Today sure was a day for ruining Magneto's character huh....

First, Resurrection of Magneto depicted him without his tattoo, and then X Men 97 had him say that the Holocaust was about religion and that Jews oppressed him.

I hate it here.

While many essays about Magneto's relationship to his powers note how his relationship to them is allegorical for a man overcoming repression and trauma, little to no analysis has been made over how Magneto's control over metal is allegorical to fear of progress, technology and weapons and who wields them. In this essay I will combine the reading of madness and trauma with reading of technological progress to illustrate the way Kirby and Lee explored the fear of technology falling into the the 'wrong' hands (and it's ableist implications of that fear) while Claremont instead explored the hope of overcoming trauma and madness and progressing forward both technologically and psychologically.

Hmmmmmm

x-men 97 text posts

Erik: Don’t worry Charles. As long as I am here, we will stand together even if the whole world is our enemy.

Charles: Thank you Erik, but may I ask why the whole world is our enemy?

Erik: Because I am here.

They look like two dads watching their kids fight each other at the park

Erik telling Rogue about him and Charles being in each other’s thoughts and never seeing it as an invasion of privacy only creating the helmet after their break up convincing himself he needed it and never refuting Rogue’s assessment of his possible worry that Charles’ love for him would have deterred his crusade. Then he proceeds to make the moves on her. What an unserious man.

magnet family for the soul and the 5 people who care

Happy first night of Hanukkah!

Shaking magneto in a jar

In light of Resurrection of Magneto's latest issue and blunder of the Jewish belief that "if you save one life it's as if you saved an entire world"....

It doesn't mean that Jews are all saintly protectors who must save everyone and never kill anyone. It doesn't mean that all. In fact, there's an equally as important belief that goes along with the aforementioned one which is that "if you allow a murderer to escape, the blood of their victims is on your hands." We Jews are not naive. The life of a murderer is not worth more than their victim- if you had a chance to stop a murderer and didn't, yes, even if it means killing them, the blood of their victims is on your hands.

Which is why Magneto saying "to save one life is to save the world" about Tony freakin' Stark is not only out of character, but also not what the phrase is about. Tony Stark has proven numerous times that his actions have led to disastrous things. Magneto is under no theological or moral obligation to help him. And Magneto himself as a character wouldn't *want* to help him.

"oh but he's had his redemption arc, Magneto is good now uwu"

Magneto doesn't have to be a doormat to have a redemption arc. Him not killing Tony for his actions inadvertantly causing the destruction of mutantkind by Orchis is enough of a "redemption". He doesn't have to save Tony to prove he's "good" now, and in fact, helping him would statistically most likely end up with more destruction in the future. Magneto can just. Not do anything. That would be more in-character.

Jews are not naive doormats. *Magneto* is not a naive doormat.

Me a year ago: Magneto is really mean and cagey to potential allies, paternalistic and doesn't understand intersectionality, I still love him tho.

Me today: I understand his position on a visceral level, I too only really trust my own demographics and will attack any person who tries to kill the few people who don't want me dead.

anyway it's "you're not alone" and "does charles judge me? no, i judge myself" and "promise me you'll watch charles" and "we're two of a kind" and "you worried if you felt how much he loved you--" and "bookends of the same soul" and "charles, you saw in me what mattered" and "you're so much more than pain and anger, there's good in you, i felt it" and "you saved my life and offered me a home" and "look at what we made" and "so it shall remain, as long as you return to us" and "are you sure i can't convince you to stay?" and "i'm sorry i can't leave him" and "i will bring you hope" and "all those years spent fighting each other, to have a precious few of them back," and it's erik leaving him on the beach but inevitably coming back, and it's charles in some dark future meeting his end because he feels the metal of erik's helmet for the first time in a millennia and hesitates, and it's charles flying off the handle because erik died in ororo's arms and not his, it's charles in erik's arms in the rose garden, it's erik's hand on charles's shoulder and charles reaching up to clasp it, it's them fighting side by side in a bar in haifa, it's erik coming back from the dead because charles needs him, it's erik taking over the school even though he feels unworthy, it's the fact that the dream of mutant paradise hinged on them working together, it's them, in a hundred universes in a hundred storylines and iterations, every single time, everywhere, finding each other no matter what, no matter when. it's that

Fear people that go out of their way to call Magneto a simple villain. Step away politely and enjoy your peace.

Claremont didn’t give us a lesson about the importance of perspective just so y’all can still sound like ignorant peanuts; and continuing to do so after the narrative in X-men ‘97 makes it less and less possible to keep up the appearance of ‘decent human being’.

‘Magneto was right’ was never an invitation or an excuse for violence - it was an acknowledgment of his warnings, of his fears born out of first-hand experiences with the bigotry humanity is capable of.

For anyone who’s still trying to twist it or strip it of its nuances, I hope one day you’ll be able to pause, catch your breath, and be willing to have a positive conversation with someone you don’t agree with, but can still understand and accept their perspective. It’s one of the best feelings in the world, I promise.

Magneto: I am taking over the world because it is so horrible to mutantkind, and there is nothing that you could possibly do to stop me or slow me down.

Magneto, a second later: Bestie, you gotta spill the tea 💅

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #150