Magneto is a fictional character appearing in\u00a0American comic books\u00a0published by\u00a0Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the\u00a0X-Men. Created by writer\u00a0Stan Lee\u00a0and artist\u00a0Jack Kirby, the character first appears in\u00a0The X-Men<\/i>\u00a0#1 (cover-dated\u00a0Sept. 1963) as an adversary of the X-Men.<\/p>\n
The character is a powerful mutant, one of a fictional subspecies of humanity born with superhuman abilities, who has 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 initially aimed to conquer the world to enable mutants, whom he refers to as\u00a0homo superior<\/i>, to replace humans as the dominant species. Writers have since fleshed out his origins and motivations, revealing him to be a\u00a0Holocaust survivor\u00a0whose extreme methods and cynical philosophy derive from his determination to protect mutants from suffering a similar fate at the hands of a world that fears and persecutes mutants. He is a friend of\u00a0Professor X, the leader of the X-Men, but their different philosophies cause a rift in their friendship at times. Magneto’s role in comics has varied from\u00a0supervillain\u00a0to\u00a0antihero\u00a0to\u00a0superhero, having served as an occasional ally and even a member of the X-Men at times.<\/p>\n
His character’s early history has been compared with the\u00a0civil rights\u00a0leader\u00a0Malcolm X\u00a0and\u00a0Jewish Defense League\u00a0founder\u00a0Meir Kahane.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0Magneto opposes the pacifist attitude of\u00a0Professor X\u00a0and pushes for a more aggressive approach to achieving civil rights. Magneto was ranked by\u00a0IGN\u00a0as the Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.<\/sup><\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Magneto is a fictional character appearing in\u00a0American comic books\u00a0published by\u00a0Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the\u00a0X-Men. Created by writer\u00a0Stan Lee\u00a0and artist\u00a0Jack Kirby, the character first appears in\u00a0The X-Men\u00a0#1 (cover-dated\u00a0Sept. 1963) as an adversary of the X-Men. The character is a powerful mutant, one of a fictional subspecies of humanity born with superhuman abilities, who has …<\/p>\n