They say a villain is made more interesting when presented as more than just a one-note song of evil, when shown in varying shades of gray.
“They” who? OK, you got me. There is no “they,” only “I.”
But I do say that all the time.
Heck, one of the reasons I found
The Walking Dead’s Governor so much better on AMC than in the original comics was because of how he was fleshed out more fully for television to the point where you could even sympathize, perhaps empathize, with him a lot more so than in his comic book incarnation.
So, really, it’s no surprise that one of my favorite villains of all time is none other than Magneto and as I celebrate an anniversary of my own, now writing in
my third year of Danger Rooms here at
FOG! (not to mention being married seven years to my wonderful Melony), I turn now to one of the most pivotal anniversary issues of the
Uncanny X-Men, the legendary #150.
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| Double-sized at 75 Cents. I can feel the liver spots exploding... |
Stop me if you’ve heard this plot before: the X-Men and Magneto clash due to differences in how mutants should fit into a world where humanity at large hates and fears them. From the very first issue of
X-Men, the champions of integration and eradication have met time and again—and, yeah, I hear you yelling at me to stop; but I’m going to ignore you and keep on going!—neither side able to really see the other point of view which, admittedly, often had a lot to do with them beating the crap out of one another.
And a battle of ideologies is exactly what was on the surface in
Uncanny X-Men #150. So what made this one different?
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Yep, that’s a thinker, all right. |
Well, this was the first time Claremont really began to dig deeper into Magneto’s backstory, particularly his history as a survivor of the Holocaust. Up until this point, Magneto was just seen as a big bully, using his mutant powers to destroy humanity without compromise, but now we were getting a peek into what made him tick. This wasn’t a guy who was mad at humanity just because there was nothing else better to do on a Wednesday afternoon, although, honestly, I wasn’t around back then, so there really might not have been.
No, rather, this was a guy who had witnessed firsthand what could happen when a group of people in power decided that another group of people were inferior. Bad things.
Very bad things.
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One of the darkest moments in human history. |
So, Magneto, missing that he was at risk of becoming that very evil that he so rightly despised, wanted to destroy mankind before they could do to mutants what the Nazis had done to those they deemed unfit.
He’s not so cut and dry now, is he? I mean, you have to at least see where he’s coming from here. Now, sure, that doesn’t excuse trying to steal nuclear weapons and killing billions of innocents, I get that. But, at the core, his rationale is one based on a deep, emotional and physical scarring inflicted upon him. Magneto wasn’t born “evil;” he was a victim of circumstance, and in one issue, Claremont made him a ton more interesting and relatable.
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This makes it kind of hard to fault his distrust of people. |
In a key moment for his overall character arc, we see Magneto callously kill an entire Russian submarine crew after the Soviets launched a bevy of missiles at him in response to his demand that the world cede to his rule. I suppose a simple “no thanks” wasn’t really going to get their point across.
The sinking of the Leningrad was a crime that would come up several times over the years, most notably during his trial at the International Court of Justice in issue #200, and during the
X-Men Vs. Avengers miniseries and again in the Chris Claremont/Jim Lee launch of
X-Men #1 in 1991.
But, more importantly, it’s a second, related moment that helped set the stage for Magneto’s evolution over the years, that of his nearly killing Kitty Pryde and seeing in her presumably lifeless body the corpse of his young daughter that had been killed years prior.
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Nothing sobers you up faster like almost killing a kid, apparently. |
Although the issue ended with Kitty alive and all parties once more apart, the seeds were already planted. Years later, at the conclusion of
Uncanny X-Men #200, a dying Charles Xavier would go on to ask Magneto to run his school in his absence as he needed to retreat with the alien Shi’ar for a cure (apparently their healthcare system was a
lot better than we had at the time) and Magneto would lead the New Mutants for several years before becoming an X-Men foe again.
In the years that followed, Magneto went from would be despot to erstwhile hero, from unrepentant conqueror to genuine penitent and although he has renounced his war against humanity as a whole, all we can do is wait to see if the old Magneto surfaces while on the run from the world in
Uncanny X-Men, thanks to the events of
Avengers Vs. X-Men.
Either way, these are the things that make Magneto more than a one-trick pony. These are the things that make him a multidimensional character that can easily survive the test of time.
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And, also, a mega badass.
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