Marvel Comics: Magneto - What is This Guy's Problem?

Magneto was a survivor of Auschwitz, a Nazi prison camp, and witnessed the murder of his family and his entire village by the Nazis. He is haunted by the fact that if he had only discover his mutant powers in time, he could have saved his family and his village, and possibly even stopped the war. After he escaped the prison camp, he vowed that he would never be taken prisoner again, and those atrocities he witnessed would never be committed against his mutant-kind.

He has several times expressed that mutants were superior to humans, and calls mutants Homo Superior, and some speculate that the reason he dislikes humankind so much is because of the atrocities they committed during World War II. Magneto has utter control over the magnetic spectrum and can also control other energy fields as well and this makes it one the most dangerous human beings that has ever lived on this planet. It may be because of his ultimate powers that he believes that he is so much more superior than human kind.

It was because of people like Magneto that the X-Men were actually formed to to stop powerful mutants from taking over the earth, and because of this Magneto is often at odds with them. He is torn between his loyalty to his race which is mutant-kind in his desire to end human kind, while fighting the X-Men is basically fighting himself.

He is one of the most feared bad guys there is a Marvel universe and has tangled with the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Thor and others. It seems that he is always on the radar of every superhero there is in this testament to this bad intentions and feared power.

Through Marvel history, you will find Magneto actually teaming up with other mutants against a new evil and this is because he treasures his own race, Homo Superior, so much that he will put aside his own plans at the time. Magneto sees a future where mutants do not need to hide from humans and when mutants will assume their place as rightful rulers of the Earth because of their superior powers. When this vision is threatened by a new evil that could thwart his plans, Magneto doesn't care who's side he is on as long as it is stopped.

Characters in the Marvel universe sometimes view Magneto as a cantankerous old men that will not let go of the past, and his views on the world are from a time long ago. He seemed to be a product of the days when someone's race determined their role and you would think that Magneto who seen what happened when he was a child would have rebelled against this thought process. But, Magneto may be a case where you become a product of your environment, a product of the environment you was raised in.

Recommended Reading:
Marvel Comics: The Kingpin - What is This Guy's Problem?