Character Deep Dive - Magneto

Magneto, Mightiest of All Mutants

Magneto is one of comics' most beloved villains because he often walks the line between hero and villain. He was the original “he was right” guy, long before Thanos. Sometimes he's an incredibly evil and cruel villain, other times he's a member (or leader) of the X-Men.

Origin

In 1963, when Magneto was first introduced in X-Men #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby he was still mostly on the cartoonishly evil level on which the majority of comic book villains of the time existed, though certainly with a dash of the complexity and flair that would later become hallmarks of the character. In his first appearance Magneto sabotages a US Military missile launch and attempts to take over an Army base.

Revitalizing the X-Men

It was Chris Claremont who, upon revitalizing the X-Men in 1975, gradually transformed Magneto into a significantly more complex character. He gave Magneto a backstory as a Holocaust survivor and framed that as his reason to fear humanity’s bigotry towards Mutants.

Magneto's Background Finally Explained

Through the years Magneto’s Holocaust story was often vague and even occasionally contradictory. In 2008 Greg Pak took on the task of finally clarifying and cementing the definitive in-canon version of Magneto’s background, including making it clear what his real name is.

X-Men: Magneto Testament is a highly researched, historically rigorous five issue series that follows Max Eisenhardt from intensifying anti-Semitism and Kristallnacht through to the Warsaw ghetto and finally to Auschwitz. It's unlike most other media depictions of Magneto’s youth in that it's mostly an intense and sober tale of a boy's experience during the Holocaust. It doesn't include the catharsis of Magneto suddenly using his powers and taking out his (and the reader's) anger on any Nazis. When there's an uprising of the Sonderkommando (including Max) in the comic, it's because there was a real uprising on October 7th, 1994, when very few of the prisoners escaped (including Max, according to the comic) and many were killed.

The realism of the Testament series is in direct contrast to how Magneto’s background is shown in the X-Men films. Three of the strongest and most memorable scenes from the films deal with Magneto’s history at Auschwitz. The opening scene of the first X-Men film from 2000 depicts a young Magneto manifesting his powers when he is forcibly separated from his mother and rending the metal entry gate.

This scene was important enough and powerful enough that it was repeated in 2011’s X-Men: First Class, where we do finally get our revenge fantasy when Michael Fassbender gives a chilling performance as Magneto hunting down Nazis in Argentina. There is more catharsis in one of the better scenes in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, which depicts Magneto returning to the Auschwitz gate he bent in the first film. With a nudge from Apocalypse he destroys the entire camp.

On December 6th we get this variant from the cover of Magneto Testament #1, featuring Max Eisenhardt staring at a reflection of his adult self, Magneto.

On Reveal: Move all enemy 3 and 4-Cost cards to this location.

A blown-up version caught my eye over Second Dinner Art Manager Jonny Erner’s shoulder during a recent interview with Cozy, where Jonny said it was his favorite variant coming to the game (despite his claim in this month’s developer update video where he expresses his love for pixel Hellcow).

You Can Find That Link Here!

Here are a few other Snap variants by the same prolific cover artist, Marko Djurdjević:

Magneto in Marvel Snap

Magneto

On Reveal: Move all enemy 3 and 4-Cost cards to this location.

Magneto’s place in the Marvel Snap metagame is a little puzzling at the moment. He's long been regarded as one of the strongest 6 drops in the game and is a reasonable counter to Ms. Marvel, which is all over right now, but he currently has a pretty low appearance rate of 3.64% good for just 111th. The restoration of Doctor Doom has likely cut Magneto’s play rate. The game may be in a place right now where playing a single card in a single location on the final turn, even if it's a strong effect like Magneto, just doesn't compare to some of the insane final turn combos possible in the game. Alioth is an obvious exception to this, but he exists to prevent those same insane turns while also needing to be built towards the whole game.