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Quote1 I cannot command you to help us, child. I can only tell you that I - that we - cannot create this better place without you. Quote2
Magneto

History

Erik Lehnsherr (Earth-295) and Charles Xavier (Earth-295) from X-Men Vol 2 41 001

Mourning the death of Charles Xavier

The Day Charles Xavier Died[]

The past history of Erik Lehnsherr of Earth-295 mirrored that of his Earth-616 counterpart up until the time that he was living in Israel and first met fellow mutant Charles Xavier. At first Erik (calling himself Magnus at the time) came to have many discussions with Charles about the future of mutants on Earth and the coming conflict between them and baseline humans. However, history would take a different turn thanks to the time travelling David Haller, Xavier's future son on Earth-616. Haller attempted to change his own world's history by trying to kill Magnus before he would become the mutant terrorist he was on his world. In travelling back in time, David also inadvertently brought a group of X-Men creating the divergence between Earth-616 and Earth-295,[2] and destabilizing all existence. Haller and the X-Men were struck with amnesia, with David being placed in the hospital at which Charles and Magnus worked.[3]

David later returned, attempting to kill Erik,[4] but found opposition from the time displaced X-Men who had just recently had their memories restored as well. In the final battle, Legion attempted to slay Magnus but Xavier jumped in the way, getting killed by his own son. This caused Legion and the X-Men (except for the previously time displaced Bishop) to be erased from existence. With his best friend dead, Magnus vowed to follow Xavier's dream of creating peace between humans and mutants. In the aftermath of the battle, Magneto's future foe Apocalypse was inspired by the televised battle between Legion and the X-Men to begin his quest to cull the weak from the world.[5]

X-Men (Earth-295) from X-Men Chronicles Vol 1 1 001

Mourning the death of the Scarlet Witch

Forming the X-Men[]

Learning of Apocalypse's growing power base, Erik -- now calling himself Magneto -- created his own team of X-Men in honor of Charles Xavier. Building a massive headquarters located on Wundagore Mountain, Magneto took in many mutants and taught them how to use their powers and trained them to be his soldiers to battle against Apocalypse. His first team included his children Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, as well as Jean Grey, Storm, Colossus, Iceman, Weapon X, and Shadowcat. Magneto also took in the young Rogue from Mystique, a young mutant who's absorption powers endowed her with magnetic powers similar to his own.

Apocalypse soon showed his hand by accompanying his Horsemen in attacking Cape Citadel for the purposes of unleashing its nuclear weapons on the human population. Magneto led his fellow X-Men in preventing the capture of Cape Citadel. With all his most experienced students gone, Magneto's base was open for attack by Apocalypse's son Nemesis who decimated the complex and killed many including the Scarlet Witch. Magneto and the others prevented Apocalypse from succeeding in capturing Cape Citadel, Magneto being able to force the eternal mutant into retreat. The victory proved to be a hollow one as he returned home to the ruins of his headquarters to find his daughter dead.[6]

Over the convening years, Magneto and his X-Men failed to stop Apocalypse from taking over the United States and begin his reign of genocide of those he considered weak, and his ghastly experiments to create the strongest of the strong. Along the way Magneto avenged his daughter by critically wounding Nemesis, stripping away all his flesh, forcing him to live in a life containment armor. Nemesis then changed his name to Holocaust.[7]

Early Days of Rebellion[]

Magneto's team of X-Men changed over the years, and they were forced to seek refuge in various different bases. Magneto developed a strong relationship with Rogue and an equally strong friendship with Gambit. While hiding out in the ruins of the old Guthrie farm in Kentucky, Magneto and his X-Men traveled to South America and rescued political prisoner Robert Kelly from Apocalypse's forces. Upon learning that Apocalypse was healing in the Blue Area of the Moon from injuries sustained in his last battle, Magneto led his X-Men in storming area in the hopes of eliminating Apocalypse. They were captured by the mad Inhuman known as Maximus who was allied with Apocalypse at the time but was secretly staging a coup. Magneto and the others were saved by their youngest member Blink and while they escaped without destroying Apocalypse, they rescued the tortured mutant Sunfire and recruited him into their ranks.[8]

Following the departure of Weapon X and Jean Grey from the X-Men's ranks, Magneto was injured by some Scavengers. Learning this, Holocaust sent his best warrior Wolverine to eliminate Magneto. Wolverine tried to find the weakest link in the group and exploit it to those ends. Wolverine sought to exploit a love triangle that was forming between Magneto, Rogue, and Gambit, which had come afoot when Magneto revealed to Rogue that he could safely touch her thanks to his magnetic powers. Seeing this, Gambit came at odds with Magneto and Rogue, and the situation had been exacerbated by Rogue choosing saving Magneto over Gambit. While Gambit succeeded in slaying Wolverine, he quit the group over the seeming betrayal of his feelings and friendship.[9]

Erik Lehnsherr (Earth-295) from X-Man '96 Vol 1 1 001

Magneto's uniform while working with Forge

Another of Magneto's relationships was strained shortly thereafter. With the mutant inventor Forge, Magneto attempted to prevent the time displaced Sugar Man from unleashing a powerful virus on the world. On this mission they were aided by Nate Grey, X-Man, another time displaced mutant from Magneto's future. While they succeeded in foiling the Sugar Man's plot, Forge and Magneto came to odds over using X-Man to help win the war against Apocalypse. Ultimately, Forge's insistence on returning Nate to his proper place in time caused Magneto to leave, ending their association with each other.[10]

After his comrade Colossus refused to continue to fight for the X-Men's cause, Magneto convinced the powerful Russian mutant and his wife Shadowcat to instead teach the next generation of X-Men, a group of mutants dubbed Generation Next.[11] Later, Blink, now a full fledged X-Man, disobeyed orders when attempting to stop a culling in Dallas, Texas. Magneto warned her to stop acting on her own again or risk being thrown out of the X-Men. Instead of deterring Blink, it instead sent her on a quest to try to prove herself, leading her to have a brief adventure in the Negative Zone.[12] Despite going off on her own without telling anyone, Magneto still accepted her back into the X-Men upon her return.[13]

Twilight of the Age of Apocalypse[]

Apocalypse and the Human High Council signed the Kelly Pact, an agreement of no further hostilities between humans and mutants. However, Apocalypse had no interest in honoring the agreement. With the Council armed with nuclear weapons and Apocalypse with a sea-wall defense perimeter, the conflict had come to a stalemate with both parties having the potential to end the world. In the convening years, Magneto and Rogue had a child together whom they named Charles after Charles Xavier.

X-Men Chronicles Vol 1 1 Pinup 2

Magneto, Rogue, and their son Charles

Magneto and his X-Men continued to fight Apocalypse's forces, and while attempting to stop a culling of humans in Seattle, Magneto and the X-Men came across the time displaced Bishop. Bishop, his memories fractured, remembered Magneto and accused him of the alternate history in which he resided in. Magneto had Bishop subdued and brought back to the X-Men's headquarters located in the ruins of Charles Xavier's old home. Having Rogue probe Bishop's mind with her absorption powers caused massive temporal feedback, bombarding Magneto with Bishop's memories of his Earth-616 counterpart. Realizing that the death of Xavier potentially caused the nightmare they lived in, Magneto amassed all the X-Men together to not only try to end Apocalypse's reign once and for all, but also to see if there was any credibility to Bishop's claims of another, better reality.[14]

Magneto first met with Colossus and Shadowcat with news that Colossus' sister Illyana was still alive and being forced to work in the Portland Core. He sent the two off with Generation Next to recover her due to her latent mutant abilities to create teleportation discs through time and space.[15] Meeting with the other X-Men, Magneto told them that he wishes to pursue the leads Bishop had given them. He then learned about the continued culling in Boston led by Holocaust himself and sent his wife and a squad of X-Men to deal with him.[16] He also sent Nightcrawler to seek out his mother Mystique and travel to the realm of Avalon to seek out the precognitive mutant named Destiny.[17] After Magneto helped Gambit and his X-Ternals break into Apocalypse's citadel to obtain a star chart of the Shi'ar galaxy so that they could teleport there to collect a shard of the M'kraan Crystal,[18] Magneto then oversaw the plans to aid the Sentinel evacuation of the remaining humans from North America being carried about by a squad of X-Men led by his son Quicksilver.[19]

While the various X-Men teams were off on their missions, Magneto stood behind to care for his son and keep an eye on Bishop who continued to blame Magneto for the state of the world, and question the merits of trying to stop Apocalypse.[20] Eventually, Magneto convinced Bishop that stopping Apocalypse was important so that, if their gambit to restore reality failed, his son Charles could grow up in a better world.[21] While alone, Magneto's son Charles became aware of the psi-spying being done by X-Man and his friend Sonique when Nate was testing out his powers. Magneto's outrage at being spied upon frightened them off.[22] Bishop soon became unhinged again and attempt to kill Magneto, however Bishop's own inability to take a human life prevented him from pulling the trigger after Magneto called his bluff.[23]

Erik Lehnsherr (Earth-295) from X-Men Omega Vol 1 1 001

Prisoner of Apocalypse

When Apocalypse finally learned the location of the X-Men's hideout, he launched a personal attack on Magneto and Bishop. Curious as to what Magneto was doing, Apocalypse took both men hostage, sending Bishop to be probed by the Shadow King while he kept Magneto as his personal prisoner to torture.[24] Before his capture, Magneto sent Charles away into the Morlock tunnels with Nanny, however they were soon captured by the traitorous Strong Guy who also stole the portion of the M'kraan Crystal from the returning X-Ternals to bring to Apocalypse.[25]

As a prisoner of Apocalypse, Magneto was tortured and forced to watch video footage of his wife's battle with Holocaust, however Magneto still refused to tell the eternal mutant his plans.[26]

The Fall of Apocalypse[]

En Sabah Nur (Earth-295) and Erik Lehnsherr (Earth-295) from X-Men Omega Vol 1 1 001

Final battle with Apocalypse

With the X-Men successful in recovering Illyana, Destiny, and Bishop, they then mobilized for one final strike on Apocalypse's citadel to recapture the shard of the M'kraan Crystal and save Magneto. While Bishop was sent back in time and stop Legion and save his reality, Apocalypse launched his sea-wall defense in response to the Human High Council's impending nuclear strike on his empire. Breaking free, Magneto, with the help of X-Man, battled En Sabah Nur. However, when Nate and Holocaust got shunted to the Earth-616 universe, Magneto tackled Apocalypse alone. When Apocalypse appeared to have the upper hand, Magneto unleashed the full fury of his powers, ripping Apocalypse in half, killing him instantly. With the nuclear bombs dropping on America, Magneto spent what he thought were his final moments on Earth with his wife and child, wondering if Bishop was successful in his mission.[27]

While Bishop was successful, he only succeeded in restoring his own reality. Earth-295 was stabilized and the eradication of all life on Earth was secretly prevented by Jean Grey who had gained the power of the Phoenix Force thanks to the manipulations of Sinister. Even though it was Jean who secretly saved the world from destruction, everyone presumed that it had been Magneto's doing.[11] When Sinister confronted Magneto with the truth, he blackmailed Magneto into leaving him alone in exchange for keeping the truth a secret.[28]

Head of Mutant Affairs[]

Over the coming months, Magneto and the X-Men began rebuilding the devastated world and helped restore America's government. In thanks, Magneto was named the head of the Department of Mutant Affairs and his X-Men were tasked with hunting down former followers of Apocalypse so that they could stand trial for war crimes. Primary among their targets was Sinister, the most sought after criminal who survived Apocalypse's regime.[29]

Searching many of Sinister's old hideouts, Magneto and the X-Men found Kirika, the daughter of Weapon X and Mariko Yashida. Deciding it was time to recruit Weapon X back into the X-Men, Magneto bonded Kirika's bones and claws with Adamantium and sent her to Canada to recover him. Magneto next led the X-Men in attempting to convince the Morlocks to leave their underground dwelling and live on the surface. They refused, leading to a conflict between the two groups that ended with Magneto being injured and the Morlocks retreating.[30]

When reports about the return of Holocaust reached Magneto, he and Sunfire tracked Apocalypse's son to one of the Dark Beast's old labs. This led to a clash between Magneto and the Exiles (a group which included Blink and Sabertooth of Magneto's native reality), a group of reality hopping mutants who were seeking the Beast's notes on the M'kraan Crystal to break free from the control of their supposed master the Timberbroker (in reality they were being manipulated by their foe Hyperion). Although the "Timebroker" tried to trick Holocaust into killing Magneto, the Exiles stopped the fight when they found what they were originally looking for and left to travel through the M'kraan Crystal, leaving Magneto to wonder what had happened.[31]

Magneto and Sunfire returned to find the X-Mansion under siege by Paige Guthrie and her siblings, who sought revenge on the X-Men for leaving her to die when she was on her mission to rescue Illyana. Magneto and the X-Men slew the Guthries but not before Paige revealed that Magneto was keeping Sinister's location a secret. With this revelation, Magneto was forced to tell his followers the truth: that it was Jean -- resurrected by Sinister -- who saved the world and that he had sworn to keep Sinister free.[32]

Although many of the X-Men came to hate Magneto for his decision, they agreed to help him bring in Sinister. With Weapon X's tracking abilities, Magneto and the X-Men followed the trail to Sinister's hideout on Liberty Island. There they were faced with his minions the Sinister Six which counted Jean Grey among their number.[28] Magneto learned that Sinister had no intention of filling Apocalypse's place but only sought to create the ultimate mutant, a goal he found in Jean Grey. As the battle raged, the X-Men defeated Sinister's minions, but not without losing Gambit and Quicksilver in the fight. Ultimately, Weapon X convinced Jean to snap out of Sinister's control and she, Weapon X, and Kirika slew Sinister.

In the aftermath of the battle, Magneto turned himself over to the authorities and insisted on serving time in prison for his willful deception and abuse of his power as head of Mutant Affairs for keeping Sinister's location secret. Despite Magneto's incarceration, the X-Men continued operating to heal a damaged world and maintain peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants.[33]

James Howlett (Earth-295) and Erik Lehnsherr (Earth-295) from Uncanny X-Force Vol 1 19

(Death)

After Weapon X betrayed the X-Men and took up the role of the new Apocalypse to save the world from Celestial judgement Magneto and his X-Men fought against him. They were fighting a losing battle however and when X-Force from Earth-616 came to the Age of Apocalypse in search of a Celestial Life Seed, the X-Men lost many of their members. When the human resistance revealed their plan to de-power all the mutants by using cloned bodies of Magneto's daughter Wanda, Magneto flew into a rage and destroyed all but one of the bodies. While Jean Grey entered the mindless Wanda's brain to use her power, Magneto and his wife Rogue fought Weapon X to distract him. Magneto and Rogue met their ends together and were killed by Weapon X.[34]

Attributes

Power Grid[35]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Some Training:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Single Type: Long Range:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Supersonic:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Genius

Powers

  • Magneto is a mutant with the ability to shape and manipulate magnetic fields. He uses his powers in many different ways, including creating a personal force field, flight, and energy blasts.

Notes

  • The Magneto of the Age of Apocalypse consistently used the name Erik Magnus Lehnsherr. Out-of-universe, this is because the Earth-616 retcons declaring that name was a forgery (X-Men (Vol. 2) #73) and establishing his true name was Max Eisenhardt (X-Men: Magneto Testament #1) were published after. Still, even in appearances subsequent to those stories, Magneto-295 continued to solely use the Lehnsherr name.

See Also

Links and References

References

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