Magneto (Earth-92131)
Magneto, birth given name Magnus, is a mutant villain who possesses profound control over magnetic energy. He considers mutants to be fundamentally superior to the human race at large, and his ultimate goal is mutantkind's dominion over humanity.
Biography
Early life
As a young man, Magnus worked as a medical aide in a psychiatric hospital, where he met Dr. Charles Xavier. Magnus's small home country had recently been invaded as part of a war. Xavier was secretly a powerful, telepathic mutant, who used his powers to calm the tormented minds of his patients. Small portions of the invading force soon returned, and Charles and Magnus revealed their mutant powers to each other to better protect their patients. Charles acted purely in defense, but Magnus's rage manifested into retaliatory violence against his foes. Charles was disturbed at Magnus's demeanor, insisting that their powers must be used to further the cause of peace. But Magnus believed that humans couldn't even be peaceful among themselves, and that there was no hope for such an outcome. Magnus adopted the moniker Magneto and assembled a legion of followers who assaulted various governmental and industrial centers in order to disrupt human civilization. Xavier eventually managed to dispel Magneto with his mental powers, forcing him into hiding for a number of years.[1]
1992
Magneto reemerged in late 1992 at a time when mutants were thrust into public headlines more than ever, as a result of the release of the Sentinels and a subsequent assault on the Mutant Control Agency headquarters.[2] A mutant known as Beast was captured and imprisoned by federal police pending trial. Magneto easily broke into Beast's cell and introduced himself, but was surprised to find that Beast didn't want to be rescued. He was aligned with Charles Xavier (also to Magneto's surprise), and fully intended on seeing his day in court to prove to the public that mutants were peaceful and that their cause for equality was righteous. For his part, Magneto argued that the notion of a mutant being tried by homo sapiens was unjust to begin with, but failed to convince Beast to align with him as extensive guard reinforcements arrived. He left, quickly dismantling the firearms and tanks the guards had come with. Later, Magneto assaulted a missile base, where he was confronted by three of Xavier's followers—the X-Men—Cyclops, Storm, and Wolverine. He simply contained them in a bubble of magnetic force, and warned them that Xavier and his followers were traitors to mutantkind. He fled, and the X-Men managed to safely ground the missiles shortly after they launched.[1]