Magneto: The Polarity of Morality

Magneto is one of the few arch-villains to appear in the heroes' inaugural issue

As a rule I don't like to quantify things. So making "top ten" lists doesn't hold the most appeal to me, per se. When I say that, I'm not particularly adept, or possessing the desire to rank by gold and silver things that are similar and yet to different to truly rank. I do, however, recognize the broad strokes of tiers. I do like to think about the absolute most iconic icons in popular culture. So every now and then, I think about what titles would still be published if there were only limited publishing space. (Which was a  very real limitation for 1960's Marvel) I also think about what characters would we keep, by design or by compulsion, if the rest were, for some reason, dispersed into the ether. I think about the top dogs, the truly top dogs. I do it for heroes, and I do it for villains. Four, as in four columns, is a good enough barometer to decide the absolute most vital, popular and iconic villains in comic book lore. Those four are the Joker, Doctor Doom, Lex Luthor, and Magneto.As I've mentioned before, the creators of comics sometimes invoke something when they create. They tap into something. Not just a zeitgeist, but something very primal on a cultural level. Superhero fiction is perhaps the quintessential American mythology. So it stands to reason the largest, most important figures say something about America.

To make an iconic character requires a few elements. Sure, being well-executed from an artistic standpoint helps. But a simplicity, an applicable shorthand is absolutely vital. It's why some of the better creations from the likes of Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman haven't caught on as much less original, inspired characters. "Magneto" as a concept works on the basest aesthetic levels. Magnet powers are easy to explain (If, in practice, flagrant defiance of the actual magnetic properties found in science) He carries the elegant and imposing image whipped up by comics great Jack Kirby. So well-conceived is the look, even the 90's, a decade rife with needless reinvention of signature characters, saw little to improve (or "improve") in Magneto's look. People fiddle with it every now and then, but it's imposing. It lends a gravity and majesty to the character. And it has something that is overlooked to an inexplicable degree when creating superheroes and villains; An appearance that corresponds with powers. (Or at least, shows he has some overarching "theme" going on) While the depth of the character certainly did not hurt him, it should be noted that he was a reasonably popular recurring villain in the 70's, when the X-Men  title was largely defunct. Once Marvel started getting into the animation game, he was used as a repertory adversary in Spider-Man and Fantastic Four. These early appearances are shallow representations of the character to be sure, but my point is, he's got enough of that punch to work as a shallow icon, and combined with the dimensions he was later given, that's what has made him a contender on all levels.

For a while, his profile even eclipsed that of the heroes' he was created to oppose

The line between "villain" and "supporting character" is sometimes a thin one, at least in Academy Awards terms. In comics, there are villains who are recurring archfoes, and villains who are part of the cast in a very real way. That is, the Joker, or the Red Skull, or whomever Spider-Man considers his foe numero uno this decade are, while part of the mythology of the character and important aspect of the tapestry, they're not part and parcel with the concept. Lex Luthor has evolved into such a character, for his own reasons. And Magneto has become one for the X-Men franchise. He may sometimes appear in every episode of a TV series. He appears in almost every movie. Magneto is more than the X-Men's archfoe. He's in "fifth Beatle" territory. He's part of the cast. Because while duality plays a part in any villain's ascendancy to "worst enemy", Magneto is not just the other side of the coin, but a yin to the protagonist's yang. It's interesting to point out so many prequels disappoint fans, especially where the villains are concerned, because youth seems to paint a less-than-impressive portrait of our favorite cinematic bogeymen. X-Men: First Class, if the reviews are any indication, avoids that trap. I think it's largely because the villainous slides of Darth Vader and Hannibal Lecter came across as terribly arbitrary. Because Magneto has always been back and forth on the fence, any background story on his "fall from grace" is able to be done with more credibility.

It also doesn't hurt that every now and then Magneto will become less explicitly villainous. It's something that's done many, many times in the franchise. Because Magneto extols our sympathies. There's an altruism in our extremism. Like all good characters, especially from the comic book world, Magneto thrives because he is an embodiment of values, and good stories, good conflict, comes from the fiction of pitting his values against the X-Men's (and vicariously, ours). That is to say, the code against killing is considered the number one rule amongst superheroes. While the rule has become more and more contested, (Sometimes through very valid arguments, and sometimes through arguments caused by ridiculous body counts. "Straw holocausts" so contrived as to be completely academic.) the "To kill or not to kill?" question is the watershed that one separates the hero from the anti-hero. It's probably not for nothing Magneto is sometimes allowed into the white hats' clubhouse every now in an era of heroes who will sometimes finish the bad guys off.
While he was not given a lot of depth until the 70's, one wonders if he could have anyways. The Silver Age of comics came off of the prosperous, conformist 50's. Magneto is a very avatar for insurrection, so it may have been hard to put him in the kinds of stories that made him a fan favorite. I think Magneto as we know him, could only come about in the 70's. The anti-establishment streak that has painted post Vietnam culture has caused us to identify with the antagonist a lot of the time, but in this case, we really do find ourselves rooting for the man. In a lot of ways, he's the hero of another story. History has made genuine heroes of men who went out there and smote their enemies for less noble reasons.

It doesn't hurt when your powers, by definition, are a weakness to one of comics' most popular guys

Iconic characters represent some facet of America. Even the antagonists do. Something to remember about America is that we're a nation that came out of rebellion. Rebellion is an inherent part of us. One hundred years later, we had the Civil War, and that insurrection has itself many apologists, though I don't count myself among them. There is an adage that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". Magneto is that adage. Nobody agrees with every attempt to throw off the yoke of oppression. Sometimes they're wrong, or for the wrong reason. Sometimes they're taken to unconscionable ends. But the idea of fighting back against what we perceive as tyranny is always going to be part of the national conversation. Whether it's the Black Panther movement, the Tea Party, or even foreign revolutionaries in countries that we've intervened in, there are always going to be those that call for revolution, and those on the opposite end who feel that revolution is unwarranted, or that we've gone too far. Magneto is not only a revolutionary, but a revolutionary in the face of racism. Racism is the one of those sins, one of those things that takes us down a peg from our position of pioneers of democracy. The U.S. is supposed to be the model of freedom, but the treatment of minorities, of others, in pursuit of greatness is what undermines us.

The compulsion to explore Magneto as an out-and-out good guy is a strong one

 He embodies how rising up against impression is a truly noble thing, but sometimes it gets bogged down in bloodshed and hypocrisy. Magneto is the perfect good/bad guy, because embodies the perfect good/bad thing. It's fitting, maybe serendipitous even, that his powers are based on polarity