Magneto's History
Nazi Germany
The man now known as "Magneto" was born Max Eisenhardt. While attending school in Nuremberg, Germany, Max was attracted to a young gypsy or Roma girl, named Magda, the daughter of the school cleaner. Max would do things, such as create necklaces and excel in sporting events, to gain her attention. While returning from school one day, Max found his uncle, Erich, beaten and wearing a sign saying that he had shamed a German woman. At a school event, Max won a javelin competition, to impress Magda, and the following day, was accused of cheating. Max was told to either give-up his medal or recreate the throw with a "regulation" javelin. After winning the competition a second time, Max was again accused of cheating, expelled and beaten by the other children.
After traveling with his father Jakob to see Major Scharf whom he saved in World War I, his father was left waiting for the Major and beaten by a troupe of Nazis for "making such a trouble" in Scharf's office and resisting arrest. After hours of beating, Major Scharf threw Jakob out of his office, stating that they would have killed him and that they were even. As things worsened in Germany, Max's father taught his family "fight back, and they'll stomp in your head", but fled to Warsaw, Poland after Reichskristallnacht. There they lived in the Jewish section of Warsaw where the Nazis built the Warsaw Ghetto in October 1940. His time in the ghetto molded Max into a smuggler of food and supplies. When the Nazis started to deport ghetto inhabitants to Treblinka extermination camp in July 1942, Max and his family escaped from Warsaw. On their way to their hideout they were captured by Nazi soldiers and as they were executed, Jakob saved Max' life by pushing him out of the firing line without anyone's notice. The corpse and Max were buried in a mass grave.
Auschwitz
After being found, Max spent his early teens imprisoned at the Vernichtungslager (Extermination Camp) in Auschwitz, Poland. 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 that they considered different. Max was unable to access his mutant powers at puberty, like most, due to a bout of hepatitis from working in the camp. While in Auschwitz, Max was reunited with Magda and continued to smuggle food and supplies. Max saved Magda from the gas chambers and then from execution; as the members of the Sonderkommando revolted, 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.
Erik Magnus Lehnsherr
Max, at this point, sought out a forger, named Georg Odekirk, who was supposed to be among 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 Max could live more easily amongst Magda's own people. Max added "Magnus" as his middle name and, although many knew of his history as a Jewish prisoner, no one knew of his life as Max Eisenhardt. 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. On their very first day in the city, Magnus consciously used his powers for the first time. Erik 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, Erik 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. Magda never revealed to Erik that she was pregnant. At some unspecified time later, soon after giving birth to the twins, Wanda and Pietro, under the care of Bova on Wundagore 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". Magnus worked there as a volunteer orderly at a psychiatric hospital for Holocaust victims. It was there Erik 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.
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), Magnus 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 Magnus' 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. When Magnus captured and attempted to give Nazi Hans Richter to Israel, agents from the unnamed Western intelligence agency decided to put an end to his activities. They murdered Magnus' girlfriend, at the time, Isabelle, right in front of his eyes. In a rage, Magnus killed his "Control" and cohorts and vowed from that time on, he would be called "Magneto". Magneto, then, began planning his campaign against the human race. Magnus, later, found himself in Brooklyn, New York, under the guise "Michael Xavier", where he had learned that mutants were gathering and hiding from humans in plain sight. Magnus asked Cassandra Michaels to create his first uniform, stating that with all of the colorfully costumed heroes and villains walking the Earth, it was imperative that he do the same to make a statement. After accompanying Cassandra on a date, they were attacked by an underground monster and Magnus entertained the idea of being a hero, but, after feeling Cassandra was ungrateful, realized that his heart lay elsewhere.
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. Magneto had also created an orbital space station, Asteroid M, to use as a base and began to assemble his original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. One of his early recruits, Astra, was simply infatuated with Magneto and could care less about the mutant cause, but she left the group under mysterious circumstances before it made its first public appearance. Simply needing powerful mutants in the coming war, Magnus, unwittingly, recruited his two twin children for the Brotherhood, after he rescued them from a mob of ignorant humans, but was unaware that they were the children that Magda hid from him. Pietro wished to leave constantly and Wanda disagreed with Magneto's evil ambitions, but Wanda felt that she owed Magneto her life and Pietro would never leave her side. 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. On the anniversary of his liberation from the Vernichtungslager Extermination Camp, Charles, now a Professor and confined to a wheelchair, met with Magneto in Auschwitz. Professor Xavier pleaded with Magneto that the actions he would set into motion were no different than what the Nazis did to him years earlier, but Magneto laughed and patronized the Professor for claiming to lead mutants, but being confined to a chair. Professor Xavier replied that he may have lost the use of his legs, but not his heart, something Magneto could not say. After both men reminded each other that they had the power to destroy each other, Magneto left, with Professor Xavier hoping that he saw the error of his ways.
X-Men and the Brotherhood
Professor Xavier's 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. When they next clashed, Magneto overthrew the government of Santo Marco, setting himself up as absolute ruler, and was leading his original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which included Wanda and Pietro, now known as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Not until years later would Magneto learn that they were actually his children. After the X-Men liberated Santo Marco, Magneto kidnapped Angel and the X-Men followed, to Asteroid M. Asteroid M was destroyed in the battle with the X-Men, when Scarlet Witch sabotaged a button, designed to kill the X-Men.
Later, while the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants were battling the X-Men at Hammer Industries, Magneto and his troops withdrew from battle, after the arrival of a Sentinel. Around this time, the Evolutionaries sought the help of Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, viewing Magneto as the leader of all mutantkind. After the Brotherhood kidnapped Emma Frost, Magneto took her to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, to use Cerebro. Beast created a device, that shut-off their access to cosmic rays and accidentally killed two of them. When Cyclops vowed to protect mutantkind, the remaining Evolutionary reluctantly left, but not before erasing the memory of their presence from the minds of the X-Men and Brotherhood and vowing to return one day.
Magneto then attempted to recruit both the Thunder God, Thor, and the King of Atlantis, Namor, into his Brotherhood, but both refused. While convincing Namor, Magneto commandeered his Atlantean army and attacked, but was beaten by Namor and the Fantastic Four. The Blob was the next candidate for recruitment, but he ultimately declined to join, after seeing the way Magneto mistreated his followers. Magneto, briefly battled the Inhumans, while attempting to use Black Bolt as an ally in assaulting a government research facility developing a new cosmic power source, but Black Bolt only pretended to succumb to Magneto's mind control device and the royal family defeated Magneto. During an encounter with the enigmatic Stranger, Magneto and the Toad were captured and taken to the Stranger's homeworld, for study. Shortly after which, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch joined a revamped version of the Avengers, led by Captain America.
Magneto escaped from the planet on his own, leaving the Toad behind, but was then re-captured by the Stranger, who had been warned by Professor X. Then, Magneto was accidentally returned to Earth by Dane Whitman and attempted to force Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver back into his Brotherhood. Magneto traveled, with the twins, to the United Nations building, where he demanded that mutants be given their own country. Quicksilver managed to send a distress call to the Avengers and they joined the X-Men in defeating Magneto. As his island base was destroyed, Magneto was thrown from the escaping helicopter, by Toad, tired of Magneto's constant abuse. Seeming to perish, Magneto managed to escape a drowning death by using his magnetic powers to burrow through the Earth.
Magneto retreated to the Savage Land and genetically altered the natives into the Savage Land Mutates, who worshiped him as The Creator. Here, he took the help of some of these natives to create a device that would permit him to channel energy to him. Investigating the supposed suicide of Sauron, the X-Men, again, stumbled upon Magneto's plans and, after Magneto revived the life of Angel, they destroyed his machines and Citadel, seemingly killing him. Magneto survived, due to a strange radiation in the Savage Land, and, upon his resurrection, the X-Men battled him again. Magneto destroyed the X-mansion and defeated the X-Men, but a distress call was sent to the Avengers. After capturing the Avengers also, Magneto controlled both groups to kidnap scientists, to create atomic devices that will create him an army of mutants to command. The heroes were saved, after Vision used his powers to take possession of Piper and knocked Magneto unconscious.
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, who rebelled against him and turned Magneto back into an infant. 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 Magneto's 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. Dr. MacTaggert hoped, given time and the right upbringing, Magneto 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. Magneto, thereafter, had a series of battles with Prof. Xavier's new team of X-Men. First, Magneto battled the X-Men for payment for Erik the Red restoring his age. Magneto, later, formed a new Brotherhood, comprised of Burner, Lifter, Peeper, Shocker, and Slither, but when they failed to capture the mutant with two bodies, known as Mister One and Mister Two, and lost to Captain America, Magneto abandoned this team. Magneto next found himself in Latveria and was disgusted at level of obedience that the citizens showed to Dr. Doom. After attacking Doom, in Doctor Doom's Castle, Doom defeated Magneto and Magneto propositioned to rule the world together. Dr. Doom declined and subjected Magneto to a mind controlling neurogas. After administering the antidote, Doom suggested that Magneto attempt to stop him from controlling the world himself. Magneto traveled to the Avengers and briefly battled, before he informed them of Doom's plans. The Avengers were then ordered, by Doom to kill Magneto and Magneto realized that Beast was fighting the control. After rescuing Beast and erasing the effects of the gas, Magneto and Beast went to the Champions, for assistance. After arriving, the Champions also attacked the duo and Washington, D.C. and confronted Doom, who had the Hulk attack them. After the arrival of the Champions, Ghost Rider shed the effects of the gas and aided the duo. Magneto was poised to defeat Dr. Doom, until Dr. Doom reversed the effects of Magneto's powers and he withdrew from battle. Magneto, later, rescued the X-Men from Mesmero, who had controlled them to perform in a circus, to have them imprisoned by his robot, Nanny, while he destroyed aerospace installations in Australia and New Zealand.
Due to the rapid re-aging of Magneto by Erik the Red, Magneto's 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. Therefore, after a brief time of more psychotic behavior, Magneto began to calm and 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, by shear force of will, created a volcano in the city of Varykino, destroying it. 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. After finding the bodies of two murdered mutant children hanging from a swing set, Magneto rescued the X-Men from an attack, by the Purifiers. After capturing their attackers, Magneto and the X-Men tortured them for information and rescued Kitty Pryde, who was being pursued by Purifiers. After arriving at Reverend William Stryker's base, Magneto and the X-Men rescued Cyclops and Storm and Magneto resuscitated them. Professor X was taken to Madison Square Garden, where he was attached to a machine that, using his brainpower, would kill all living mutants. Magneto, with his psi-shielded helmet, was able to distract the Professor enough for the X-Men to destroy the machine. Televised, Cyclops entered into a debate with Stryker about his actions and Stryker pulled a gun, attempting to kill Kitty. Before he could fire, Styker was shot-down, by a police officer. Later at the X-mansion, Professor admitted that Magneto was right and began to accept his offer to join, until Scott stopped him and stated that he believed in the Professor's dream and will see it come true. Professor X declined, stating he would not leave his students and Magneto left, calling them fools.
Secret Wars
After rebuilding his space station, Magneto was among those that were teleported to an area of space-time 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 space-time. 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 space-time, 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 villain and decided to stay-out of the direct conflicts and become a third-party, creating his own fortress. After battling the heroes for their power supply, Magneto kidnapped Wasp. Later, Magneto took responsibility of watching Galactus' movements. After Professor X noticed Galatus was attempting to feed on Battleworld, the X-Men and the heroes battled him. During his time there, Magneto was mostly allied with the X-Men. After Dr. Doom absorbed energy from Galactus and Beyonder and killed all of the heroes, Mister Fantastic revived them all. After Beyonder regained his powers, he and Doom disappeared and the heroes willed themselves back to Earth.
After being returned to Asteroid M, the arrival of Warlock, crashing through his space station, sent Magneto plummeting to Earth. Magneto 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. Around this time, the Mutant Registration Act was passed, that called for all mutants to register with the government, forfeiting their civil rights and illegalizing an unregistered mutant.
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. Magneto began using the alias, Michael Xavier, to avoid detection from authorities. 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 (Shadowcat, as she was then called), Kitty was amazed to learn that Magneto knew her grandaunt and saved many lives in Auschwitz before Magneto was attacked by the Freedom Force and 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, Lilandra Neramani, 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 School for Gifted Youngsters for the New Mutants and 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.
Later, Phoenix decided to simply destroy the entire universe and have it all start over without the Beyonder. Phoenix stole the life force of the X-Men and Starjammers, but Storm's soul convinced her otherwise. After hearing the thoughts of every living being in existence, Phoenix returned the X-Men and Starjammers to life. This event also made Magneto rethink his methods of genocide for a "greater good". 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 emotionally persuaded, by Empath, into having the New Mutants join the Hellions, to see if the White Queen, Emma, could help. Upon realizing the manipulation, Magneto raced to rescue the children and was attacked by 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. At this time, Magneto was offered a position in the Hellfire Club and upon entering the building, he recognized that X-Factor were in-fact the original X-Men. Magneto left the building unsure.
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 Rasputin was left in a temporary paralysis. The New Mutants wandered 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. After being propositioned, Magneto, later, joined the Hellfire Club as co-White King of the Inner Circle, at Storm's behest, and accepted Havok as a member of the X-Men. The union between the Hellfire Club and the X-Men would give the X-Men access to all of the Hellfire Club's government secrets and protect the school, if the Marauders were to attack again. Unwilling to watch her die, Magneto went to Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) of the Fantastic Four to use a device that Mr. Fantastic had built to save Shadowcat. Unsure of the outcome, Mr. Fantastic refused to help Kitty, even after the X-Men begged him, and the X-Men and Fantastic Four briefly battled. At that time, Dr. Doom presented his assistance and, under duress, Storm accepted. At the urging of Franklin Richards, Kitty was cured by the combined efforts of Dr. Doom and Mr Fantastic.
After learning that pieces of his space-station, Asteroid M, had fallen to Earth, Magneto left the X-Men to travel to Kampuchea, on his own, and retrieve the technology in it. Magneto was intercepted by the Avengers and the X-Men arrived to aide him, before the Super-Soldiers and Crimson Dynamo arrived. The three teams fought over Magneto and, in the confusion, the X-Men slipped away with him. Magneto left the X-Men, again, to get the tech on the space-station and, after finding it, began wearing his old helmet again. After the Avengers showed again, the X-Men, again, came to Magneto's aide and they left with his tech, while destroying the rest of the Asteroid. After arriving in Singapore, the team took a Dutch freighter and were boarded by the Super-Soldiers, while at sea. Fearing that he was endangering the team, Magneto, again, left the X-Men. Arriving back in Singapore, Magneto was sheltered by an underground group of mutants and brought to the Galleria, where they asked him to lead them against human oppression. After Magneto informed them that he was no longer that man, soldiers burst in and began firing on them and Magneto saved them. Magneto, then, went to the X-Men and Avengers and revealed his technology, a device in his helmet that would mix with his magnetic powers and give him control over any mind he chose. Magneto declared that he had modified the circuitry to remove all traces of prejudice, particularly that of mutants, from the collective minds of the human race and not to rule them. After using the device on Captain America, Magneto learned that Cap never hated mutants and agreed to go before trial again. Magneto was, once again, defended by Gabrielle Haller and prosecuted by Sir James Jaspers in Paris. After fearing that his death would spark a war between mutants and humans, Magneto called his helmet, from Singapore to Paris, and used it on one of the judges, Alexandre Gilbert Du Motier, acquitting him of his crimes in the world court.
Magneto destroyed his helmet and returned to his position as headmaster of the Xavier School, attempting to connect more with his students, after learning that they had returned as well. Magneto, notably, connected with Illyana Rasputin, who had lost her brother, Colossus, best friend, Shadowcat, and control over her realm, Limbo, after the attack of the Marauders. Magneto also grounded the New Mutants for their impulsive, reckless behavior. After a soccer game became too physical, Sunspot ended-up giving Cannonball a concussion and, after the rest of the New Mutants began to chastise him, Sunspot ran away, feeling he was a danger to his team. Warlock left after Sunspot and this left all of the team feeling deeply guilty and worried about Warlock and Sunspot's whereabouts. To calm them down, Magneto dressed them elegantly and they all attended a Hellfire Club event and asked Dr. MacTaggert to assist in the administration of the school.
Fall of the Mutants
After hearing of an animal creature that was being mistreated after capture, the New Mutants abducted Bird Brain and, after returning home, Magma decided to return to the Massachusetts Academy. After an incident at the mall, Magneto decided to return Bird-Brain to the authorities, but after Cypher began to speak with it, the New Mutants convinced him that Bird-Brain could be taught and he remained. Magneto woke, one night, to the return of Sunspot and Warlock and the disappearance of the New Mutants. Magneto ordered Sunspot and Warlock to stay-put, while he used the technology at the Hellfire Club to locate the New Mutants. While at the Hellfire Club, Magneto witnessed X-Factor's battle with Apocalypse and the current X-Men die on television. When the children returned, they informed Magneto that Cypher was killed in action, by the Ani-Mator. Magneto was furious and magnetically held the children and forbid them from ever leaving the school without his presence or using their powers, stating that he needed to protect them. Retreating to Limbo, Illyana returned in her Darkchylde form with her Soulsword and attacked Magneto, stating that she was wrong about him being her Knight in shining armor, until the New Mutants separated them and she returned the sword to Limbo. Magneto blamed himself for Doug Ramsey's death as well as Homo Sapiens and contacted Doug's parents (telling them Doug was killed while the students were on a field trip by a hunting accident), while cursing Professor Xavier for leaving him in his position. Magneto's temper began to rise daily as he would threaten the New Mutants that is if they would not follow his demands, he would make them.
After Mirage interrupted a training session of Cannonball's, Magneto ordered the children never to use their mutant powers without his permission, a fact that Sunspot immediately defied and stated that Magneto didn't give them their powers and they could use them as they pleased. After scolding Sunspot, Magneto received a call from Emma, stating that Magma had been kidnapped. Magneto, the White Queen, and the Inner Circle left to rescue Magma, unaware that the New Mutants had already rescued her and Magneto was over-heard, by the New Mutants, stating that the Purifiers had almost foiled their plan for Magma. After allowing Cannonball to attend a concert of his girlfriend's, after he promised not to use his powers, Magneto was over-heard by the New Mutants, on the phone with the White Queen, stating that he was prepared for the events to come and willing to go as far as using power neutralizers, an act that angered the New Mutants and they left to aid Cannonball with a battle that broke-out at Lila Cheney's concert. Responding to his summons at the Hellfire Club, Magneto donned his old helmet and a similar red and purple suite and attended a meeting, where Shaw berated Magneto for his students rash acts and the White Queen came to his defense.
The Inner Circle battled a rein of demons that descended upon Manhattan from a portal in Times Square. After the portal was closed, the Inner Circle was approached by the demon, N'Astirh, who offered a truce with the Hellfire Club and proposed that if they would allow him Manhattan, he would give them the rest of the world. The New Mutants witnessed Magneto and the Inner Circle meeting with N'Astirh and lost all trust in him. After the defeat of the demons, Shaw argued with Magneto for his lack of control over his student, Illyana, and the demon invasion as a result. Magneto and Shaw began to fight, arguing the path that mutants should follow, ending in disagreement. Returning to the School, Magneto and the Inner Circle arrived just in time to save the New Mutants from the Marauder, Sabretooth, who explained that Mr. Sinister destroyed the mansion. Magneto was shocked and angry to learn that Illyana had become a child again, to stop the demonic invasion, and Sunspot instigated a battle between the Inner Circle and the New Mutants, until Magneto trapped all of the New Mutants in a metal ball. Shaw accused Magneto of having lost all of the control the Hellfire Club petitioned his membership for and the two battled. Magneto stated that he joined the X-Men, led the New Mutants, and entered the Hellfire Club to build a foundation for control and peace among mutant kind. Magneto said that the teams were to be his army against the coming war between humans and mutants and the New Mutants heard it all. After defeating Shaw, Shaw stated to the other Inner Circle members that if Magneto stayed, then he would not and was voted out of the Inner Circle. It is also possible that the White Queen was manipulating Magneto. Magneto declared himself "Grey King", both Black King and White King, and allowed the New Mutants to leave, stating that, in time, they would find his ways right. Wanting a contingency plan if things didn't work out with the Hellfire Club, Magneto rebuilt a fancier version of Asteroid M. Magneto 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. Magneto felt he could not be a substitute for Prof. Charles Xavier, that he could not adopt Professor Xavier's methods, and that Professor Xavier's way was not his way.
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.
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 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.
"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.
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.
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.
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. 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. 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 and defended the many inhabitants from the Nimrods.
Magneto Goes Public
With his reputation around the world as a well-known mutant revolutionary/terrorist, Magneto was talked into finding a solution to the problem by Cyclops before it could go public that he was a resident of in Utopia. Kate Kildare, a "superhuman public relations specialist", advised him to adopt a costume color scheme containing white, along with getting the public to "love and fear" him, both of which he refused. With an earthquake inbound for San Francisco, Magneto used his powers to stabilize the city's buildings, structures and metal vehicles, and to smooth the earth movements themselves, thus preventing any major damage and saving many lives. As a result, the city began to favor him.
Regenesis
In the aftermath of the Schism between Cyclops and Wolverine, Magneto took Cyclops' side of the X-Men and joined his Extinction Team. When footage was released of Magneto murdering several Anti-Mutant activists, Magneto was surprised as he was miles away with Cyclops while the massacre was perpetrated. They were then called into a meeting with Captain America and Iron Man to discuss it and Cyclops vouched for him, giving Magneto a chance to prove his innocence. The real perpetrator was a resurrected Joseph who had been brought back by Astra along with a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants composed of deformed clones of the originals.
Joseph sought to bring back the fear Magneto's name once commanded and allied himself with anti-mutant activist Christopher Bach who wished to sully Magneto's name and make mutants appear more dangerous to further his agenda. Joseph berated Magneto for allying himself with the X-Men and "going soft", which Magneto countered by saying that he is doing what he always has: fighting for the survival of the mutant race. Magneto kidnapped Astra and forced her to reveal Josephs plans which were to kill all people at a pro-humanity rally. Magneto arrived in time to thwart Joseph's plans and save the people. He killed all the clones and incapacitated Joseph who was locked in the X-Brig. However, Christopher Bach was killed by Magneto during the chaos who pretended not to know what happened to him.
Avengers vs X-Men
When war broke out over what to do about the Phoenix Force coming to Earth, Magneto sided with his fellow X-Men against the Avengers. When the Avengers invaded Utopia he fought Iron Man and the two brought their fight to outer space. As Magneto drew power from another planet, he sensed the planet being destroyed by the Phoenix which distracted him long enough for Iron Man to defeat him. The X-Men feigned a surrender and proceeded to teleport out of Utopia.
Magneto waited in a safe house with Storm and Psylocke while Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik and Namor engaged the Avengers on the Moon. After Iron Man used an experimental weapon on the Phoenix Force, it split into five pieces inhabiting the five X-Men present on the Moon. The Phoenix Five used their vast power to end wars, hunger, disease and thirst on the Earth and created a global utopia. The Avengers continued to oppose them, believing that the five would eventually lose control.
The Avengers managed to defeat Namor after he had invaded Wakanda, resulting in his portion of the Phoenix going to the other four. Later, Colossus and Magik knocked each other out after having a falling out (manipulated by a beaten Spider-Man) , resulting in Cyclops and Emma as the last two Phoenix left. After receiving all that power, Cyclops and Emma begin to lose control. Emma begins a reign of tyranny over the X-Men, threatening those whose thoughts displeased her. Magneto attempted to reason with her to no avail. Magneto then calls out to Professor X, telling him they need his help. The Avengers, Xavier and the X-Men unite to take on the Phoenixes. Magneto participates in the final battle but when Cyclops takes the final piece of the Phoenix from Emma and becomes Dark Phoenix, he is knocked out. Cyclops is defeated by Hope and Magneto's daughter Wanda and Hope disperses the Phoenix and uses it to re-spark mutation.
Despite aiding the X-Men and Avengers against Cyclops and Emma, he along with the rest of the former Extinction team are wanted by the authorities. Magneto receives aid from Abigail Brand in remaining hidden. He makes contact with Cyclops and asks if he should break him out, but Cyclops refuses him. He goes about finding some of the former members of the Extinction Team; Magik and Danger. He tracks down Colossus as well but finds that after suffering betrayal at the hands of his sister, Colossus is best left alone. He informs Storm of his whereabouts, and leaves Colossus' fate up to her.
He, Magik and Danger receive a message from Cyclops to break him out and head toward the jail. They succeed in breaking Cyclops out, and together, he, Magik and Magneto set out to protect the new mutants.
Mutant Rebellion
Magneto, Cyclops and Magik began liberating mutants who had been unjustly imprisoned by various authorities and offer them help with controlling their powers and joining their rebellion. While attempting to liberate Emma Frost, Magneto and Cyclops discovered they had both lost control of their powers. Emma revealed that she has been going through a similar situation, and told them that the Phoenix had altered their mutant powers. As Magneto protested, saying that he wasn't a host, Emma told him that since Cyclops hit him with a heavy dose of Phoenix energy, he was also affected. Cyclops vowed to find a way to fix them all.
While attempting to help another new mutant, Magneto and Cyclops were confronted by the five original X-Men, who had been brought to the present by Beast.
Fall from Grace
Recently Magneto came to an unknown S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and surrendered, intending to talk with Maria Hill. He revealed to her that he wants to betray Scott Summers because he was responsible for Xavier's death and Magneto's weakened powers as a Dark Phoenix.
After Cyclops and the Extinction Team left to bring one of the new mutants to visit her mother, Magneto stayed behind and alerted S.H.I.E.L.D., telling them where Cyclops and the others were going to be. S.H.I.E.L.D sent the Avengers to apprehend them, but they managed to disable them and return to the hideout. Upon their return, Magneto confessed that he was the one that had set them up, telling Cyclops that he's only been working with S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to find out who is constructing and sending Sentinels after them, and that in order to find that out he needed to ingrate himself with the authorities by seemingly betraying Cyclops, and that he neglected to tell him until now in order to make it more convincing. Cyclops accepts his scheming, and the team depart to the Jean Grey School in order to find more recruits.
Later on, after he has left Cyclops' X-Men, he meets with Maria Hill in secret and then advises Cyclops to send a message to a pro-mutant rally, where the Blockbuster Sentinel appears. He arrives near the climax of the battle and, even though it is made of a metal he can't manipulate, uses numerous nails to penetrate it and then tears it apart from the inside out.
