So, in the last year I've seen a lot of people saying that Magneto needs a new origin, sense WW2 and the holocaust happened so long ago. Now I don't agree on this, but I was hoping to hear what other people think.

Oh boy....this is on the border between "Very good and relevant question" and "Matches to a Flame War"....and i'm not about to fight the Magneto fans again.

No, Magneto does not need a new origin -- not now, not ever.

@koays: yea I know. I understand where people are coming from when they say that the further we get from WW2 the less relevant those events become, hence why they say Magneto needs a new origin. But that origin is so integral to the character that I have a hard time imagining him without it.

WWII wasn't necessarily that long ago... besides the pivotal role that the war and results play in his character establishment mean there is not really a way to change that.. they should just leave it since he is one of the characters that is fully established as to how and why he is who he is.

@koays: lol ain't that the truth

WW2 was not that long ago at all. And most people understand the significance of the Nazi's. All other confllicts really pale in comparison to the carnage in that war. If fans dont like that or understand it then they need to go pick up a book or watch the history channel. WW2 is significant to our history, so the notion that its lost its relevance as far as his origin is ridiculous. Just read Magneto Testament for the story.

The only thing that is a problem is the age thing with most people. But really that could be easily explained away in that his abilities keep away the effects of aging. Him being connected to the earth and magnetic spectrum and all that scientific mumbo jumbo.

His origin should never be changed. Now there are other characters that do but not him

@william300: well his age keeps getting older and older but he still fights like he is a 30 year old lol. I just don't really focus on the dates now

only someone with little knowledge on the scope of the Earth and the universe would consider ww2 to be too outdated and not relevant

Thank the Almighty. The posters confirm that there's a hope for humanity.

WW2 is irrelevant? wtf...

Less relevant isn't the words i'd choose, since they'll still be relevant as a major part of history that pretty much set us on the path for modern international politics... Not to say that as time goes on it won't become less of a historical starting point and more of something you need to look up to get a grasp on... but still.

What i would say when posing the question (just to avoid the war) is that Magneto is pushing very near to 100 and the incredible role he plays in many characters lives and stories will be called into question do to him being one of the few characters with a calculable Date of birth if this isn't addressed. I mean 15-30 years from now he may need to be changed or rather updated even if it is just to add in @hawk2916 ' s explanation of his slowed aging as a far more prominent part of his history and character (turning him into even more of a timeless observer of humanity then he already is). But now it would be seen as damaging since his origin is still considered topical.

It's a problem for another day, but a problem none the less.

Dont they have a loop hole with that though? Wasn't he killed already? Then cloned, and raised from a child? They can change how old he was when that happened, and how long ago it happened pretty easy to keep him young enough to be relavant

Ya I think it should change. People will disagree but I don't see it as all that big a deal to remove it. Heck if you absolutely needed a war for his back story just create a fictional one in a fictional country for his back story.

Heck tie it into Latveria. He can go back to his gypsy background and say that the ruler before Doom was Hitleresque. That it wasn't until Doom overthrew him that he was taken out of power. Which further his dislike for humanity for ignoring it all that time.

or

If you absolutely needed Nazi's in it you could say that in WW2 a bunch of Nazis escaped to a smaller unwatched fictional country where they blended in eventually setting up shop taking over behind the scenes to rise again years later. Added bonus it would give Captain America a Nazi state to fight in the present.

PS: Go back to Erik Lehnsherr and dump stupid Max Eisenhard. Correct me if I'm wrong because I honestly don't know but wasn't it them tying him into WW2 when they stupidly decided to change his name?

Yea but think about how old that story is now... then add another 15 years to that and your looking at a new level of depth to obscurity with that one if your asking someone to recall or site that one. And even if you change it up, the fact is that his history with Xavier right now is kind of shifty with their ages upon meeting.

The more you fiddle with Magneto's age, the more you change the dynamic of things like Magneto and Xavier. Right now Magneto supposedly has about 10 years on Charles, but there first meeting was as equals. The more you fiddle with it the less it becomes a meeting of two friends who disagreed and instead it starts to seem like the jaded elder mutant Magneto vs the brash young student Xavier.

His physical age isn't the problem you can throw numerous excuses at that, but his chronological age starts to add up..

No, and those who think he needs a new origin should be executed. Magneto is only Magneto because of his origin in the camps. The evils of the government and what evils can be done under the banner of the law is integral to his character and his premise of fighting the law and holding the moral high ground while doing so. "I have been at the mercy of men following orders before, never again" Magneto is compelling because at the end of the day he is right. The world comes for the mutants over and over, even the Government, Shield, the Avengers. Magneto is right, and you must be willing to fight the law for what you know in your heart is right, without firsthand experience of the tyranny of the law from an elected government which results in registrations, followed by round ups, followed by executions, Magneto would not be seen as the freedom fighter he truly is.

There is no possible way to change Magnetos origin without losing a huge part of his relevance, update his power to include the ability to remove gravities affect on his body, update his power to have the ability to combat free radicals, make him age slower, I dont care, but he has to be a holocaust survivor to have the moral high ground when he fights and kills those who would attempt to enforce unjust laws or in general support a corrupt and evil system.

That is total nonsense. Tie his origin to latveria? the entire point is a democratically elected government registered, rounded up, and executed its own citizens. Not some despot in a third world country, not in some fictional war, but in our world, on this earth. That is what gives magneto relevance and NOTHING like that has been repeated since, at least not on the scale of WW2. if you take away real world significance you take away what made magneto ultimately right, because it happened to him, and his motto is, never again.

Your responce makes no logical sense.. First I was proposing just a few possibilities. It does not have to be latveria or anywhere. Second that whole thing about democratic gov isnt necessary to Magneto's back story. It's about a moment in time,of war where people humans were committing atrocities against one another. It's what pushed Magneto to becoming who he becomes. Whether the war is real or not is also irrelevant if you get what it represented down.

It would actually make more sense if it was fictional and the victims were mutants instead of jews which would reinforce his character more like say Genosha. The only reason I didn't suggest Genoshia itself was because it was located in Africa and it would beg the question why was he there.

FIrst off taking away the real world indecent does not take away from anything because those fictional things still happened in that world and it would not be the only time it had happened.It would still be an indecent that happened that brought him to the point to say "never again"

Second Magneto is not right. Even despite Marvel's trying to turn him he's still a bad guy. He's a mutant supremacist and terrorist. Just because you may or may not fight for a good cause does not make you good. “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster..." Further more Magneto was Magneto long before they introduce the Nazi angle.

@dernman: lol you call him terrorist I only see a hero finally willing to do what is necessary. Magneto is no more a terrorist than Obama is, do you know how many innocents America kills under the banner of fighting terrorists? That immediately disproves the idea that civilian causalites automatically make you the bad guy. Magneto may be a mutant supremacist but mutants are superior so that just makes him logical.

If the only reason is that WW2 was so long ago, then he does not need a new backstory. This is taken care of in the comics. In the mid 1970's Magneto was reverted to a baby and later restored to his prime. The comics never specified what age he was restored to, but it could easily have added decades to his life. He doesn't need a new backstory.

wow so much dumb in that post I don't even know where to start. I mean really LOL

I just took it that Magneto was like Wolverine in that he aged really slowly, meaning his origin story never needs to be changed.

@dernman: can't refute the logic call it dumb eh. It's very simple magneto is not a terrorist any more than Obama is. What's good for the goose and all. Magento is at war, wars have casualties, I'm really not seeing what you are missing but hey, you can't fix stupid. Mutants are the next stage of human evolution in 616, they are to humans what humans were to neanderthals and cro magnon man. There was never going to be coexistence and thinking it was possible waa always just a dream.

You want me to refute logic? Try using some. I'll give you a rebuttal when/if you give me anything that approaches intelligence. Until then continue to make yourself look bad if you so wish.

Sigh....told you it would happen.

@killraven4334: No Magneto was a terrorist. He's launched attacks against humans at times when mankind wasn't treating mutants as bad they normally did.

It's weird that lots of X-Men characters are tied to real world events and situations....everyone from Colossus to Abraham Kieros. But Magneto is always cherry picked as the one whose origin cannot be updated or is debated about endlessly. Vietnam had a huge impact on Karma and her family.....never once do you hear anyone discuss how she should should be in her 60s by now but somehow looks like she is 25.

WW2 itself is not what is important to Magnetos character, it's the tragedy of the situation and what happened to him personally that shaped him is what is important. You could reboot him of you had to. It's fine.

They burned his house with his child trapped inside just for an unconscious display of his abilities. Not so bad ha?

@adamtrmm: And he tried to nuke mankind to make them easier to conquer. Magneto was a victim as a child, but he chose to become a villain, he chose to try to conquer mankind and claim genetic superiority. He became what he hated.

@william300:

He was pushed to become a villain by the same humanity you wrongfully claimed wasn't "bad enough" back then, his tragedy didn't stop with the Holocaust, you should learn the character you're arguing about. He was the villain they slowly shaped, he's what they brought on their heads. Every other semantic maneuver doesn't matter. That's the only thing I wanted to say.

@adamtrmm: I do know the villain. But he's completely ignoring the fact that there are genuinely good humans, who have nothing against mutants. He was going to force mankind to nuke itself destroying the majority of it's population, that would be a attack on civilians not the military, not the government, the civilians, most of whom aren't even involved with the conflict, that is the literal definition of terrorism. Not to mention he's willing to put aside the fact that he had family that were human, would his parent support him trying to commit the same crimes they were victims of? No, of course not. Magneto became what he hated, a supremacist willing to wipe out others. Was he a victim? Yes? Did the men who tortured him and destroy his life deserve punishment? Yes. But, he did become what he hated, when focused that anger and hunger for revenge on the rest of mankind. He was a terrorist.

/thread

You mean those humans who sit in the shadows and do nothing? How many times in the X-books you've seen humanity support mutantkind? Now, the opposite question, how many times have you've seen humanity not just persecute but flat out support their eradication? The answer must be obvious.

I would like you to show me some scans, or at least point out what issues had Magneto unreasonably rampage just because without having an actual goal AND aiming at the civilians.

Now that is a very good argument (about his family being human) and I'd LOVE to see him called out on that in the comics, but let's not pretend like for him every human is an enemy. Don't forget, besides Rogue, all of his lovers were human women, how do you explain that?

Magneto has crossed the line on multiple occasions, true, but once again let's not pretend like it was always easy for him. In Magneto War he searched for an "average Joe" to question him, to confirm that there's no hope for mutant/human coexistence. If we're talking about Silver Age Magneto, and that absolutely ridiculous portrayal of him there's an in-universe explanation for that behavior, the overuse of his powers caused him mental instability and madness that were restored after he was turned into an infant by Alpha, the ultimate mutant he created.

Labels and semantics aren't what describes the character best, there's an existential conflict involved, complex so paranoiac and real it raises a lot of depressing questions one must be very optimistic to answer positively.