10 Best Magneto Moments
7. Killing Sebastian Shaw - X-Men: First Class
The climax of X-Men: First Class - the moment in which Erik Lehnsherr embraces his dark side and finally gets vengeance on the man who tortured him so long ago, and the moment in which he truly becomes... Magneto.
After chasing after ex-Nazi Sebastian Shaw for almost the entirety of the film, this is the moment in which he extracts his revenge, in spite of Charles' impassioned cries of "NOOOO!"
It is an ironic death for the film's main villain, as Erik repeats Shaw's own words from the beginning of the film: "Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to count to three, and I'm/you're going to move the coin." Shaw is killed with the very coin over which he murdered Erik's mother, all while the Magneto theme song is intensifying in the background.
All this is done not before Shaw explains to Erik that mutants are the rightful successors to the earth, and that humans will always hate and fear them. This essentially provides Erik with the motive for everything he does following that moment, setting up literally every other X-Men film involving him.
The irony and significance of this moment for both the individual film and the entire X-Men franchise, combined with Michael Fassbender's terrific performance as a vengeful Erik, makes this one of the series' best.