Erik Lehnsherr, also known as Magneto, is a
fictional
character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
in the
''X-Men'' film series, starting with ''
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to lo ...
'' (2000) and appearing in eight films ending with ''
X-Men: Dark Phoenix'' (2019). The 2000 film is also accompanied with two prequel comic books, of which one is about Magneto. He was portrayed by actor
Ian McKellen in the first three films and by
Michael Fassbender in the four prequel films, starting with ''
X-Men: First Class'' (2011). McKellen also has a cameo in ''
The Wolverine'' (2013) while ''
X-Men: Days of Future Past'' (2014) features both Fassbender and McKellen portraying the character in different time periods. The character is a live action adaption of the comics character
Magneto
A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...
from
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
, primarily appearing in their
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to lo ...
line of comics.
Fictional character biography
Early life
Erik Lehnsherr was born in 1930. Lehnsherr's parents were Jews from
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. During the Nazi regime, the family is taken to
Auschwitz concentration camp, where Lehnsherr, then a boy, is separated from his parents, causing him to manifest his mutant power and bend the metal gate separating them until the Germans knock him unconscious.
Shortly thereafter, the boy is taken to the office of Dr. Klaus Schmidt in the camp. Schmidt, who had observed Lehnsherr's earlier display, attempted to coerce him to demonstrate his power by having him move a coin. When Lehnsherr is unable to do it, Schmidt has Lehnsherr's mother brought in, and when that does not produce results, Schmidt shoots and kills her. This triggers Lehnsherr to use his powers to crush metal items in the room, killing the German guards by crushing their helmets, and destroying an adjacent laboratory room.
After escaping the horrors of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, the young Erik Lehnsherr emigrates to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
at some point, arriving at
Ellis Island
Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...
.
Later in his life, Erik Lehnsherr
hunts for Nazi war criminals across the globe, including Schmidt. He tracks Schmidt down on a cruiser near a dock. Lehnsherr is surprised by Schmidt's ally, the powerful mutant telepath
Emma Frost
Emma Grace Frost is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. The character first appeared in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #129 (Jan. 1980), and was ...
, who casts him off the ship. Another telepath, Charles Xavier, is also looking for Schmidt and senses Lehnsherr nearby while probing. Lehnsherr uses his magnetic powers to control the massive anchor and its chain to destroy the ship with, though Schmidt and his compatriots escape. Xavier rescues Lehnsherr in the water and brings him to ''Division X'', a
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
project to bring mutants over to the side of the US government and prevent them from becoming hostile instead. Lehnsherr learns that Schmidt is himself secretly a
mutant
In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...
who worked with the Nazis out of convenience and has now assumed the identity of
Sebastian Shaw and is working with the Russians instead, and the CIA hopes to use their own team of mutants to help in learning what Shaw's plans are and stop him. Lehnsherr also gets to know
Raven, Xavier's shapeshifting mutant foster sister, and
Hank McCoy
Beast (Dr. Henry Philip "Hank" McCoy) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and is a founding member of the X-Men. Originally called "The Beast", the character was introduced as a mutant possessing ape-like su ...
, a mutant with a genius intellect. Lehnsherr and Xavier track down other mutants,
Havok,
Banshee
A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from sga, ben síde , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name i ...
,
Darwin and
Angel Salvadore until they have a team ready to challenge Shaw.
The group designates the
sobriquet
A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...
of Magneto for Lehnsherr as a code name. Going to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
to track Shaw down, the team finds Emma Frost, who is restrained by Magneto and allows Xavier to probe her mind, where he learns of Shaw's grand plan: to cause a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and other countries to accelerate the mutations of humanity through nuclear radiation, rapidly swelling Shaw's ranks and usher in a new era of a mutant-ruled planet. After practicing the use of his power further and learning to work with the team, Lehnsherr once again comes face to face with Shaw, who had hijacked a nuclear submarine and is now wearing a telepath-proof helmet designed by the Russians. Lehnsherr agrees with Shaw's ideas of mutant supremacy, but nonetheless makes it clear that he is still on a path of revenge for Shaw's murder of his mother. He uses his magnetic powers to deprive Shaw of his helmet, allowing Xavier to freeze him. Lehnsherr takes the helmet himself to lock Xavier out while exacting his revenge on Shaw: using the very coin that Shaw once tried to make the young boy move, he forces it into his brain, killing him. He then addresses his team and Shaw's compatriots as his mutant brothers and sisters, using the missiles sent out by Soviet and American battleships now working together, turning them against the fleet. Xavier wrestles with Lehnsherr, making him lose control of the missiles and saving the men on the ships. Lehnsherr acknowledges the incompability of his and Xavier's philosophies and leaves ''Division X'' and the X-Men, embracing his mutant identity of Magneto. He then frees Emma Frost from her military prison, hoping that she can replace Xavier as his new ally.
After the
assassination of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...
in 1963, Erik Lehnsherr is captured by the government and imprisoned in a prison made of concrete beneath
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a meton ...
. He had in fact been trying to save the president, who he had learned was a mutant himself, but could not fully control the bullet and it still hit and killed Kennedy.
Original timeline
Due to the events of ''
X-Men: Days of Future Past'', the ''X-Men'' film series branches off into two separate timelines starting in 1973. In the original timeline, Lehnsherr and Xavier together later convince the young
Jean Grey
Jean Elaine Grey is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix and Dark Phoenix. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack K ...
, a mutant girl of incredible power, to enroll for the
Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters.
Some time before the events of ''X-Men'' (2000), Magneto discovers that Hans von Shank, a Nazi war criminal whom he recognizes as one of his chief tormentors in Auschwitz, is still alive and imprisoned; he breaks into the old man's prison cell to kill him, but Xavier shows up and talks him out of it. However, Magneto's "mercy" is merely a ruse, as he secretly sends his lackey
Sabretooth out to kill the man anyway shortly after.
In the 2000 film, Magneto has Mystique capture Senator
Robert Kelly, a vehement hater of mutants, and subject him to a massive dose of electromagnetic radiation which mutates him and later, unbeknownst to Magneto, kills him. This is merely Magneto's trial for a greater plan of mutating many of the world's heads of state at an international meeting on Ellis Island. The massive expenditure of his mutant powers necessary to power his machine for this purpose would kill Magneto, so he instead attempts to use the young mutant
Rogue to channel his powers, which would kill her in his place. When the X-Men try to explain to Magneto that his plan will actually kill the world leaders, turning the whole world against mutants, he refuses to listen, but his plan is foiled by Logan and the X-Men, and Magneto is imprisoned in a specifically built prison of plastics.
In the sequel ''
X2'' (2003), Magneto is still a prisoner and is forced by the mutant-hating colonel and military scientist
William Stryker
The Reverend William Stryker is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A minister and former sergeant with a strong hatred for mutants, he is usually depicted as an enemy of the X-Men. He is also the ...
to tell what he knows about Cerebro and Xavier's operations. Shortly after, Xavier visits him in his cell in person, but Stryker betrays Xavier and has him sedated and captured. Not long after, Magneto escapes after Mystique injects a security guard with excess iron. In order to stop Stryker, he and Mystique joins forces with the X-Men to save his old friend Xavier from Stryker's forces. They raid Stryker's military base, neutralizing the soldiers there. Stryker nearly succeeds in having his mutant illusionist son
Jason
Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He ...
trick Xavier into killing the world's mutant population with a specifically built copy of Cerebro, but Magneto is immune to their telepathic powers due to his helmet and stops Jason, only to have Mystique trick Jason to force Xavier to "kill all humans" instead. The X-Men stop this, but Magneto then leaves and traps Stryker with metal chains and leave him to drown upon the rupture of a nearby dam.
In ''
X-Men: The Last Stand'' (2006), Magneto frees Mystique from a mobile mutant prison, but abandons her after she is struck by a dart meant for him, containing a new "cure" for mutant powers derived from the mutant
Leech, leaving her human and useless to him. Magneto sees this cure as an attack on mutant-kind as a whole, and raises an army of mutants, including a resurrected and corrupted Jean Grey, to stop the manufacturing of this cure. He fails to stop Jean, having been consumed by her own inner darkness, called the
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
, from killing his old friend Charles Xavier. Magneto then uproots the
Golden Gate Bridge, taking the battle to the Worthington facility on
Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pri ...
, but ends up being depowered when
Beast injects him with the serum, but later manages to move a metal chess piece slightly, hinting that his powers are not fully gone.
Two years after the events of ''
The Wolverine'',
Logan is approached by his old enemy Magneto (McKellen) as well as Professor X (Stewart) himself; Magneto warns him about "dark forces" that can bring about the end of mutants as an advert from Trask Industries plays on a television screen.
Mystique's acts of assassinating
Bolivar Trask
Bolivar Trask is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a military scientist whose company Trask Industries is well known as the creator of the Sentinels. He is also the father of Larry Trask ...
in 1973 and being captured and experimented upon, alongside the events culminating with ''The Last Stand'', eventually leads up to dark dystopian future where by 2023, most of the world's mutants have been exterminated by unstoppable super-
Sentinels partially created from Mystique's DNA. Magneto and Charles Xavier devise a plan to send one of their own back through time through
Kitty Pride's secondary mutant power of chronoskimming, allowing her to project a person's consciousness back to their own past self and creating the possibility of changing the past into a more hopeful present and future. Since only Wolverine can survive being sent back half a century, Kitty sends his mind back to his 1973 self, before Raven could murder Trask and be captured. Back in 2023, Magneto protects them by fighting the Sentinels alongside other mutants, and is injured when impaled by debris from an explosion.
New timeline
In 1973, a time-travelling Logan convinces Hank McCoy and the young Charles Xavier to break Lehnsherr out of his plastic prison beneath
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a meton ...
as part of an effort to avert a dark future. They go to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
to stop Raven from assassinating Bolivar Trask to keep her from being captured. Trask escapes, but Lehnsherr decides to kill Raven to protect their future, but only manages to injure her, leaving her blood on the streets for Trask Industries to obtain. He later confronts Raven at an airport and tries to convince her that "killing one man isn't enough", but Raven still persists, intending to kill Trask at a meeting outside the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Realizing that the future they were trying to prevent may still come to pass, Lehnsherr comes up with his own plan. Tracking down the location of the eight Sentinel robot prototypes (made out of a non-magnetic "space-age polymer"), he infuses them with iron to be able to control them, and then heads to the
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, commonly known as RFK Stadium and originally known as District of Columbia Stadium, is a defunct multi-purpose stadium in Washington, D.C. It is located about due east of the U.S. Capitol building, near the ...
, uprooting the stadium with his magnetic powers and transports it to the White House while triggering the Sentinels to start firing wildly and securing the surroundings for him. President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
along with Trask,
William Stryker
The Reverend William Stryker is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A minister and former sergeant with a strong hatred for mutants, he is usually depicted as an enemy of the X-Men. He is also the ...
and Secret Service men takes shelter in the
White House Bunker, but Magneto brings it to the ground level and rips loose its door. He then makes a speech to the whole world where he warns it about the consequences of trying to challenge the mutants, declaring that mutant-kind is the future and will inherit the Earth from humanity. He intends to kill Nixon as a final warning, but the "president" is in fact Raven, who shoots Magneto with Stryker's non-magnetic gun and knocks him out. After Xavier convinces Raven to not kill Trask, she takes off Lehnsherr's helmet and leaves him to Xavier. Lehnsherr tells Xavier that if he lets the authorities have him, he's as good as dead, and then leaves.
In 1983, Lehnsherr is still the world's most wanted man, living an unassuming life in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
under the alias of Henryk Gurzsky. He is married to a lady named Magda, with whom he has a daughter, Nina. After using his powers to save a co-worker at a steel mill, the Polish authorities are alerted. Worried, Lehnsherr returns home only to find the authorities waiting for him with non-magnetic weapons, having taken Magda and Nina hostage to convince "Gurzsky" to turn himself in to the
Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
. Though the men try to handle things peacefully, Nina herself is a mutant; her powers are triggered by the stress and she inadvertently lashes out at those threatening them. In the confusion, one of the men accidentally lets loose an arrow which kills Magda and Nina. Tearfully, Lehnsherr takes his daughter's metal necklace off her lifeless body and uses it to slaughter all the men, and then returns to the steel mill to kill his "co-workers" for selling him out. However,
En Sabah Nur suddenly appears out of a portal, kills the men himself and then explains that he was the world's first mutant and has now been reawakened after millennia of being trapped beneath a pyramid in Egypt. En Sabah Nur talks Magneto into joining him as one of his four Horsemen. They then head to Auschwitz where Erik Lehnsherr once suffered; En Sabah Nur enhances Magneto's powers and persuades him to raze this place of terror to the ground to rid himself of the shadows of the past. Under his new mentor's influence, the embittered Magneto starts to distort Earth's magnetic field, threatening the collapse of human civilization. When En Sabah Nur threatens Quicksilver and Raven, Magneto turns on him. He, Jean Grey,
Scott Summers
Cyclops (Scott Summers) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and is a founding member of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the comic book ...
and
Ororo Munroe destroy the ancient mutant with their combined powers. After the battle, Erik and Xavier reconcile, and Erik and Jean help reconstruct Xavier's destroyed school; however, Erik turns down Xavier's offer to stay and help teach. Peter Maximoff, who had aided in the fight against En Sabah Nur, decides not to tell Erik yet that he is Erik's son.
Lehnsherr becomes protector and president of an island of mutants in exile,
Genosha
Genosha ( or ) is a fictional country appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is an island nation that exists in Marvel's main shared universe, known as "Earth 616" in the Marvel Universe and a prominent place in the X-M ...
. He is visited by a Jean Grey in distress. She asks him how he managed to stop hurting people; he explains that he stopped killing because he had already slain many in revenge and it ultimately didn't make him feel any better. He notices blood on her shirt and asks whose blood it is, but she refuses to answer. U.S. military forces arrive, but the target turns out to be Jean and not Lehnsherr, and she responds violently, forcing Lehnsherr to use his own powers to stop her from doing further damage. After she forces the troops to withdraw, Lehnsherr banishes Jean from Genosha, explaining that he's protecting its citizens from her. Hank McCoy then seeks Lehnsherr out, revealing that she killed Raven, and he now wants Lehnsherr's help in finding the out of control Jean to put an end to her rampage. After some more talk, Lehnsherr retrieves a duplicate of his old helmet that En Sabah Nur made for him and prepares for the confrontation. Erik meets Charles Xavier and some of the X-Men outside the house where Jean is; Xavier warns Erik that if the public sees the mutants fighting each others on the street, they will see them as "violent freaks", and all they had achieved for mankind's tolerance of them may be lost. In spite of this, Hank, Erik and a few of his Genoshian compatriots prepare to storm the mansion, causing the very damage Xavier warned them about. Inside the mansion, Erik finds Jean in company with Vuk, a woman unknown to him. He attempts to kill Jean, but she fights back, breaks his helmet and telekinetically throws him out of the building. Lehnsherr and his fellow mutants are captured by the military, who put collars on them to negate their powers and put them on a train. Unknown assailants arrive, in league with Vuk; they are all revealed to be alien shapeshifters who once lost their home planet to the
Phoenix Force and now hope to exploit the flawed Jean, its newest host, with the hopes of clearing the Earth to be their new home. After the military is bested, a soldier on board disables the mutants' collars, allowing them to defeat the aliens. After the battle, Erik meets with Charles as a friend, bringing with him a chess board and finally reconciles from their old differences.
"''Old Man Logan''" timeline
In the film ''
Logan'' (2017), inspired by ''
Old Man Logan
Old Man Logan is an alternative version of the Marvel Comics fictional character Wolverine. This character is an aged version of Wolverine set in an alternate future universe designated Earth-807128, where the supervillains overthrew the super ...
'' and set in the year 2029 seemingly in a separate timeline,
[The director of the film, ]James Mangold
James Allen Mangold (born December 16, 1963) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for the films ''Cop Land'' (1997), ''Girl, Interrupted'' (1999), ''Walk the Line'' (2005), '' 3:10 to Yuma'' (2007), '' The Wolverine'' (2013) and ''Logan'' ( ...
, did not specify when asked if ''Logan'' was set after the post-2023 ''Days of Future Past'' timeline seen at the end of that film. Given this, and the fact that ''Logan'' mentions that mutants hadn't been born in 25 years which would contradict that film’s ending, the film likely takes place on an unrelated timeline. Magneto is not mentioned and is, along with nearly all other known mutants save for Logan and Charles Xavier, assumed to be dead, likely wiped out by anti-mutagenic substances added to many types of food which deprives mutants of their powers and make them sick while also disabling all newborn babies from being born with X-factor genes.
According to longtime franchise producer
Lauren Shuler Donner
Lauren Diane Shuler Donner (born June 23, 1949) is an American film producer, who specializes in mainstream youth and family-oriented entertainment. She owned The Donners' Company with her late husband, director Richard Donner. Her films have g ...
, the Xavier/Magneto dynamics had run its course and while it will always be essential to the ''X-Men'' mythos, she thought that there were other X-Men stories left to be told. In the American
superhero television series ''
The Gifted'', also continuing the alternate timeline, where the X-Men, the Brotherhood of Mutants, and their leadership (including Magneto) are said to have "disappeared",
Emma Dumont
Emma Dumont is an American actress, model, and dancer. She is known for her roles as Melanie Segal in the ABC Family series ''Bunheads'', as Emma Karn in the NBC series ''Aquarius'', and as Lorna Dane/Polaris in the FOX series '' The Gifted''.
...
portrays Magneto's daughter
Lorna "Polaris" Dane, who has inherited his mutant ability of controlling
magnetism. Initially "unstable" due to her
bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...
,
the
first season follows Polaris while
pregnant, as she struggles with whether to "accept the mantle of her birthright,
hetherit
sher job to be Magneto in his absence?"
culminating in the first season finale and
second season premiere, in which Polaris gives birth to her daughter, Magneto's granddaughter, whom she names Dawn.
Background and creation
Unrealized projects and appearances
In the years before the 2000 ''X-Men'' film was finally released, a number of alternate screenplays were presented by various writers and ultimately dismissed. The oldest one somewhat featuring Magneto was a 1991 screenplay called ''Wolverine and the X-Men'', written by
Gary Goldman
Gary Wayne Goldman (born November 17, 1944) is an American film producer, director, animator, writer and voice actor. He is known for working on films with Don Bluth such as ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' for his directorial debut, ''Anastasia'', ' ...
. Magneto is vastly rewritten to be an anti-mutant industrialist with magnetic superpowers named Thomas Prince, who recruits
Jason Wyngarde
Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek mythology, mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was marri ...
from the X-Men and uses him to frame them for murder. This triggers a bout of anti-mutant hysteria while Prince runs a presidential campaign, but is eventually defeated. A 1994 screenplay from
Andrew Kevin Walker
Andrew Kevin Walker (born August 14, 1964) is an American screenwriter, producer and script doctor. He is known for having written '' Seven'' (1995), for which he earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, as well as ...
begins with a Mutant Registration Act being passed while Sentinels are also being constructed. In response, Magneto and the Brotherhood of Mutants take over Manhattan, using their powers to shield it from the world and make it a safe haven for mutants. In a 1995 treatment also called ''Wolverine and the X-Men'', written by
Laeta Kalogridis
Laeta Kalogridis ( ) is an American screenwriter and television and film producer of Greek descent. She has written scripts for ''Alexander'' (2004), ''Night Watch'' (2004), '' Pathfinder'' (2007) and '' Shutter Island'' (2010). She also serve ...
, Magneto intends to use the
Legacy Virus
The Legacy Virus is a fictional plague appearing in American comic books featuring the X-Men published by Marvel Comics. It first appeared in an eponymous storyline running through Marvel Comics titles from 1993 to 2001, during which it swept thro ...
to wipe out humanity.
The film that eventually became ''
X-Men: First Class'' was originally written to be a pure Magneto origin story called ''X-Men Origins: Magneto'' written by screenwriter
Sheldon Turner
Sheldon Turner is a screenwriter and producer. His produced credits as a screenwriter include '' The Longest Yard'' (2005), '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning'' (2006), '' Up in the Air'' (2009) and '' X-Men: First Class'' (2011). He ...
. Turner was allegedly allowed to look through various back issues of Marvel Comics and select a character he thought had potential for a cinematic origin story; he decided upon Magneto. Turner had a storyline in mind already in late 2004; according to Turner, "
epitched a film that is almost ‘''
The Pianist''’ meets ‘X-Men,’ about a guy who, after watching his family slaughtered, has an awakening of his powers and seeks revenge". The film would also have portrayed
Charles Xavier
Professor X (Charles Francis Xavier) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as the founder and sometimes leader of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co- ...
as a young soldier in the Allied companies that liberated the concentration camp young Erik Lehnsherr was imprisoned in. In 2008 it was reported that 20th Century Fox had the project put on hold to first release the Wolverine film and determine if it's a success or not before deciding whether to go through with another ''X-Men Origin'' film or not.
Michael Fassbender originally filmed a scene for the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
film ''
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
''Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'' is a 2022 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Doctor Strange. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel ...
'' reprising his role as Magneto in a similar way to how
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor who has a career spanning seven decades in various stage productions, television, film and video games. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actors ...
reprised his role as Charles Xavier, appearing as his character's Earth-838 variant. However, the scenes were ultimately cut from the theatrical release.
Casting
Before Ian McKellen was cast for the 2000 film,
Christopher Lee,
Terence Stamp
Terence Henry Stamp (born 22 July 1938) is an English actor. Stamp is known for his sophisticated villain roles. He was named by ''Empire Magazine'' as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995. He has received various accolades inc ...
and
David Hemblen
David Hemblen (16 September 1941 – 16 November 2020) was an English actor who frequently worked in Canadian film, television and theatre who grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He is known for his role as George in '' La Femme Nikita'', Customs insp ...
(who voiced Magneto for the 1992-1997
animated series
An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...
) were considered for the role.
Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Allard de Vere Drummond (born Matthew Allard Robert Vaughn; 7 March 1971) is an English filmmaker. He has produced films including ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998) and '' Snatch'' (2000), and directed ''Layer Cake'' (2004 ...
had already cast
James McAvoy
James McAvoy (; born 21 April 1979) is a Scottish actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in '' The Near Room'' (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his feature film career began. His notable television work includes ...
as Charles Xavier before starting to go through auditioners for the Magneto role; he quickly recognized the acting chemistry between McAvoy and Michael Fassbender upon pairing them together. Actors who auditioned for the younger Magneto in the prequels include
Aaron Taylor-Johnson,
Andrew Garfield
Andrew Russell Garfield (born 20 August 1983) is an English and American actor. He has received various accolades, including a Tony Award, a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. ''Time' ...
,
Jack Huston,
Eddie Redmayne
Edward John David Redmayne (; born 6 January 1982) is an English actor. Known for his roles in biopics and blockbusters, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Olivier Awards.
He ...
and
Frank Dillane
Frank Stephenson Dillane (born 21 April 1991) is an English actor and musician. He is known for his roles as Nick Clark on '' Fear the Walking Dead'' (2015–2018) and 16-year-old Tom Riddle in the film ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ...
.
Characterization
Comparison between comic and cinematic portrayal
Some aspects of Magneto's character have been changed, added or omitted from his comic book counterpart. In the books, Quicksilver / Peter Maximoff has a twin sister named Wanda, also called
Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. Her first appearance was in ''The X-Men'' #4 (March 1964 ...
; for a long period of time they were considered to be Magneto's children. In the films, Peter has at least one sister who is unnamed; an extended scene in ''
X-Men: Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut'' hints at the two having another unnamed sister. Bryan Singer has made it clear that the cut (from the theatrical film) scene is merely a nod to the fans who would get the reference, since in the comics Magneto has a daughter named Lorna Dane, also known as
Polaris, with powers virtually identical to Magneto's. Peter's younger sister is never referred to as Wanda and it is only confirmed that Peter himself is the offspring of Erik Lehnsherr in the film series, leaving the paternity of the sister(s) unknown. Singer had said about Peter's unnamed sister in ''X-Men: Days of Future Past'',
:Is that the Scarlet Witch? No, that's his little sister. I even had a line which I cut, where Quicksilver's mother says to the little girl, 'Go up and bug your sister,' and the little girl says, 'She bugs me!' You never see the older sister, but it was to imply that there is an older sister for comic book fans. I ended up cutting it.
The role of Sebastian Shaw in Magneto's backstory in ''X-Men: First Class'' is unique to this film, while Mystique barely had any association with Magneto in the comics, but is his most trusted henchwoman in the 2000-2006 trilogy and has a complicated relationship with him in the prequel films. Magneto also never helped found the X-Men like in the films, where he is shown to have helped Charles Xavier organize the team when they were still friends.
In the comics, Magneto's real name has been revealed to be Max Eisenhart, with Erik Magnus Lehnsherr being an assumed identity; in the films, this name is never used, only that of Erik Lehnsherr.
Powers and abilities
Magneto has been classified as a "Class 4" mutant, being described as greater than Class 3 while Jean Grey is the only Class 5 mutant Charles Xavier knows of.
Magneto in the film series has been shown to be able to control only
ferromagnetism
Ferromagnetism is a property of certain materials (such as iron) which results in a large observed magnetic permeability, and in many cases a large magnetic coercivity allowing the material to form a permanent magnet. Ferromagnetic materials ...
, meaning he can only manipulate a limited number of ferromagnetic metals such as
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...
,
nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...
,
cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, p ...
or
adamantium
Adamantium is a fictional metal alloy appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and in various games in the Elder Scrolls franchise. It is best known as the substance bonded to the character Wolverine's skeleton and claws. In ...
, an alloy including iron. As such, he would not be able to stop most types of bullets, explaining why he failed to save John F. Kennedy. The force necessary to move the massive
Golden Gate Bridge (in ''The Last Stand'') would require a force a million times stronger than the strongest magnet created by humans so far.
Reception
For his 2011 portrayal of the character in ''X-Men: First Class'', Fassbender won an
IGN Award for Best Villain, a
Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best Actor, and a
National Board of Review
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...
Spotlight Award. He was also nominated for
Scream Awards
The Scream Awards was an award show dedicated to the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres of feature films. Originally only having ''Scream Queen'' and ''Heroic Performance'' awards for actors, the personnel awards have expanded to include actors a ...
for Best Fantasy Actor and Breakout Performance – Male.
Merchandise
In 2000,
Toy Biz
Toy Biz (also stylized as ToyBiz), was a toy company which later became a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment and was renamed to Marvel Toys. It was best known for producing action figures and toys and holding the Marvel Comics license from 1990 t ...
released a series of action figures including a 10" Magneto figure. As part of the 2000 film's 20th year anniversary in 2020,
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...
released action figures in the ''
Marvel Legends
Marvel Legends is an action figure line based on the characters of Marvel Comics, initially produced by Toy Biz, then by Hasbro. This line is in the scale, with spin-off lines in the , , and scale.
The line initially began as a spin-off of ...
'' series from the film, with Magneto being released in a two-set with Professor X. The Magneto figure comes with replaceable heads for both Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen's versions of Magneto.
Notes
References
;Primary
;Secondary
External links
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