Alright imagine you were born with an extra gene, lets call it for the purpose of argument, an X gene.
This gene causes you to display extraordinary, sometimes superhuman, abilities. Society, being the fearful and paranoid thing that it is, turns on you and calls you a freak.

Then someone like you stands up. He promises to place your kind (which he calls Homo Sapiens Superior) in its rightful place: at the top of the world. For every mutant stoned to death for being different, he single handedly destroys a town of humans.

The question is this: if this scenario ever happened, would you side with that man? Would you believe Magneto was right, and devote yourself to his cause, knowing that his way is a way of conflict?

Is Magneto right?

This is why Magneto is my favorite villain.

Many heroes have a story behind them explaining why they are heroes. I don’t mean why they have super powers, I mean what made them into a hero. Many villains lack that, but not Magneto.
You can follow his life history and really understand how he became the man he is.

Now would I join Magneto? No.
He isn’t much different than the Nazi’s who placed him and his family in Auschwitz.

MAgneto would be a great man. A leader that I would have no problem following. If you've ever read any of the Age of Apocalypse series, you can see that given the right circumstances he could be a great leader.

In the "real" Marvel universe though, he plays the role that he should. You can't have a man like Xavier without his flipside. Driven by the same injustice to two different solutions. Personally I'd go the Xavier route, trying to work together with people and form a brotherhood (good). However, if I was backed into a corner, like watching my family caged and shipped off to a concentration camp, I'd let loose with a superheated plasma blast that would incinerate their captors.

[edit on 17-5-2006 by Rasobasi420]

Originally posted by Umbrax
Now would I join Magneto? No.
He isn’t much different than the Nazi’s who placed him and his family in Auschwitz.

I see what you mean, however the Nazi's were a dominant force in a country. The majority of people would have been Nazi's, whereas the minority are mutants in Marvel.

Plus Magneto is doing what is 'naturally' right, in that he is a superior lifeform wishing to replace lower lifeforms. Early humans wiped out (as in actively hunted and killed) any lower evolutionary primate. Magneto is doing the same.

Rasobasi, I did read AoA and I know exactly what you mean. He was a great man in that, but he is also a great man in the real Marvel. He does terrible things but he is still a great man.