localairwaves submitted: Do you think Magneto can/has/does work as a hero, or not? Is he misguided, a sociopath, or just as much of an idealist as Xavier? What's your read on him?
Magneto’s a psychopathic bigoted terrorist that way too many people tried to humanize. They try to make it like he’s some kind of savior for mutantkind, promising them salvation and a promised land. Writers put a lot of his tortured past in the stories, but in the end, Magneto is exactly what people who are afraid of mutants think they all are: a sociopath who wants to get rid of non-mutants.
He’s not a hero. He’s a killer who wants the world to bend at his own whim. He’s a villain of the truest sense that people root for .
He’s kind of like the stereotypical “flaming queen” homophobes think all gays are like or an angry Black rapist/robber/killer racists think all Blacks act like or the intolerant, hate-filled xenophobic bible-thumping zealot most non-Christians feel all Christians are, but for mutants. A walking stereotypical justification of everything anti-mutant groups fear and have been talking about.
Xavier is definitely the more rational of the two. He’s teaching acceptance and protection of mutantkind. People (mostly those that don’t know better) love to make the incorrect assumption that Magneto is like Malcolm X while Professor X is like Dr. King.
Truth be told, the Professor is like both men who asserted pride in one’s self and peace with all humans, mutant and non-mutant alike but learning how to protect yourself without letting those that hate you just walk over you.
Magneto is more akin to a White supremacist who only wants one race to rule over all and dominate the world to make that mission possible. In his case, the mutant race. And yet nearly every writer of X-Men doesn’t see that parallel, and I can imagine you’ve never seen that side yourself, have you?
