The first episode of the Disney+ series, X-Men ‘97, showed Magneto taking charge of Charles Xavier’s group of mutant superheroes. The series continues right after the events of X-Men: The Animated Series. And it has won the hearts of all the fans who loved the original series. While its first episode dealt with the aftermath of Charles Xavier’s loss, the second episode hit some big notes and teased some serious character developments. Magneto’s characterisation stands out the most in the ongoing show.
Magneto’s origin story is a tragic one. Germans abducted and killed his family during the Second World War as they were Jewish. However, Erik managed to save himself with the help of Charles and their mutant superpowers. This scenario filled Erik with vengeance against the Germans. On the other hand, Charles believed that killing the Germans was not an act of justice. This was the first instance of the differences in their ideologies and beliefs about humans.
Many years later, Erik takes the mantle of Magneto with a new mission – preserving mutants and helping them find their rightful place in the world. However, the thing that made him completely different from Charles Xavier was his mindset to achieve his goal by whatever means necessary, even if they included death and destruction. Charles, on the flip side, has supported the peaceful co-existence of humans and mutants on Earth all his life.
As a result, we see Magneto and Professor X on opposite sides in the X-Men: The Animated Series. Despite not sharing Charles’ sentiments about humans, Magneto respected Charles’ love and friendship. Which is why he stopped his attack on humans in the TAS finale after learning about Charles’ poor health, caused by Henry Peter Gyrich.
Now, we have Magneto as the new leader of Charles Xavier’s X-Men. Despite everything that has happened between them, Charles still trusts Magneto, which says a lot about their friendship. In the second episode of X-Men ‘97, we see Magneto shedding tears after watching Storm protecting him from X-Cutioner, the leader of the Friends of Humanity. Storm loses her power, and Magneto loses his calm after the UN incident. The old version of Magneto would have wreaked havoc at the UN’s headquarters. But, it seems like X-Men ‘97 is slowly transforming him into an antihero, which sounds awesome. Magneto will not “let us down” if you know what we mean! Stay tuned for more updates. Watch the first two episodes of X-Men ‘97 on Disney+ Hotstar.