Erik Magnus Lehnsherr aka Magneto is the leader and founder of the Brotherhood of Mutants and one of Professor X's best friends until conflicts of opinion create a rivalry between them and their teams. A powerful mutant with the ability to generate and control magnetism, Magneto has been the X-Men's most prominent enemy ever since his first appearance. In his early appearances, his motives were bent on megalomania, but writers have since fleshed out his character and origin, revealing him to be a Jewish Holocaust survivor whose actions are driven by the purpose of protecting the mutant race from suffering a similar fate. His role in comics have varied from supervillain to antihero to even hero.
Sir Ian McKellen portrayed Magneto throughout the first X-Men film trilogy, while Michael Fassbender will play a young version of the character in the spin-off X-Men: First Class.
Powers and Abilities
Magneto is a mutant with the power to manipulate the electromagnetic force to achieve a wide range of effects.
The primary application of his power is control over magnetism and the manipulation of metal. He can affect a very large quantity of metal at one time. For example, he has levitated objects as heavy as a 30,000 ton nuclear submarine and has used his power to move large asteroids several times. The maximum amount of mass that he can manipulate at one time is unknown. He can manipulate a large number of individual metal objects simultaneously and has assembled complex machinery with his powers. He can also affect non-metallic and non-magnetic objects to a lesser extent and frequently levitates himself and others.
Another way in which Magneto frequently uses his power is the projection of force-fields which selectively block out matter and energy. These fields are strong enough to withstand the detonation of multiple thermonuclear weapons; hence Magneto is invulnerable to most harm when surrounded by his shield and can survive in deep space thanks to it.
Magneto can also channel his powers through his own body to increase his strength and durability far beyond human limits and has a baseline reaction time 15 times shorter than that of regular humans.
On occasion he has altered the behavior of gravitational fields around him, which has been suggested as evidence of the existence of a unified field which he can manipulate. He can also generate electromagnetic pulses of great strength and generate and manipulate electromagnetic energy down to photons. He can turn invisible by warping visible light around his body.
Although Magneto has been shown capable of manipulating matter on a subatomic level (insofar as the electromagnetic force is responsible for bonding electrons to protons within an atom), the use of his powers in this way seems to be difficult for him, and he has not been frequently depicted as doing so.
He has demonstrated the capacity to produce a wormhole and to safely teleport himself and others via the wormhole. His powers have also demonstrated that he can condense planetary objects into subatomic size.
Magneto has been consistently and frequently depicted as able to resist all but the strongest or most unexpected of telepathic attacks. A number of explanations have been proposed for his unusually strong resistance to telepathy, among them:
(a) technology wired into his helmet (the explanation given in the X-Men film series and several comic plotlines),
(b) some physical aspect of his electromagnetic powers that can interfere with telepathy (he once used the Earth's magnetic field to dampen the powers of all telepaths within his reach)
(c) latent telepathic powers of his own or,
(d) sheer force of will (cf. X-Men Vol. 2 #2).
In some of his earliest appearances, Magneto was depicted as capable of engaging in astral projection. He has also, on rare occasions, been shown reading other's dreams, issuing telepathic commands, and probing the minds of others. He has demonstrated the ability to shield his mind, while in intense meditation, so completely that even Emma Frost was not able to read his thoughts, despite being directly in front of him and actively attempting to do so.
In addition to his powers, Magneto has many other skills. He is a genius with competence in various fields of advanced science, especially in genetic manipulation, particle physics, engineering, and other fields of technology. He has engineered advanced weaponry, space stations, superpowered humanoid lifeforms, devices that generate volcanoes and earthquakes, devices that block telepathy, and devices that can nullify all mutant powers except for his own. He has reconstructed computerized devices from memory. He is fluent in many human languages and once single-handedly deciphered the unknown language of a lost civilization. He possesses extraordinary skill in "reading" the microexpressions on others' faces and sensing what they are thinking and feeling, whether they are lying, fearful, etc. a skill which he refers to as "taking your enemy's measure." He also is a master strategist and tactician with extensive combat experience, and has often been successful in single-handed combat against entire groups of superhuman adversaries. He also has some military training in hand-to-hand combat and has been shown to be effective with his fists, but he prefers to use his powers when in combat situations.
