Look at this store...dusty...cobwebs...looks like Randal's bedroom...
I heard that!
I thought you were taking your early-mid-afternoon nap?
Well, my pre-lunch nap ran long so...
*Sigh* Anyway, time to get some builds stocked! And tonight we've got landmark BUILD #400! And that means its time for a J-Mart Favorite Item that wraps up our X-Verse run for the moment. Check it out on Aisle 2!
Xavier warned that my war against humanity would consume me. He never fully understood the truth of it. The conflict gave me purpose... but it also fed a deeper compulsion... one as bottomless as my need to protect my people. Perhaps I never recognized it myself. Here... at the end... I see it clearly... the awful powers that have guided my hand. Anger. Hatred. Fear. These forces... more than any other... have fueled me... defined who I am... and carved out the legacy I will leave behind. (...) I let my own fury drown out the voices of the people I swore to defend. Mutants have been burdened... scarred by my actions. My war will not consume me... For there is nothing left to be consumed. - Magneto
MAGNETO
PL14
OPL: 14;
SPL 5;
DPL: 14;
FWPL: 9;
HP: 1
Real Name: Erik Magnus Lehnsherr
Age: 95
Height: 6-2
Weight: 190
Eyes: Blue-Grey
Hair: Silver
Skin: Fair
Race: Mutant
Identity: Public
Alignment: Neutral
Status: Active
Occupation: Adventurer
Base of Operations: Mobile
Team Affiliations: X-Men; Brother of Mutants
ABILITIES: STRENGTH 2, STAMINA 4, AGILITY 2, DEXTERITY 3, FIGHTING 8, INTELLECT 7, AWARENESS 4, PRESENCE 7
SKILLS: Athletics 3 (+5), Deception 6 (+13), Expertise [Genetics] 8 (+15), Expertise [Science] 8 (+15), Insight 8 (+12), Intimidation 6 (+13) [
Daze, Startle], Perception 4 (+8), Persuasion 6 (+13), Ranged Combat [Magnetic Control] 4 (+11), Stealth 3 (+5), Technology 8 (+15) [
Inventor], Treatment 1 (+8)
ADVANTAGES: Benefit (3) (Status – He’s Magneto, Wealth 2 [Independently Wealthy]), Daze (1) (Intimidation), Diehard, Equipment (1), Extraordinary Effort, Inspire (3), Inventor, Languages (2) (English, Russian, Krakoan, 2 others, Base: German), Leadership, Lionheart*, Ranged Attack (4), Speed of Thought*, Startle
POWERS:
Mind Shielding Helmet: 10 pts Traits, Easily Removable (-4 pts); 6 pts
Mental Shield: Immunity 10 (Mental Effects); 10 pts
Minor Ferrokinesis: Feature 1 (You can generate a strong enough magnetic field to move small (mass rank –5 or less) ferrous objects within about an arm’s reach); 1 pt
Minor Magnetism: Feature 1 (You can magnetize a small [hand-sized] ferrous object of mass rank –5 or less by holding it and taking a standard action to do so. The object remains magnetized until degaussed); 1 pt
Magnetic Manipulation: Feature 1 (You can use magnetic fields to turn or operate small metal fasteners [screws, bolts, nails, etc.] within arm’s reach as if you had the proper tools); 1 pt
True North: Feature 1 (You have an “internal compass” — always able to sense magnetic north on a planet with magnetic poles, equivalent to the Direction Sense effect and know if an object is magnetized by touching it.); 1 pt
Magnetic Levitation: 20 pt Array; 21 pts
Magnetic Flight: Flight 10 (2000 mph/4 mpr); 20 pts
Space Flight: Movement 1 (Space Travel); 1 pt
Magnetic Senses: Senses 10 (Direction Sense, Magnetic Awareness, Detect Metals [Mental, Accurate, Extended 2, Ranged, Radius, Penetrates Concealment]); 10 pts
Magnetic Repulsion: 78 pt Dynamic Array; 80 pts
Magnetic Force Field: Burst Area Protection 12, Burst Area Impervious Toughness 17, Burst Area Immunity 10 (Life Support); (Extra: All Dynamic, Affects Others, Burst Area [30 ft radius], Flaw: All Duration [Sustained]); 78 pts
Magnetic Deflection: Deflect 15 (Extra: Dynamic, Redirect, Reflect, Flaw: Limited Materials [Metallic]); 2 pts
Master of Magnetism: 52 pt Dynamic Array; 66 pts
Magnetic Control: Perception Ranged Move Object 14 (Extra: Range [Perception], Damaging, Precise, Dynamic, Increased Mass 8 [100K Tons], Flaw: Limited [Metallic objects]); 52 pts
Magnetic Blast: Ranged Damage 17 (Extra: Dynamic, Variable Descriptor [Electromagnetic/Magnetic]); 2 pts
Metallic Explosion: Ranged Shapeable Area Projectile Damage 12 (Extra: Dynamic, Shapeable Area x2 [60 ft volume], Flaw: Limited Materials [Metallic]); 2 pts
Magnetic Snare: Cumulative Ranged Affliction 17 (1st: Hindered and Vulnerable, 2nd: Defenseless and Immobilized; Extra: Alternate Resistance [Resisted by Dodge], Dynamic, Extra Condition, Flaw: Limited to two Degrees, Limited to toughness of metal objects used); 2 pts
Fatal Attractions: Cumulative Ranged Affliction 17 (Magnetic; Resisted by Fortitude; 1st: Impaired, 2nd: Stunned, 3rd: Incapacitated, Extra: Dynamic, Reversible); 2 pts
EMP: Ranged Burst Area Nullify 10 (Electronic Effects, Extra: Broad, Burst Area [30 ft], Simultaneous); 2 pts
Metal Manipulation: Perception Ranged Transform 8 (200 lbs., Assemble/disassemble/shape metal objects; Extra: Range [Perception], Duration [Continuous]); 2 pts
EQUIPMENT:
(5 pts)
Armored Costume: Protection 2; 2 pts
Costume Pockets: Features 2 (Magneto carries metal shavings, tiny metal balls and other little metallic objects for usage for some of his effects and power stunts); 2 pts
OFFENSE:
Initiative +7
Close Attack +8 [Unarmed +2]
Ranged Attack +7
Magnetic Control +11 [Magnetic Blast +17; Magnetic Snare Affliction Object +17; Fatal Attractions Affliction +17; Magnetic Deflection +15]
Special Attack [Magnetic Lifting +14 (+22 Lifting Strength),
Perception; Metallic Explosion +12,
Shapeable Area]
DEFENSES:
Dodge +10 [DC20] Parry +9 [DC19]
Toughness +6 (+18 with Force Field, +9 Impervious with Force Field), Fortitude +7, Will +9 (+11 against fear effects)
COMPLICATIONS:
Hatred: He loathes the Nazis for what they did to his family.
Power Loss: He can lose his powers when he has no access to the magnetic charges of Earth or when he overexerts himself.
Prejudice: Mutant.
Relationships: His children Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and he is beginning to accept Polaris. He also remains close to Professor X, now more than ever.
Reputation: He's Magneto…even when he tries to do right, no one trusts him.
Responsibility: He feels it is his duty to protect the mutant race from what happened to his family in the Holocaust and as such, he has (mostly) sided with Xavier again (for now).
Rivalry: He doesn't like Doctor Polaris at all, and he and Sebastian Shaw have never seen eye to eye.
Temper: He's been known to lose his temper from time to time and make rash, and usually fatal, decisions.
Abilities 74 + Skills 33 (66 ranks) + Advantages 21 + Powers 185 + Defenses 17 = 330 / 330
Build Comments: For a landmark build like #400, you need a landmark character and Magneto is the man this time. I love Magneto. Love him as a villain, love him as an anti-hero, love him as a hero. He is one of the most sympathetic villains you can find and even though he’s done some unspeakably evil things, you can’t help being intrigued and even pull for the man. As some writers have said, he and Professor X are like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, each fighting for the same cause but going about it differently. And considering some of the decisions that Professor X and even Cyclops have made recently, their differences seem to be getting fewer and fewer.
My 3E Magneto is one bad dude. I went with a sustained Move Object since I didn’t want to make him a PL18-20 for a "comics accurate" perception range Move Object. This allows him to pick up more than one thing at once and his dynamic array allows him to pick up a semi and still hit someone with a 10 rank blast. And I like the Fatal Attractions power, an Affliction that goes after the metal in your system to take you out, which is bad enough for someone like Storm, but can be really, really bad for someone like Wolverine or Colossus.
Secret Origins: Magneto was born Max Eisenhardt sometime in the late 1920s to a middle class German Jewish family whose father, Jakob Eisenhardt, was a highly decorated World War I veteran. Surviving discrimination and hardship during the Nazi rise to power, Kristallnacht, and the passing of the Nuremberg Laws, in 1939 Max and his family fled to Poland where they were captured during the German invasion of Poland and sent to the Warsaw Ghetto. Max and his family escaped the Ghetto, only to be betrayed and captured again. His mother, father, and sister were executed and buried in a mass grave, but Max survived, possibly due to the manifestation of his powers. Escaping from the mass grave, he was ultimately captured yet again and sent to Auschwitz, where he eventually became a Sonderkommando.
While at Auschwitz, Eisenhardt reunited with a Roma girl named Magda, with whom he had fallen in love when he was younger, and with whom he escaped the prison camp during the October 7th 1944 revolt. Following the war, he and Magda moved to the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, and Max adopted the name "Magnus". Magda and Magnus had a daughter named Anya, and lived uneventfully until one night when an angry mob, spurred on by a first manifestation of Magnus' powers, burned down their home with Anya still inside. Enraged at the mob for preventing him from rescuing Anya, the young Magnus's powers manifested uncontrollably, killing the mob and destroying a part of the city. Magda, terrified at Magnus' power, left him and later gave birth to the mutant twins Pietro and Wanda before walking away to die. Wanted by the authorities for the deaths and destruction in Vinnytsia, while searching for Magda, Magnus paid a Romanian forger, George Odekirk, to create the cover identity of "Erik Lehnsherr, the Sinte gypsy".
"Erik" relocated to Israel, where he met and befriended Charles Xavier while working at a psychiatric hospital near Haifa. There, debates were held by the two regarding the consequences humanity faces with the rise of mutants, though neither revealed to the other that they were mutants. However, they were forced to reveal their inherent abilities to one another while facing Baron Strucker and HYDRA. Following the battle, Erik, realizing that his and Xavier's views were incompatible, left with a cache of hidden Nazi gold, which provided him with the finances to pursue his goals
The Story so Far: Magneto's experiences surviving Nazi Germany, Auschwitz, and Vinnytsia would shape his outlook on the situation that mutants face in the world. Determined to keep such atrocities from ever being committed against mutantkind, he is willing to use deadly force to protect mutants. He would believe that "Homo superior" will become the dominant life form on the planet and would set about either creating a homeland on Earth where mutants could live peacefully, or conquering and enslaving humanity in the name of mutantkind.
Magneto's first villainous act is attacking a United States military base called Cape Citadel after bringing down missiles. He is driven off by Charles Xavier's mutant students, the X-Men, in their first mission. He creates Asteroid M, an orbital base of operations in a hollowed out asteroid. Over the years, he has several conflicts with the X-Men, The Avengers, Wonder Woman and Stormwatch, making him one of the most notorious supervillains in the world.
Magneto's first steps towards a change in character begin during an encounter with the X-Men, when he lashes out in anger and nearly kills Kitty Pryde, stopping short when he sees that the X-Man that he attacked is a child--one of the young mutants that he claimed he was fighting to make a better world for. Realizing that he has come to regard the lives of those who oppose him to be as worthless as the Nazis considered his people to be, Magneto stands down and leaves the scene; though most of the X-Men are dismayed that he escaped, Xavier expresses hope that the encounter might prove a turning point for his former friend.
Magneto later discovers that former Brotherhood members the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are actually his children, simultaneously learning about their recent marriages to the Vision and Crystal. He reveals to Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch that he is their father. He also discovers his granddaughter, Quicksilver's human child Luna Maximoff. Seeing Luna as a bond to the human race he has rejected, Magneto tries to reach out to his children. Angered by his rejection of them and their mother, they push him away and refuse to forgive him.
After assisting several heroes and the X-Men battle the Beyonder, his association with the teams softens his views on humanity, and Magneto surrenders himself to the law to stand trial for his crimes. A special tribunal dismisses all charges against Magneto from prior to his "rebirth," deeming that this had constituted a figurative death of the old Magneto. However, the tribunal is interrupted by an attack from Fenris, the twin children of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Professor X, brought to near-death due to the strain of the battle and previously sustained injuries, asks Magneto to take over his school and the X-Men. Magneto agrees and chooses not to return to the courtroom. Instead, he takes over Xavier's school under the assumed identity of Michael Xavier, Charles Xavier's cousin. Seeing him try to reform, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver begin accepting him as their father.
Though Magneto makes a substantial effort as the headmaster of the New Mutants and an ally to the X-Men, his tenure is disastrous. The Beyonder plagues him yet again, slaying Xavier's current students, the New Mutants, and bringing them back to life soon after. This deeply traumatizes the entire group. Magneto is then manipulated by Emma Frost into battling sanctioned heroes the Avengers and the Supreme Soviets. Magneto submits to a trial once again, but uses mind-control circuitry he salvaged from the wreckage of Asteroid M to alter the opinions of the head justice in charge of the trial. As a result, Magneto is finally absolved of his past crimes but finds that this only fuels hostility towards mutants.
Seeing conditions for mutants grow progressively more perilous, Magneto begins seeking allies to protect mutants from humanity. He participates in the Acts of Vengeance alongside such established villains as Doctor Doom, the Wizard, the Mandarin, and the Red Skull. His temporary alliance with the Red Skull — an unrepentant Nazi war criminal — is a highly uneasy one. After confirming that the Skull was the original one who had worked with Hitler, Magneto takes revenge upon him by entombing him alive.
The witch Zaladane is able to appropriate the magnetic powers of Polaris, and the scientist Moira MacTaggert confirmed during testing that the only way Zaladane could have taken Polaris's powers away was by being a biological relative. Magneto works alongside Rogue, Ka-Zar, and Nick Fury as well as a number of Russian operatives in order to reestablish peace in the Savage Land. The conflict ends with Magneto executing Zaladane himself. With her death, Magneto renounces his previous efforts to act as a mentor to the New Mutants and to follow Xavier's beliefs in peaceful co-existence between mutants and normal humans.
Tired of the constant strife, Magneto rebuilds his orbital base and retires to a life of quiet seclusion. He is, by this point, a figurehead for the cause of mutantkind and is sought out by a group of mutants calling themselves the Acolytes, who pledge their service and allegiance to him. Under the influence of one of them, Fabian Cortez, he declares Asteroid M a homeland for mutantkind, obtaining nuclear missiles from a Soviet submarine he had previously destroyed and placing them around the Asteroid pointed towards Earth.
Magneto discovers how Moira MacTaggert altered his genetic structure when he was de-aged. Enraged, he kidnaps Moira and subjects her to torture. While the X-Men attack Asteroid M to rescue Moira and stop Magneto's plans, the Soviets launch a particle beam satellite which destroys Asteroid M. Betrayed and abandoned by Cortez, Magneto refuses Xavier's pleas to escape with the X-Men back to Earth. Instead, the Acolyte Chrome encases him in a protective shell, saving him from the subsequent explosion. However, Chrome and the other Acolytes die, albeit temporarily.
The United Nations Security Council, in response to a resurgent Magneto, votes to activate the "Magneto Protocols" — a satellite network, in slightly lower orbit than Avalon, which skews the Earth's magnetic field enough to prevent Magneto from using his powers within, preventing him from returning to the planet's surface. In response, Magneto generates an electromagnetic pulse not only destroying the satellites, but deactivating every electric device on Earth within minutes. The X-Men respond by hacking into Avalon's own computer systems to teleport a small team to the station with the aid of Colossus, who had joined Magneto's Acolytes moments after his younger sister Illyana's funeral. Magneto, during the battle with the X-Men, rips the adamantium from Wolverine's bones, which enrages Xavier to the point that he wipes his former friend's mind, leaving him in a coma.
This action later leads to the creation of Onslaught an omnipotent being formed with the combination of Xavier's and Magneto's powers. Magneto remained comatose on Avalon, worshiped by his Acolytes under the leadership of the ancient mutant Exodus, until Avalon itself is destroyed by the arrival of Holocaust from the Age of Apocalypse Earth. During the destruction, Colossus places Magneto in an escape pod sending him back to Earth. This pod is intercepted by Astra, a former ally who now desires his death.
After cloning Magneto, Astra restores Magneto's memories and powers before attempting to kill him. Instead, Magneto, now fully revived, battles both Astra and his clone. Magneto triumphs over the clone, sending him crashing into a South American barn. However, too weak to continue the battle, the real Magneto goes into hiding, while the now-amnesiac clone becomes known as Joseph and eventually joins the X-Men. Since the world believes Joseph to be the real Magneto, Magneto takes his time to plan.
Following this, Magneto constructed a machine to amplify his powers and blackmail the world into creating a mutant nation. The X-Men and Joseph, who had fallen under Astra's control again, oppose him. Magneto's powers are severely depleted from battling Joseph, who sacrifices his life to restore the Earth to normal. However, the United Nations, manipulated by its mutant affairs officer Alda Huxley, cedes to Magneto the island nation of Genosha, which had no recognized government. He rules Genosha for some time with the aid of many who had previously opposed him, including Quicksilver, Polaris, and Fabian Cortez, and engages in a brutal civil war with the island's former human rulers.
Despite the UN's hopes that Genosha's civil war between humans and mutants would destroy or at least occupy him, Magneto crushes all opposition to his rule and rebuilds the nation by forming an army of mutants dedicated to his cause, including mutants coming from all over the world seeking sanctuary. Eventually, Magneto uses the Genegineer's equipment to fully restore his power. Intending to declare war on humanity, he captures Professor X to use as a symbol with which to rally his troops. Jean Grey recruits a new group of X-Men to help Cyclops and Wolverine rescue Xavier; they defeat Magneto when Xavier psychically cuts off his access to his powers. Taking the opportunity for revenge, Wolverine attacks the depowered Magneto, crippling him with serious injuries.
While Magneto recovers from his injuries, Genosha is attacked by an army of Sentinels sent by Xavier's long lost twin sister Cassandra Nova Xavier. Over 16 million mutants and humans die. The attack comes just after Polaris discovered the truth about her biological relationship as Magneto's daughter. Magneto's supposedly last moments are spent revealing to Genosha Polaris's status as his daughter.
Charles Xavier is met on Genosha by Magneto, who apparently survived Cassandra Nova's attack and lived unnoticed within the ruins. Xavier and Magneto put aside their differences to rebuild the island nation, rekindling their friendship in the process.
Magneto appears, apparently at the behest of Exodus and claiming to be powerless, to help restore the broken psyche of Professor Xavier. Together they revive Xavier before being attacked by Frenzy. Magneto wounds Frenzy by firing a medical laser into one of her eyes. Seeing the injury of a mutant as a crime, Exodus attacks Magneto. Xavier challenges Exodus on the astral plane. After Xavier defeats Exodus, he leaves Magneto and Omega Sentinel to try and rebuild his lost memories.
Magneto, his powers artificially simulated by a suit designed by the High Evolutionary, reactivates Sentinels to attack the X-Men, who had recently relocated to San Francisco. Though he is defeated, Magneto's attack serves its purpose as a distraction so the High Evolutionary can gain an unknown object from the Dreaming Celestial. After extensively examining the Dreaming Celestial, the High Evolutionary subjects Magneto to a dangerous technological procedure, restoring his powers.
Impressed with the X-Men's recent efforts in defending and helping mutantkind, Magneto offers to work with them on Utopia, the new mutant homeland created by the X-Men using the remnants of Asteroid M. He aids the X-Men in defending Utopia Island from an attack of Predator X monsters. Now considered a member of the X-Men, Magneto assists them in stabilizing the asteroid from sinking into the Pacific. Despite Xavier being apologetic and appreciative for what he'd done, Magneto leaves Utopia for nearby Mount Tamalpais in Marin County. In a final bid to gain their trust, Magneto enters a deep meditative catatonic state to focus his powers at an interstellar distance and reverse the path of Breakworld's "Earth-destroyer" Metal Bullet that Kitty Pryde is trapped in. Magneto had encountered the bullet earlier while working to regain his powers with the High Evolutionary, and surmised that Kitty was inside. He had chosen to focus on ways to restore the powers of mutants, but memorized the metals of the bullet allowing him to keep a trace on it. Magneto brings the bullet back to Earth, drawing Kitty out of it and levitating her safely to the ground. However, the strain of using his power at such intensity and duration leaves him comatose.
Magneto comes out of his coma right after Hope is teleported into Utopia by a dying Nightcrawler. With the Nimrods laying siege to Utopia, Magneto stops Hank McCoy from leaving his patients as he prepares to enter battle himself. Magneto holds off a squad of Nimrods, dismembering the robots by pulling shards of iron from the core of Utopia through them.
With his reputation around the world as a well-known mutant revolutionary/terrorist, Magneto is talked into finding a solution to the problem by Cyclops before it goes public that he is established in Utopia. With an earthquake inbound for San Francisco, Magneto uses his powers to stabilize the city's buildings, structures and metal vehicles, and to smooth the earth movements themselves, thus preventing any major damage and saving many lives. As a result, some of the city favors him, while others are reminded of how potentially dangerous he can be and has been.
Magneto later joins the Avengers, the X-Men, and Hulk in confronting the Phoenix Force-powered Cyclops. Scarlet Witch uses her abilities to keep Magneto from being harmed. Following the defeat of Cyclops, Magneto and the other former members are reported to have gone on the run. Magneto eventually joined Cyclops and his X-Men team until Cyclops and Wolverine reconciled and along with the returned Professor X he is currently helping run the new Jean Grey School.
Characterization: Magneto has long been the face of mutant separatism, in opposition to Charles Xavier's ideal of coexistence with humanity. Believing that mutants are the next stage in human evolution, he sought to assert their dominance over the planet and its inhabitants. This was Magneto's means of assuring the survival of his people in a world that hates and fears them for their very existence. Though not a hero, Magneto is charismatic, noble, and wise. His long and turbulent friendship with Charles Xavier has been a cornerstone for both men's lives, as a rivalry that has lasted decades.
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.
Friends and Foes: His longest relationship is with Charles Xavier, which has lasted for decades due to both of their deaths, revivals and body changes that have greatly extended their lives. He has been both an ally and foe of the X-Men and has seemingly worked with and against all members of the superhuman community.