twins called the ComicBook/ScarletWitch and ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} -- whom he later learned were Wanda and Pietro, his children by Magda, though unfortunately for him only after his radical ways had proceeded to alienate them from one another. He later found himself leading a second supervillain team, the [[Characters/XMenAcolytes Acolytes of Magneto]] who not only believed in his cause of mutant supremacy but went so far as to worship him as a divine mutant messiah.

* AGodAmI: During the 90s he wholeheartedly embraced the role of a wrathful, [[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]]-styled deity to inspire awe and devotion in his new followers, the Acolytes. It is not clear if he truly believed himself to be a deity during this time or if he simply played a role already expected from him -- in introspection years later, he would say only that he "raised himself above them as a messiah". However, at his very worst he has outright called himself a god to lord over humanity, having done so in the Ultimate Marvel Verse and now currently doing so in the ''House of X'' storyline.

** On the other hand... the main version is a Jew who survived Auschwitz. He's spent most of the last decade as a member of the X-Men, albeit usually of the more ruthless variety - certainly, he's stopped bothering with attempts at global conquest. And he has actively attempted to create sanctuaries for mutants before, on a small scale on Asteroid M/Avalon, then on a larger scale in the Savage Land and Genosha, the latter of which took mutants of all varieties. While each of them were destroyed by Mutants (the former crashed after a brutal duel between Holocaust and Exodus, the Savage Land was a bust, and Genosha was wiped out by Cassandra Nova), the latter used Wild Sentinels, technology created by humans to slaughter mutants, to pull it off. And when one considers the countless generations of Sentinels, and the various groups that have actively tried to wipe mutants out... well, there's a ''reason'' that he's one of the more popular Marvel villains. You can see where he's coming from.

** If there is sufficient iron (or other metals) in their bodies, he can manipulate others like PeoplePuppets - Wolverine and Colossus are, for obvious reasons, the most prominent victims of this. However, this was done to a truly ludicrous degree in a Spider-Man comic, where he was able to make an electromagnet pull Spidey to it, with Spidey attributing it to pulling at the "metallic salts" in his body. Realistically, if this could even be done, it would almost certainly kill the victim by ripping the salts out of their body (though Spidey ''did'' have the Captain Universe power at the time, even if he didn't know it).

** Due to the human mind relying upon electromagnetic synapses and other similar functions, he has been known to dabble in MindManipulation when given sufficient cause. '
** Related to this, he also has a limited version of PsychicBlockDefense - it's stated to be stronger than the average person's, but not strong enough to keep a strong telepath (like, say, his arch-enemy Charles Xavier) out. His shiny metal helmet provides a even greater level of this power, sufficient to rebuff even Charles.
** And last but certainly not least, being the Master of Magnetism makes him effectively able to [[RealityWarper shape reality to his very whim.]]

** Of course, this all depends on whether or not he's slid up the scale to AntiHero, a position he's occupied for the last decade. For his part, he's outright stated that he doesn't give a damn what people call him - all that matters is what he wants (the protection of mutantkind) and how he'll get it (by pretty much any means necessary).

** If not Charles, then the Red Skull. As much as he battles the X-Men, they are ultimately a FriendlyEnemy he would much rather join forces with, but the Skull is by far the one being alive that he despises more than anyone. He symbolizes everything he detests, and he would gladly crush his throat with his bare hands if not for the fact that for Magneto such a death would be too kind for such Nazi scum.
* TheArtifact: Yes, World War II was 70 years ago. [[ComicBookTime Age is but a number, he's still a paragon of power]]. (Plus, he's been de-aged a couple of times).
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Writers play around with the moniker of "Master of Magnetism" to the point that very little of what he can accomplish has anything to do with magnetism. The general consensus nowadays is that he's actually manipulating electromagnetism (which is one of the fundamental forces of the universe, and goes a long way to explaining how powerful he is[[note]]simply speaking, there are just two fundamental interactions that can be "experienced" in regular life: gravity and electromagnetism. And gravity is only responsible for keeping astronomical objects together. For EVERYTHING else there is electromagnetism. From keeping the molecules together and to the nature of the sunlight. So basically, a person who controls electromagnetism can do ANYTHING. Except, maybe, [[NuclearOption splitting atoms]], which does involve some other interactions.[[/note]]).
* AstralProjection: He used to be able to do this, despite not having any PsychicPowers of his own - though perhaps it is merely that, though he does have psychic powers, he prefers to use his magnetism. Whatever the case, these days it is one of those things that is quietly ignored. The exception being Creator/JohnByrne, who brought it back a little sometime around the early 2000s, but after that it has pretty much been dropped.

* AxCrazy: He's been known to lose it here and there, though since the Claremont days this behavior has been written off as a tragic consequence of WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity, though the trauma from his teen years spent as a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz and abandonment issues tied to his wife running out on him moments after the death of his first child certainly didn't help his mental matters.

* BadassBoast: He's given quite a few throughout his Career as a mutant terrorist/revolutionary, almost all of them immediately backed up. One in particular when he revealed his identity while trapped in an underground mutant fighting club orchestrated by gangsters & corrupt power brokers in Hong Kong, China. Upon the revelation, the crowd's expressions changed from [[SmugSnake cruel enjoyment]] one minute to [[OhCrap wide eyed terror]] the next. He even lampshades it.

--->'''Magneto:''' [[CurbstompBattle *immediately post thrashing Joseph,]] who tries to give him a BreakingSpeech* The thing that ''none'' of you will ''ever'' understand is that there are no sides. There's no ''heroes'' or ''villains''. There's just ''what I want'' and ''how I'll get it.''

** In the original ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'' he calmly tells the gathered heroes that he is more powerful than any of them, with the possible exception of ComicBook/TheMightyThor. No one argues the point.
* BadBoss: In many ways, this can be considered to be his FatalFlaw. While his goals (at least post-Claremont CharacterDevelopment) are noble and his means are, if not condonable, at least ''understandable'', the ways he treats those who follow him have always been... well, bad. As an unrepentant CardCarryingVillain in the Silver Age, it is unsurprising to see Mags mercilessly bullying and demeaning minions such as Mastermind and the Toad, but even during the Claremont era when he was trying to reform Mags had a somewhat cavalier attitude about the students under his charge, ultimately abandoning them for a failed bid to steer the Hellfire Club's wealth and resources towards pro-mutant agendas, Later followers like the Acolytes were treated little better, and just as recently as 2016 he delivered a [[http://i.imgur.com/TK32s8N.jpg brutal]] TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Exodus, arguably his most loyal follower ever. As the Cullen Bunn Magneto run demonstrates in multiple instances, Mags just can ''not'' stop himself from treating (and seeing) his followers as "[[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fo6mrBfRgjI/U8Q6nKMZqzI/AAAAAAAAC00/n2qwJlauA_s/s1600/Magneto+(2014-)+006-011.jpg underlings]]" more than people, to be bent and used and thrown away at his discretion.

** The main incarnation has become the chief mentor of the time displaced X-Men, who came from an era where Magneto tried to kill them every other week. Both sides are entirely aware of the irony.

* BroughtDownToBadass: There have been times where he had to make do without his powers, for one reason or another. They do nothing to slow his effectiveness however, as Joanna Cargill (and her eyes) can attest.
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: Ruthie sees butterflies [[spoiler:right before she and her family are captured and executed by nazis]].

* TheCaligula: DependingOnTheWriter. Back in the Creator/StanLee comics, Magneto was simply capricious and domineering because that was expected of a villain. However, he really looks ''[[TheSociopath very bad]]'' when you take those old comics ''seriously''--especially considering his treatment of the Brotherhood, with constant death threats, physical "discipline" and demands for the "fear" and "blind obedience" of his terrified followers. In later years, many writers tend to ignore this, but other stories looking back to that period have his ex-compatriots reacting realistically to the abuse, showing that (for example) Scarlet Witch still suffers from what amounts to post-traumatic stress disorder years later due to [[DomesticAbuse the way he treated her]] while she was his minion.

* TheCasanova: Not as much as others, but for a guy on the far side of 80, he's got game. (It probably helps that he doesn't look it). He's generally fairly attractive to women and famously came on to The Wasp during ''ComicBook/SecretWars'', and he's had at least two (possibly five. No one was really sure about Zaladane, and the twins now say they aren't his) children - and that's just the main version. Many of his lovers have been regular humans who still started a relationship with him [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys despite knowing he's a misanthropic mutant terrorist and supremacist.]]

* CultOfPersonality: This, along with AsskickingEqualsAuthority, is the main reason why the mutant community still keeps looking to him for leadership despite his spotty track record. Much like real life examples of this trope, Magneto is described as an extremely charismatic individual who mutants in particular revere with a near religious fervor (his Acolytes even worshiped him as a god outright).

** In older works: is he an AntiVillain with sympathetic aims, [[WellIntentionedExtremist a leader with extreme methods toward a golden age for mutants]], or a completely psychotic madman who will strike down ANYONE who gets in his way? It depends on what interpretation there is one thinks holds the most water, though these days, it's generally the former, with Magneto see-sawing between AntiHero and AntiVillain.

* DomesticAbuse: His treatment of the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and perhaps Scarlet Witch in particular, with everything from threats to {{Gaslighting}} to outright physical violence, with a subtext of sexual abuse. It's to the point that those comics can be potentially ''uncomfortable'' for some readers today, with him manipulating the psychologically fragile Witch like a cult leader or abusive husband, alternating threats and promises and constantly reminding her of how he saved her from the horrible humans, so now she must show him "blind obedience" in all things. Given that many fans (and writers) are used to a Magneto who is more of a NobleDemon, this is not usually played up more recently, and usually overlooked, as with the behaviour of other characters that would be seen as OOC, as a sort of meta version of the old 'it was a Doombot' excuse -- that said, 'usually' is not 'invariably'. There are also stories that delve into that era. One, told from the Witch's point of view, is both heartbreaking and terrifying.

** On another occasion, he worked with several of the Marvel Universe's most despicable villains, including the Red Skull, in what was colloquially referred to as the "Acts of Vengeance", in an attempt to destroy the "heroes" who constantly interfered with their plans, through he and the other participants in the plot were manipulated by Comicbook/{{Loki}} the trickster god.

* EvilMentor: Not during the New Mutant days, but much, much later, when Hope Summers is around. Cable is particularly weary of letting the cynical teenager anywhere near Magneto for precisely this reason. Actual evil-ness may vary, but Erik was definitely not the best influence someone like Hope needed.

** A note that in various ''What if'' stories, it's stated the reason mutants are hated and feared is a large part ''due to the actions of Magneto.'' His terrorist attacks against the military and governments of the world pretty much underscore how helpless humanity is against mutants. Mind you, Marvel being the CrapsackWorld it is, if Magneto ''didn't'' exist then the X-Men would get slaughtered by Apocalypse as they would otherwise have forgone LevelGrinding.

** He is Jewish by birth, but this aspect of his character is not always openly stated. In addition to more specific examples, on a few occasions he is shown to still believe in God, but it's never made clear if he is a practicing Jew. Whenever he references scripture, it is usually the gospels - though that could just be a case of his being widely read and using more familiar (and to his mind, ironic) quotations. He shaves, though no one knows how. And in ''ComicBook:JonathonHickmansXMen'', he eats steak and bacon.

** He is Jewish by birth, but this aspect of his character is not always openly stated. In addition to more specific examples, on a few occasions he is shown to still believe in God, but it's never made clear if he is a practicing Jew. Whenever he references scripture, it is usually the gospels - though that could just be a case of his being widely read and using more familiar (and to his mind, ironic) quotations. He shaves, though no one knows how. And in ''JonathonHickmansX-Men'', he eats steak and bacon.

** He is Jewish by birth, but this aspect of his character is not always openly stated. In addition to more specific examples, on a few occasions he is shown to still believe in God, but it's never made clear if he is a practicing Jew. Whenever he references scripture, it is usually the gospels - though that could just be a case of his being widely read and using more familiar (and to his mind, ironic) quotations. He shaves, though no one knows how. And in ''X-men (2019)'', he eats steak and bacon.

* EvilutionaryBiologist: Magneto also creates the dangerous mutant team called the Savage Land Mutates, by subjecting them to experiments that greatly enhanced their physiology.

* BadassGrandpa: He has [[ComicBook/YoungAvengers two grandsons]], who helped him find their mother the last time she went missing, and [[ComicBook/TheInhumans a granddaughter]]. Oh, and he's capable of taking on entire Avengers and X-Men teams simultaneously, being one of the most powerful beings on Earth. Even with his powers broken after Avengers versus X-Men, he was still absolutely terrifying, capable of taking down a Predator X with a shiv made of bone. Now, they're back again.

** He has had to side with Charles and his X-Men when the need arises. Said forced team-ups may have also been the result of [[VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever another entity playing a game]].

* TheCasanova: Not as much as others, but for a guy on the far side of 80, he's got game. (It probably helps that he doesn't look it). He's generally fairly attractive to women and famously came on to The Wasp during ''ComicBook/SecretWars'', and he's had at least two (possibly five. No one was really sure about Zaladane, and the twins now say they aren't his) children - and that's just the main version.

* AGodAmI: During the 90s he wholeheartedly embraced the role of a wrathful, [[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]]-styled deity to inspire awe and devotion in his new followers, the Acolytes. It is not clear if he truly believed himself to be a deity during this time or if he simply played a role already expected from him -- in introspection years later, he would say only that he "raised himself above them as a messiah". However, at his very worst he has outright called himself a god to lord over humanity, having done so in the Ultimate Marvel Verse and now currently doing so in the ''Age of X'' Storyline.

* AGodAmI: During the 90s he wholeheartedly embraced the role of a wrathful, [[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]]-styled deity to inspire awe and devotion in his new followers, the Acolytes. It is not clear if he truly believed himself to be a deity during this time or if he simply played a role already expected from him -- in introspection years later, he would say only that he "raised himself above them as a messiah".

** He is Jewish by birth, but this aspect of his character is not always openly stated. In addition to more specific examples, on a few occasions he is shown to still believe in God, but it's never made clear if he is a practising Jew. Whenever he references scripture, it is usually the gospels - though that could just be a case of his being widely read and using more familiar (and to his mind, ironic) quotations. He shaves, though no one knows how. And in ''X-men (2019)'', he eats steak and bacon.

** He is Jewish by birth, but this aspect of his character is not always openly stated. In addition to more specific examples, on a few occasions he is shown to still believe in God, but it's never made clear if he is a practising Jew. Whenever he references scripture, it is usually the gospels - though that could just be a case of his being widely read and using more familiar (and to his mind, ironic) quotations. He shaves, though no one knows how.

-->'''Magneto:''' You're foolish to think that because I have changed the methods in which I plan to achieve my goals that I am any less powerful. You can float around out here, wear my clothes, and be worshipped by that broken woman, pretending to be me. But don't forget... you're nothing but my clone.
-->'''Magneto:''' [[CurbstompBattle *immediately post thrashing Joseph,]] who tries to give him a BreakingSpeech* The thing that ''none'' of you will ''ever'' understand is that there are no sides. There's no ''heroes'' or ''villains''. There's just ''what I want'' and ''how I'll get it.''

** He is Jewish by birth, but this aspect of his character is not always openly stated. In addition to more specific examples, on a few occasions he is shown to still believe in God, but it's never made clear if he is a practising Jew. Whenever he references scripture, it is usually the gospels - though that could just be a case of his being widely read and using more familiar (and to his mind, ironic) quotations. He shaves, though.

** He is Jewish by birth, but this aspect of his character is not always openly stated. In addition to more specific examples, on a few occasions he is shown to still believe in God, but it's never made clear if he is a practising Jew. Whenever he references scripture, it is usually the gospels - though that could just be a case of his being widely read and using more familiar (and to his mind, ironic) quotations.

* AxCrazy: He's been known to lose it here and there, though since the Claremont days this behavior has been written off as a tragic consequence of He's been known to lose it here and there, though since the Claremont days this behavior has been written off as a tragic consequence of WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity, though the trauma from his teen years spent as a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz and abandonment issues tied to his wife running out on him moments after the death of his first child certainly didn't help his mental matters.

* NaziHunter: Most famously when he buried the Red Skull alive.

* AxCrazy: He's been known to lose it here and there, though since the Claremont days this behavior has been written off as a tragic consequence of trauma from his teen years spent as a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz, and abandonment issues tied to his wife running out on him moments after the death of his first child.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold/JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Even if his methods reach far into the depths of villainy, even if he almost becomes [[NotSoDifferent exactly like his oppressors]], he desires nothing but a world where mutants are FREE from the hand of racism dealt by man. Of course, DependingOnTheWriter, sometimes his messianic ambitions are nothing more than a front for his raging ego and god complex (90s Magneto, we're looking at you).

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Even if his methods reach far into the depths of villainy, even if he almost becomes [[NotSoDifferent exactly like his oppressors]], he desires nothing but a world where mutants are FREE from the hand of racism dealt by man.

* AxCrazy: He's been known to lose it here and there, though since the Claremont days this behavior has been written off as a tragic consequence of WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity.

* ImaginationBasedSuperpower: Magnetism is capable of anything in his hands. For example, his magnetic attraction power can hypnotize the less mentally capable. He has also magnetically lifted various objects and entities that logically he should not have been able to, like simple water. He can even manipulate the entire electro-magnetic spectrum (which helps explain some of his weirder abilities), albeit without the same potency as regular magnetism, and once in a while he displays some latent telepathic powers.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Writers play around with the moniker of "Master of Magnetism" to the point that very little of what he can accomplish has anything to do with magnetism. The general consensus nowadays is that he's actually manipulating electromagnetism (which is one of the fundamental forces of the universe, and goes a long way to explaining how powerful he is).

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Twice he's done this to the Red Skull, with the second time killing him outright.

* RetCon: Has been subject to many--the idea that he was a Jew in World War II and victim of Nazi anti-Semitism, which is arguably the character's defining trait nowadays, is one itself. Moreover, it was a particularly heavy-handed one at that, since Magneto was originally a [[ANaziByAnyOtherName heavily Nazi-coded]] blond and blue-eyed {{Ubermensch}} villain who speechified like a cut-rate Hitler and dressed up his {{Mook}} soldiers [[PuttingOnTheReich literally like Nazi stormtroopers with the swastikas filed off.]] Other than this big one, there have also been endless other retcons about various aspects of his origins and past since, back and forth. (Polaris is his daughter--No, she's not! Scarlet Witch is his daughter--No, she's not! He's a Polish Jew--No, actually a Gypsy--No, he's really a ''German'' Jew! His real name is Magnus--No, Erik--No, Max! And on, and on...) However, none of them has influenced the essence of the character in any similarly major way.

** The fact that he had some degree of PsychicPowers in the same time frame. He meets with Xavier on the astral plane and he hypnotically compels Warren's parents to go to bed. Later stories vaguely allude to those abilities by explaining he uses magnetism and blood iron manipulation to do so.