10 Comic Villains With The Best Motivations

6. Magneto

To call Magneto a supervillain in the traditional sense would be disingenuous, but given how he's fought against the X-Men on numerous occasions - a group of superheroes - he fits the bill. Besides, aren't the best antagonists the ones that make us reappraise our own beliefs?

To begin with, the X-Men started out life as an allegory for the Civil Rights Movement, with Professor Xavier taking on the role of an MLK-esque figurehead in the struggle for mutant equality, and Magneto that of Malcolm X, a slightly more radical intellectual of the period. The important thing to remember here, however, is that even though Magneto has certainly done evil things before, he did it all for a valuable cause - to safeguard mutants from humanity's vile prejudices.

Over the years, Erik Lensherr's goals have shifted from simply protecting mutants by any means necessary (the issue here is... ?), to waging a campaign of resistance in favour of what he dubs 'homo-superior'. There is nothing remotely evil about either approach, and though he adopted a more radical method in order to safeguard mutants, it's fair to say that Xavier's unwavering dedication to passive resistance hasn't always achieved results.

Magneto has experienced unspeakable horrors throughout his lifetime, even surviving the Holocaust as a child, and it is partly this experience that has informed him over the years. Passive resistance did nothing during the Second World War, and with humanity persecuting the world's mutants, it's fair to say that, even if you disagree with the character's methods, it is very easy to see where he's coming from.