And it worked: Magneto went from showing up sporadically (at one point, he went three years without appearances) to becoming a central part of the X-Men franchise. This also turned him into one of the few Marvel characters with a very defining historical moment, like how Steve Rogers is forever tied to World War II or how certain other X-Men should have never left the ’90s. Looking at you, Adam X the X-Treme.
In Magneto’s case, Claremont wisely realized that having a mutant who experienced the Holocaust first-hand made the “hated and feared” part of the X-Men’s central premise a lot more powerful. Magneto is a living reminder of the horrifying consequences of human intolerance. That’s even more relevant today when Nazis have somehow wormed their way back into mass media, aided by the misguided idea that “we gotta hear both sides,” even if one side wants to pretend the systematic extermination of millions of people never happened. Yeah, this is definitely not the time to change your most notable Holocaust survivor into something else, Marvel. Read the room.
You might be wondering: “How can the new X-Men movies be any good if one of the most important characters is impossibly freaking old?” Hmm, good question.
20th Century Studios
But, remember, these are mutants — saying that Magneto ages at the pace of a tortoise “because magnets and stuff” isn’t any crazier than saying he can lift cars with his mind. Or maybe he breaks the laws of physics the first time he uses his powers and gets thrown into a time vortex, or he died in 1963 and got accidentally snapped back into existence in Endgame because Star-Lord farted near the Infinity Stones or a thousand other possible explanations. A similar scenario could easily be concocted for Professor X … or, you know what, go ahead and de-age X while keeping Magneto old, which would only heighten the whole “older cynicism vs. youthful optimism” dynamic they’ve got going on.
Point is, logic shouldn’t be a reason for erasing the most important part of Magneto’s identity, because after all, these are superheroes stories. Logic barely matters here.
Follow Maxwell Yezpitelok‘s heroic effort to read and comment every ’90s Superman comic at Superman86to99.tumblr.com.
Top image: Marvel
Related: Here Are Marvel’s Bonkers ’80s Thanksgiving Floats; You’re Welcome
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Dear Marvel: Please Keep Magneto Old
Source: Pinoy Daily News
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