Magneto () is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The X-Men #1 (cover-dated September 1963) as an adversary of the X-Men. Magneto is a powerful mutant, one of a fictional subspecies of humanity born with superhuman abilities, who has the ability to generate and control magnetic fields. Writers have since fleshed out his origins and motivations, revealing him to be a Holocaust survivor (birth name: Max Eisenhardt; alias: Erik Lehnsherr German pronunciation: [ˈeːʁɪk ˈleːnshɛʁ] and Magnus). His extreme methods and cynical philosophy derive from his "Never again" determination to protect mutants from suffering the same fate as the Jews at the hands of a world that fears and persecutes them. He was once a friend of Professor X, the leader of the X-Men, but their differing philosophies caused a rift in their friendship. Magneto's role in comics has progressed from supervillain to antihero to superhero, having served as an occasional ally of the X-Men, even leading the New Mutants for a time as headmaster of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, and eventually a fully fledged member of the X-Men. Writer Chris Claremont, who created Magneto's backstory, compared the character to then-Israeli opposition leader Menachem Begin, with later commentators comparing the character with the American civil rights leader Malcolm X and Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane. Magneto appears in X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997), voiced by David Hemblen, and its revival X-Men '97 (2024–present), voiced by Matthew Waterson. Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender have portrayed Magneto in 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series (2000–2019), with McKellen set to reprise the role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Avengers: Doomsday (2026).
Publication history
Magneto first appeared in the debut issue of The X-Men in 1963. Since the 1960s, Magneto has appeared in The Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, Alpha Flight, Cable, Excalibur, The New Mutants, various X-Men miniseries, and many other Marvel titles. His first solo title was a one-shot special, Magneto: The Twisting of a Soul #0 (Sept. 1993), published when the character returned from a brief absence; it reprinted Magneto-based stories from Classic X-Men #12 and 19 (Aug. 1987 and March 1988), by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Bolton. When asked about his approach to Magneto, Jack Kirby stated, "I saw my villains not as villains. I knew villains had to come from somewhere and they came from people. My villains were people that developed problems." In a 2008 interview, Stan Lee said he "did not think of Magneto as a bad guy. He just wanted to strike back at the people who were so bigoted and racist...he was trying to defend the mutants, and because society was not treating them fairly he was going to teach society a lesson. He was a danger of course...but I never thought of him as a villain." In the same interview, he also revealed that he originally planned for Magneto to be the brother of his nemesis Professor X. Writer Chris Claremont stated that Menachem Begin was an inspiration for Magneto's development, as David Ben-Gurion was for Professor X. "There's a lot of talk online now that Magneto stands in for Malcolm X and Xavier stands in for Martin Luther King, which is totally valid but for me, being an immigrant white, to make that analogy felt incredibly presumptuous. An equivalent analogy could be made to [Israeli prime minister] Menachem Begin as Magneto, evolving through his life from a terrorist in 1947 to a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 30 years later." Asked about the Malcolm X/Martin Luther King Jr. parallels, Claremont also said "It was too close [in the 1970s]. It had only been a few years since the assassinations. In a way, it seemed like that would be too raw. My resonance to Magneto and Xavier was borne more out of the Holocaust. It was coming face to face with evil, and how do you respond to it? In Magneto's case it was violence begets violence. In Xavier's it was the constant attempt to find a better way... As we got distance from the '60s, the Malcolm X-Martin Luther King-Mandela resonance came into things. It just fit." Magneto's first original title was the four-issue miniseries Magneto (Nov. 1996-Feb. 1997), by writers Peter Milligan and Jorge Gonzalez, and penciller Kelley Jones. In the miniseries, Magneto had been de-aged and suffered from amnesia, calling himself Joseph; it was later revealed that Joseph was a younger clone of Magneto. Later, Magneto became ruler of the nation Genosha and then appeared in two miniseries; Magneto Rex (written by Joe Pruett and drawn by Brandon Peterson) and Magneto: Dark Seduction (written by Fabian Nicieza and drawn by Roger Cruz). A trade paperback novel detailing Magneto's childhood, X-Men: Magneto Testament was written by Greg Pak and released in September 2008. Pak based Magneto Testament on accounts from Holocaust survivors. Before the publication of X-Men: Magneto Testament, Magneto's personal background and history were invented in The Uncanny X-Men #150 (Aug. 1981). He was portrayed as a Jewish Holocaust survivor; while searching for his wife Magda, a Sintesa, Magneto maintained a cover identity as a Sinto. This created confusion among some readers as to Magneto's heritage, until his Jewish background was confirmed in Magneto: Testament.
Fictional character biography
Early life
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
