Magneto has gone by many names over the years. But whether he’s Max Eisenhardt, Erik Lehnsherr, Erik the Red or one of his other many aliases, the Master of Magnetism is one of the most important friends and foes to Marvel’s X-Men. Since Magneto was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963’s X-Men #1, Magneto has been a fixture of the Marvel Universe, and he stands as one of the most complex antagonists in comics. And beneath the surface, his mutant body is just as complex as his morality. Now, we’re taking a closer look at this Marvel icon to see exactly what keeps Magneto’s body going after his decades-long career.
1) Why Can Magneto Fly?
The basis of most of Magneto’s powers is his link to magnetic fields. While he can use these for offensive and defensive purposes such as creating force fields and making concussive blasts, Magneto’s mastery of magnetism in all of its forms. For example, he’s capable of using these fields to fly at incredibly high speeds.
Magneto’s force fields are even strong enough to withstand the efforts of powerhouses like Hercules and Ghost Rider, nuclear blasts and even the vacuum of space, as he famously did in the opening to Chris Claremont and Jim Lee’s X-Men #1. His mastery of magnetic fields extends far beyond his immediate surroundings too, as he’s been able to move asteroids and even a bullet containing Kitty Pryde that was hurtling through space at several thousands of miles per hour.
2) Is Magneto Connected to Earth’s Magnetic Fields?
Magneto doesn’t just draw his power from magnetism — he has a deep link to the geomagnetic fields of the Earth itself. This essentially turns him into the ultimate human compass, giving him a sixth sense of sorts that allows him to observe Earth’s electromagnetic field and any changes to it unaided.
Even when his powers have been deactivated temporarily, Magneto remains incredibly sensitive to the Earth’s magnetic fields. He can even perceive magnetic and electromagnetic fields in a way that almost mimics sight.
3) Could Magneto Remove Wolverine’s Adamantium?
Some of the smallest particles in existence, are immune from Magneto’s grasp. He’s been shown with the ability to manipulate even the smallest of trace metals within objects, and even people on more than one occasion.
He famously removed the adamantium from Wolverine’s skeleton in Fabian Nicieza and Andy Kubert’s X-Men #25, where he pulled every trace of adamantium out of Wolverine’s body. On a note dissimilar note, Magneto pulled the iron out of a security guard’s blood to form tools for a prison escape in the film X2: X-Men United. Likewise, Magneto also uses this small-scale magnetic manipulation to reinforce the fibers of his costume to give it adamantium-like durability, as Claremont and Lee’s X-Men #2 confirmed.
4) Can Magneto Control Electricity?
Magneto might be most famous for his magnetic powers, but his connection to Earth’s electromagnetic fields give him some control over the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum as well. Magneto can use his powers to create and absorb electricity, and he can also generate a shield of electric energy around himself. While he can control more exotic types of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum too, these efforts generally seem to push his powers past a breaking point.
However, Magneto’s control over electricity could explain his considerable resistance to telepathy. Although his helmet is famously his most effective defense against telepaths, he is almost certainly aided by his control over the electrical impulses of the brain.
5) How Has Magneto Not Aged?
While Magneto’s history is famously tied to the real-world history of the 1930s and 1940s, Magneto is in incredibly good shape for his age, because he was de-aged into a baby before being re-aged into the prime of his life. During an encounter with Alpha the Ultimate Mutant in Defenders #15-16, by Len Wein and Sal Buscema, Magneto and the rest of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was de-aged into infancy. During an attack on the United Nations, Magneto uncovered Alpha, an alien whose powers cause it to constantly evolve new ones each time they are used. Eventually, Alpha turns on Magneto, seeing him as the true villain of the story. Sick of humanity’s squabbles, he turns the Brotherhood of Mutants into a bunch of babies and flies off.
The young Magneto was placed in the care of Moira MacTaggert, who tinkered with the young mutant’s genetic structure. Eventually, Magneto was re-aged into adulthood by the Shi’ar alien agent Eric the Red in Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum’s X-Men #104. Although Magneto still has his trademark white hair, this version of Magneto wasn’t restored to his fully original age, and he still maintains some of that relative youthfulness to this day.
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