10 Most Powerful Characters Killed By Magneto

The Master of Magnetism has killed some very powerful people over the decades.

By John Wilson /

Magneto was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for the very first issue of The X-Men in September 1963. His ability to control and manipulate magnetic forces has made him one of the most powerful mutants in the world. Born Max Eisenhardt and later taking the names of Erik Lehnsherr and Magnus, he often took a “closed fist” approach in dealing with humanity, believing that mutants should subjugate their weaker brethren.

Advertisement

For many years, Magneto has been one of the Marvel Universe’s most feared villains. There was very little that he would not do to see his dream of mutants as the dominant species on the planet come true, including injuring and murdering his fellow mutants. Nearly killing young Kitty Pryde, a fellow Jew, is what led to his eventual change of temperament and attitude that saw him working with his former rival, Charles Xavier, for a time. But Magnus was never fully on the side of the angels.

As a survivor of the Holocaust, Magneto has seen the absolute worst that one side of humanity can do to another. He knows that sometimes it is necessary to kill for the cause if the cause can hope to succeed. Erik has killed both heroes and villains; it doesn’t matter to him. They were simply obstacles in the way of the dream that mutants can live free.

10. Nimrods - Second Coming

Bastion was born from the Sentinel Master Mold and is now a Sentinel/Human Hybrid. When Cable and Hope Summers, believed to be the Mutant Messiah, returned from the future, Bastion sent an army of anti-mutant hate groups to kill her. He also ordered the deaths of all teleporters or mutants with transportation powers. A large dome was erected over the San Francisco Bay area, including the X-Men’s island base of Utopia.

Advertisement

Bastion opened a portal that allowed Nimrod-series Sentinels from his own time period to come through and attack the X-Men. X-Force, Cable, and Cypher traveled to the future to reprogram the signal and destroy the Nimrod Master Molds. As the Nimrods are trying to break into the hospital, where an overwhelmed Beast is trying to care for the many wounded individuals from the battles, a severely injured Magneto rises from his bed.

In an iconic scene from X-Men Legacy #236, Magnus steps outside and is immediately swarmed by a horde of Nimrods almost immediately. Reminding his foes that the island nation is built on the remains of his old Asteroid M and that it was mostly made of iron, he impales every Nimrod in sight with iron and steel girders. Meanwhile, in the future, Cypher has learned to communicate with the Master Mold and has taken complete control of all Nimrods, present and future.

Advertisement