Magneto was Right

You know, in Genosha, I felt a lot of things: pain, grief, admiration for those who fought despite the odds. But you know what the oddest thing was? No one seemed shocked or surprised — not even me. Yes, I was scared, but really I just had the most profound sense of déjà vu, as if past, present, and future didn't matter and never had, because we always end up in the same ugly place. Thing is, Magneto knows us better than Charles ever did, knows we know better, that most of us experience tragedies like Genosha as a bit of déjà vu before getting on with our day. But the scariest thing about Genosha wasn't the death or the chaos. It was a thought, the only sane thought you can have when being chased by giant robots that were built to crush you: Magneto was right.

I can't claim to be the biggest fan of Marvel Comics, but almost everyone who grew up in my generation has at least some passing familiarity with the X-Men franchise thanks to being inundated with multiple animated series and movies. Unless you've lived under a rock, you're at least familiar with the basic premise. Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) are both leaders among mutants, a group of people who are discriminated against because "normal" humans are afraid of their supernatural abilities. Though the two were originally allies in the cause for mutant rights, they ultimately split ways because of their ideological differences. To put simply: Professor X believes in peaceful co-existence between mutants and non-mutants. Magneto, on the other hand, believes humans will exterminate them if given the chance and has largely disavowed any notion that meaningful co-existence is possible.

At the name of the comic implies, Professor X and his X-Men are billed as the heroes. They fight tirelessly to defend both mutants and civilian humans, but are often placed at odds with the "bad" mutants as well as hostile government forces. Magneto is often portrayed as their archenemies, even when written sympathetically. He and his followers are billed as the villains of the story, more often than not. The typical take from most plot lines is that Magneto's position may seem justified, but it ultimately begets more hate and violence. Though it usually pains him to do so, Professor X is forced to oppose Magneto for the sake of the greater good and to enact his larger goal of establishing permanent peace between humans and mutants.

When X-Men is viewed through the lens of being an allegory for the fight towards racial equality, which is the original intent of the franchise, Magneto is indeed wrong. Pitting groups of people against each other based on perceived racial characteristics is unquestionably immoral, and does indeed lead to cycles of useless violence. The constant conflicts in the Middle East are proof positive enough of that. Imperialist powers have happily taken advantage of every faction in the region by fanning the flames of hatred and division. In the world of X-Men, it would not morally correct to replace human supremacists with mutant supremacists, nor would that result in a better outcome.

However, racial equality is not the only lens that we can view X-Men through in the current era. The franchise has expanded since its inception, and thus have the layers of allegory. If we view the X-Men through the lens of our broader political landscape over the last 40 or so years we begin to question if Magneto might be on to something, after all.

From this frame of reference, Professor X becomes the well meaning, moderate liberal. He knows the system is flawed, but believes it can be fixed. He's absolutely certain that, through his X-Men, he will be able to improve upon the world and make it better for everyone. He wants people like Magneto at the table, but he also wants people like Senator Kelly there too. This is a sort of naïve comic book bipartisanship. A belief that if mutants can demonstrate they can be good for the country and economy, then Senator Kelly and people like him will stop building their mutant killing robots. Simultaneously, Magneto will come around and will no longer need to see the other side as oppressors.

Erik, on the other hand, knows better. Unlike Charles, who grew up in a privileged British family, he suffered at the brutal hands of the Third Reich. Not because he was a mutant, but because his family was Jewish. And though he and the Professor were originally friends, he could not tolerate seeing the US Government and its allies begin to treat mutants the same way the Nazis treated Jews and other undesirables. He knows that trying to entreat with the type of people who build giant mutant killing robots is folly, long term. While Charles may have been impacted by WWII in some way, he didn't directly suffer. Despite his amazing psychic powers, Charles is still unable to fully fathom the suffering and dehumanization the Nazis inflicted on Erik.

Certainly, Professor X's methods do score limited successes in the comics. He's able to sway public opinion at times. Small victories, here and there. Some politicians make concessions, or meet at some sort of temporary middle ground. Once in a while there is a greater threat (such as extraterrestrials) that forces mutants and their would be oppressors to form an ephemeral alliance. It doesn't matter, though, in the end. Despite Charles' well meaning efforts and gains, there is always a crank in the corner ready to resume the construction of mutant killing robots the moment it once again becomes politically expedient to do so. Inevitably, the mutant killing to robots end up killing a lot mutants who didn't do anything wrong (as well as innocent non-mutants who support them). Ultimately, it is very easy to believe that maybe the X-Men were actually wrong. Maybe Magneto was onto something.

We don't live in a comic book world. There are no giant, mutant killing robots. At the same time, oligarchs have built up a massive surveillance apparatus in the name of convenience and our streets are patrolled by militarized police forces. None none of us have superpowers that allow us to command the weather or shoot lasers out of our eyeballs, but some of us have the audacity to ask our leaders for a more just society, one that treats workers and disadvantaged people fairly. We have our own versions of Charles Xavier in America. They're in our media and political bodies, once in a while they'll even make it into the Oval Office. In more innocent times, their rhetoric seemed sane: Let's embrace bipartisanship and identify the common ground between the so-called left and right. Never mind that in the wings of the latter, the seeds of fascism festered. We were told we should pursue an economic policy based on the idea that the rich would generously allow much of their wealth to trickle down, but it never did.

For certain, these centrists scored some wins here and there, but often in exchange for something else. LBGTQ+ people made some needed social gains, but we also got rampant deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy. As economic inequality started to spread out of control, self-serving bigots were more than happy to take advantage of the plight facing working class people as an opportunity to divide and exploit. Now, once again the blame is falsely being shifted back towards the other, rather than upwards.

We all got a very good taste of what was coming in the aftermath of the electoral malfunction that was the 2000 Election, but we had too much faith that some neoliberal X-Man was going save us and make everything right again. Many people hoped Barack Obama would be that superhero. It was unrealistic, but admitting otherwise would also mean that the middle of the ground approach was not enough. It would mean we'd been lied too, and that our our political and economic systems had not merely become flawed. It would mean that they had become wrong, if they were ever right to begin with.

As of January 2025, no sane person can continue to live in denial. An illegitimate, criminal monster stands poised to trample on the rights of millions, to destroy Free Speech, to subvert the rule of law, and to ultimately sell the scraps of a failed empire to the highest bidder. The only sane thought you can have in all of this?

Magneto was right.