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Magneto

Max Eisenhardt

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Magneto

Real Name

Personas

Max Eisenhardt is a powerful mutant with the ability to generate and control magnetic fields. Magneto regards mutants as evolutionary superior to humans and rejects the possibility of peaceful human-mutant coexistence; he aims to conquer the world to enable mutants, whom he refers to as Homo superior, to replace humans as the dominant species.

Max, at this point, sought out a forger named Georg Odekirk, who was supposed to be among the best, and asked him to create a new identity for him. Odekirk fabricated the existence of "Erik Lehnsherr, the Sinte gypsy," so that Max could live more easily among Magda's own people. Max added "Magnus" as his middle name and, although many knew of his history as a Jewish prisoner, no one knew of his life as Max Eisenhardt. Not satisfied with the simple life of a mountain village, Erik moved his family to the then-Soviet city of Vinnitsa so he could better himself. On their very first day in the city, Magnus consciously used his powers for the first time. Erik magnetically hurled a crowbar at his boss who was cheating him of his pay. When he returned to the inn where Magda, Anya, and he were staying, Erik saw that it was on fire and his daughter Anya was trapped on the upper floors. He tried to use his new-found powers to save his daughter, but his boss had called the KGB and they beat up Magnus and held him down, preventing him from rescuing Anya. The child fell, burning to her death, in front of her father. Magnus then used his powers to destroy the men holding him, the crowd watching, and a large section of the city of Vinnitsa in revenge. Terrified by her husband's powers and overwhelmed by the tragedy, Magda fled, unknowingly pregnant with twins. As Magnus attempted to bury his daughter, more soldiers arrived after hearing what he had done and attacked him. After being shot in the head, Magnus forced the soldiers to turn their own guns on themselves.

Eventually Magnus traveled to Haifa, Israel, possibly under the guise "Erik Magnus". Magnus worked there as a volunteer orderly at a psychiatric hospital for Holocaust victims. It was there Erik first met and became friends with Charles Xavier. Magnus and Xavier frequently debated the subject of mutants' coexistence with the rest of humanity, though neither revealed to the other that they were mutants. After the two men joined forces to rescue their friend, Gabrielle Haller, from Baron von Strucker and his Hydra agents and revealed their powers to each other, Magnus seized Hydra's Nazi gold and left for parts unknown, realizing his and Xavier's views were incompatible.

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Character History

CREATORS: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

FIRST APPEARANCE: The X-Men Vol. 1 #1 (September 1963)