Born From Trauma: Why Magneto Stands Tall as the Best Comic Book Villain
In an era where cinema is dominated by superheroes, comic book characters are now more popular than ever. Of course, everyone loves the good guys but it is often the villains that are more interesting. When written with depth, these evil-doers can be some of the best characters in all of fiction. There are many comic antagonists of varying quality but one is without a doubt the most convincing. That individual is Magneto.
The best villains are the ones that have good reasons for their evil acts. When done right, audiences can empathise with their actions even if they cross the moral threshold. As far as sympathetic comic book bad guys go, no other man is more interesting than the mutant known as Magneto.
Born in 1920s Germany, Max Eisenhardt was a boy that faced the pure hatred of the Nazi regime. He and his Jewish family did their best to flee to neighbouring countries but they were eventually captured and sent to the Warsaw Ghetto (a location that imprisoned up to 460 000 Jews). Eventually, his mother, father, and sister were executed and buried in a mass grave. Max survived (thanks to his mutant powers) before being captured once again and sent to Auschwitz. At the end of the war, Max made a final escape and went on to live life under a new name, Erik Lehnsherr. This is the man that became Magneto.
Following the extreme trauma he faced as a child, Magneto swore to protect the other mutants on Earth. He witnessed the decimation of his people and would not let such an event ever happen again. Once human-led organisations set their sights on mutants, Magneto made sure to do everything in his power to make sure the Holocaust would never be repeated.
From this perspective, sympathising with Magneto is easy. He watched as the most evil men in the world destroyed his people, and now he could see the beginning of mutant persecution right before his eyes. Of course, he would revolt. He couldn’t take action as a child but as an adult he could make a difference. He may not be right in his belief that a new Holocaust was being born, but you can’t blame him for having this viewpoint. The Nazis didn’t put Jewish people in concentration camps overnight, it was a long rise to power with many steps. Once Magneto saw that certain powerful individuals despised and wanted to control mutants, he panicked and imagined a devastating example of history repeating itself.
Magneto’s worldview can be considered logical in many ways. Of course, he takes it too far and begins to use deadly force but when you consider that he is combatting people whom he believes to be modern-day Nazis, his actions become less questionable. This is not to say that he is doing the right thing. Instead, looking through his perspective allows us to understand his unique brand of evil.
Magneto is not a villain motivated by world domination. He is a man riddled with PTSD, trying to save his family. Imagine you are a child whose loved ones are hated. Your father and mother are then killed because of their race. You then grow up and develop a new family, eventually seeing that they are similarly detested for who they are. You would probably try and protect them.
This is why Magneto is the best villain in all of comics. His powers are spectacular and his outfit is menacing but these elements are just a coat of paint on top of his deeply emotional character. He is a mutant but he is also a man, a man that viewers can understand. He is a tragic individual protecting his family. How can you blame him?
