The best of old school Magneto

[gurkle]

Before he was a Holocaust survivor, before he had a tragic past - in other words, before X-Men 150 (and maybe that one page of him looking at his dead wife in X-Men 125), Magneto was not the complex, morally ambiguous characters most people remember. He was, in fact, maybe the most over-the-top, ranting, raving, cartoonishly evil supervillain in Marvel. Even Doctor Doom occasionally showed a bit of dignity in this era, but Magneto just wanted to wipe out humans and take over the world with his master mutant race, so he tended to be seen doing stuff like this.



Or this (wait, he planted cameras at Charles Xavier's funeral?).



And somehow fittingly, Jack Kirby's last issue of Fantastic Four has Magneto as the bad guy, trying to start a war between humans and sea dwellers so mutants can take over.



I'm not going to argue that Magneto should go back to this, and unless he's hopped up on drugs or being written by Grant Morrison (those two things may be redundant), he's not going to. But I'm wondering if you have favorite moments of crazy ranting raving silent-movie villain Magneto, aka the Magneto people knew from 1963 to 1979 or so. He's not subtle, but he sure knew how to do evil laughs, evil terrorist demands, evil science experiments, evil mind control and, well, anything evil, really.

[gurkle]

Remember also when Magneto was trying to create new mutants, first with wacky science experiments, and then with a plan to drop the A-Bomb on the world, wiping out humans and mutating the survivors.



Another arc with lots of old-fashioned melodramatic Magneto goodness is the Avengers arc where he tries to get Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver back (he eventually gets Quicksilver to quit the Avengers by shooting Wanda in the head and convincing Pietro that the humans did it). This is actually somewhat historically significant because it's the first time he appears before the United Nations and raises the idea that mutants need a separate homeland - but John Buscema drew him so incredibly evil, he might as well have a mustache and wear a top hat.

[just another user]

I liked his vast telepathic powers, second only to Professor X

[gurkle]

Magnetism can do anything. Mind control, astral forms, all magnetism.

Magneto's magnetism is so all-powerful that in Avengers # 53 we learn that literally the only thing that can defeat Magneto is Magneto, who spends his spare time building stuff that magnetism can't affect, "just to prove he can do it."

[anthony_lynch15]

Or this (wait, he planted cameras at Charles Xavier's funeral?).

LMAO, he looks bat sh!t crazy in that panel.

[Darth Phoenix]

I miss that Magneto had a helmet that removed bigotry only to destroy it.
image.jpg

[gurkle]

See, Cap isn't a self-righteous dick because he's a bigot, he's just inherently a self-righteous dick.

[norj]

See, Cap isn't a self-righteous dick because he's a bigot, he's just inherently a self-righteous dick.

Are you saying Magneto shouldn't have been put on trial for his crimes?

[gurkle]

Are you saying Magneto shouldn't have been put on trial for his crimes?

I don't really care, honestly. Part of the problem is that because of the Comics Code we never actually saw him successfully kill anybody, so while he has many on-panel counts of attempted genocide, he always fails. It's not like the Joker who actually racked up a body count even during the Comics Code era.

Obviously, we're meant to assume that Magneto did kill people when we're not watching, and attempted murder is still a crime even if he didn't. But evil mutants routinely cross over to the side of good and back again and we never see them stand trial for the crimes they presumably committed.

Not that you can't have a good trial story, especially if She-Hulk is involved somehow, but I have to say I never liked stories about trying to bring someone to trial. Super hero groups should be about stopping bad guys from blowing up the world and then letting them get away. Again.

[sureshot]

I vastly prefer the current incarnation imo. I'm not sure if it's because of the art. Yet he looks one step short of needing to be given a rabies vaccine in some of those panels. Those were days where villains for the most part had to be one dimensional.

[jmc247]

For the final end to the X-Men, putting them in a hot air balloon including Angel to circle the Earth forever.



Silver Age Magneto was a insane and demented even by the low standards of Silver Age villains.

[SilverSurferSupreme]

Before he was a Holocaust survivor, before he had a tragic past - in other words, before X-Men 150 (and maybe that one page of him looking at his dead wife in X-Men 125), Magneto was not the complex, morally ambiguous characters most people remember. He was, in fact, maybe the most over-the-top, ranting, raving, cartoonishly evil supervillain in Marvel. Even Doctor Doom occasionally showed a bit of dignity in this era, but Magneto just wanted to wipe out humans and take over the world with his master mutant race, so he tended to be seen doing stuff like this.



Or this (wait, he planted cameras at Charles Xavier's funeral?).


And somehow fittingly, Jack Kirby's last issue of Fantastic Four has Magneto as the bad guy, trying to start a war between humans and sea dwellers so mutants can take over.



I'm not going to argue that Magneto should go back to this, and unless he's hopped up on drugs or being written by Grant Morrison (those two things may be redundant), he's not going to. But I'm wondering if you have favorite moments of crazy ranting raving silent-movie villain Magneto, aka the Magneto people knew from 1963 to 1979 or so. He's not subtle, but he sure knew how to do evil laughs, evil terrorist demands, evil science experiments, evil mind control and, well, anything evil, really.

Awesome!!! I have printed the first one to stick it on my work desk....!!!

[yet another]

lol, where did this guy go!?

[Sea Hound]

image.jpg

I like this one. So cocky. Confident he can take out the team without even looking away from his monitor, or leaving his chair.

[anthony_lynch15]

For the final end to the X-Men, putting them in a hot air balloon including Angel to circle the Earth forever.



Silver Age Magneto was a insane and demented even by the low standards of Silver Age villains.

Holy crap! Silver Age Magneto was nuts!

image.jpg

I like this one. So cocky. Confident he can take out the team without even looking away from his monitor, or leaving his chair.

Tut tut Scott. A real tactical genius wouldn't be thinking "We're still nowhere near ready".
He'd be thinking - "Oh ****, two of my teammates have metal in their bodies"