My BIG problem with X-men

[MorsePacific]

I get the deep message of X-men( fight discrimination with force or try to make the majority accept ) and , yeah , his power is to control the magnetic field of the world , but Jean Grey has the power of Telekinesis ( which is practically a more generalized form of Magneto's powers) and there are other that could probably destroy him in 1vs1 combat.

Jean's telekinesis is in no way a more generalized form of his abilities. She can just move things with her mind, much like Prof. X. You're failing to see exactly how dangerous being able to control a magnetic field is. If he had a very large amount of power to work with, he could potentially destabilize the entire planet. I honestly can't think of any one X-Men member that could defeat Magneto in a fight, but I also can't think of any fight in the X-Men universe that is truly fair when only applying single combat.

.. magnetic fields? woudnt making weapons out of anything but iron/magnetite/nickel counter his skill?

Well, yeah, that's also why he can't rip Wolverine's skeleton out of him.

 

[Radoh]

Spoiler

So, you saw First Class and you don't understand how he can be the leader of the Brotherhood?

Spoiler: Slight Movie Spoilers

He lifts a frikkin' submarine out of the ocean, and redirects a whole bunch of missiles and bombs at will.

Seriously, you think he can't stand to be a threat?

For humans? Sure . For mutans? Well maybe , I mean magnetism can fuck you up , but I always imagine Night Crawler smuggling the helmet off of Magneto and after I see prof X mind control him off a cliff.

Super-Magnetise the helmet to his head. Boom, that plan's a wash.

Still , he needs to sleep sometimes right? Doubt he wears a freaking metal helmet to bed . Prof X logs in and makes him kill himself by choking with toilet paper. Ironically , I don't see any problem with Lex Luthor as the main villain in Superman . I really want to like Magneto , but I just can never take him seriously , he feels very forced in the story for me :/

Are you serious? Of course he wears it to bed. Prof. X can go through the entire world's populaces' heads with Cerebrum or whatever its called.

 

[DanielDeFig]

also there are the obvious applications to his power (guns, bullets, tanks are all extremely vulnerable to his power) however, wouldn't it be technically possible for him to emit some sort of Magnetic pulse if he were so inclined?

Yeah, I think this is getting to the issue of Why magneto is stuck with "the power to create and control magnetic fields".

To me, Magnetos power is an anti-human power. When compared to other mutants he's barely above average (Level 4, I think. out of 5), but the fact that his specific power completely obliterates what humans rely on the most currently (although, lately we've replaced a lot of metal with highly durable plastic. But that's beside the point!), is a very important thing considering his anti-human, pro-mutant philosophy.

To me it fits much better that Magneto uses an anti-human power, rather than some over-powered Phoenix power (see Jean Grey, and some other characters), because he doesn't want to be the most powerful mutant. All Magneto wants to do is to rid the earth of human oppression, and if he has to lead a band of vengeful mutants to do it, then so be it. He knows he is personally the best equipped to counter "The Human Threat"


Besides, once you get to the most powerful mutants, they're usually connected to Phoenix Power, which is as grey in morality as you can get: Jean Grey is still pretty much with the X-men (as far as I understand it), but she once burned a whole planet worth of people to a crisp simply because her Phoenix powers were acting up (kinda possessed her, and sort of did it by accident, but still. Whatever sentient mind was in control at the time, it showed no remorse, or even car for what it had done).


EDIT:

Finally, the amount of control over his power Magneto has gained by the time of the comics is phenomenal (for the quick version, watch X-Men 2. For the long version read the Marvel Wiki). He can lift both phenomenally heavy objects, and control a vast amount of small ones with extreme precision. Wolverine once clawed him in the face, and in retaliation Magneto Tore the Adamantium Off His Bones And Out Of His Body. Sure it's not a powerful move when compared to how some mutants can blow up cities, but in terms of control, it's beyond what anyone other than Xavier can do.

 

[Xero Scythe]

Magneto has always been the 'batman' of the x-men for me.

Magneto's mutant power might not be particularly powerful, however he is a charismatic leader and very passionate about what he believes in. what he lacks in sheer ability he makes up for by being cunning and resourceful.

also there are the obvious applications to his power (guns, bullets, tanks are all extremely vulnerable to his power) however, wouldn't it be technically possible for him to emit some sort of Magnetic pulse if he were so inclined?

Yeah. In the comic book series, he created an EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse, for those who don't know) When the Brotherhood had to steal a few techs from the US military. That, and I think he was mainly created to stop the Boring Unstoppable Superhero that is Wolverine. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy. However, he was able to live when The Hulk ripped him in half, and merely had to crawl 6 miles to find his legs to put himself back together. Even Charles Xavier, who put together files on how to kill every mutant (including himself) if he/she went rogue, has no plan to kill Wolverine. His best idea is to cut the man's head off and run like hell for 6 hours, hoping the body won't get up and find the head. (This was tried once. It failed.) Magneto can stop Wolverine by manipulating the adamantium within the antihero's body, and on one occasion, ripped it out when Magneto needed it for a machine. (Adamantium is the world's only room temperature superconductor in the Marvel universe.) That, and there is so much metal in the world one has to live in Ant- freakin'-Artica not to find it.

 

[TheEndlessSleep]

The main problem is how a guy that can only manipulate metal be the central villain . Even as I child I could never take the X-men story seriously ,so to say . So , you wanna tell me that in a world where mutans can move things with their mind ,have incredible strength , be indestructible , shoot laser out of their eyes , in this world, the leader of the bad guys is a dude with one niche ability?

Niche ability?

Control over metal gives him power over pretty much any tools that can be used against him...
He cannot be touched by guns, veichles, knives, or anybody wearing some kind of body armour.

Also, if you think about it, how likely is it that he's going to be caught short in today's world without at least a bit of metal to use as a weapon?

I mean come on; the guy got out of prison using nothing but the iron in a man's blood. He made it into three balls which he used as floating platforms and bullets to escape, killing three people in the process, not including the guy whose blood he tore out.

 

[Quaxar]

Uh... he controls one of the four governing forces of the universe. At his best, he is one of the most ridiculously overpowered people who could possibly walk the Earth.

I agree. Just imagine a mutant controlling the strong nuclear interaction... spontaneous atom decay, stripping the core of its electrons.
Wait, everybody ignore that. I reserve this power for the next "your superpower" thread!

 

[Xero Scythe]

I get the deep message of X-men( fight discrimination with force or try to make the majority accept ) and , yeah , his power is to control the magnetic field of the world , but Jean Grey has the power of Telekinesis ( which is practically a more generalized form of Magneto's powers) and there are other that could probably destroy him in 1vs1 combat.

Jean's telekinesis is in no way a more generalized form of his abilities. She can just move things with her mind, much like Prof. X. You're failing to see exactly how dangerous being able to control a magnetic field is. If he had a very large amount of power to work with, he could potentially destabilize the entire planet. I honestly can't think of any one X-Men member that could defeat Magneto in a fight, but I also can't think of any fight in the X-Men universe that is truly fair when only applying single combat.

.. magnetic fields? woudnt making weapons out of anything but iron/magnetite/nickel counter his skill?

Well, yeah, that's also why he can't rip Wolverine's skeleton out of him.

Actually, he can, and did. Adamantium in the Marvel world is a room-temperature superconductor. To be fair, Wolverine's skeleton wasn't ripped out- the Adamantium was, and the bone was just kinda...screwed, until it turned out Wolverine's healing factor pretty much tripled, since the majority of Wolverine's healing power was used to keep the Adamantium from killing the man.

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

Is Magneto . I finally realized this in the new X-men movie(First Class.) The main problem is how a guy that can only manipulate metal be the central villain . Even as I child I could never take the X-men story seriously ,so to say . So , you wanna tell me that in a world where mutans can move things with their mind ,have incredible strength , be indestructible , shoot laser out of their eyes , in this world, the leader of the bad guys is a dude with one niche ability?

Don't get me wrong , I love the personality of Magneto( the actor in First Class did a good job in expressing how I always thought Magneto was) , but his" power" is really weak in the grand scheme of things even compared to Xavier.

So , anyone ever had this problem ? As in , do you think the main villan needs to be more powerful than the hero for the story to be interesting ( especially in a superhero series)?

He doesn't manipulate metal he manipulates magnetic fields, which is pretty damn awesome. He is continually noted as one of the strongest mutants in all of the Marvel universe. His so powerful he can manipulate the Iron in someone's brain and reprogram they way someone thinks or even control them.

Also, comic book characters that are too good are just annoying. Imagine how lame Professor X would be if he was a telekinetic as well as a telepath?

 

[Jegsimmons]

here is my problem...
i understand telekinesis, have control of certain object, even physical appearance and energy manipulation...

BUT HOW THE HELL DO YOU CONTROL WEATHER!!!!?????
seriously, even with fiction science you can't make a good excuse for weather control!

every time i see storm i groan because she actually has the least believable power.
in order for her to control weather see would not only be able to control wind, electricity, and water, but she would have to spawn water particles out of no where like that. especially if she can do it on a clear day.

it hard to believe her powers because even in the realm of SCIFI it relies on too many variables and convenience.

 

[Xelt]

Magneto can kill you by pulling the iron in your blood out. Beat that. Beat someone who can rip you open from within.

 

[MorsePacific]

Actually, he can, and did. Adamantium in the Marvel world is a room-temperature superconductor. To be fair, Wolverine's skeleton wasn't ripped out- the Adamantium was, and the bone was just kinda...screwed, until it turned out Wolverine's healing factor pretty much tripled, since the majority of Wolverine's healing power was used to keep the Adamantium from killing the man.

Well, screw my last statement. I thought adamantium wasn't magnetic. Go figure.

 

[Sanctus Hospes]

He can also fly? And emit a somewhat indestructible shield around himself? And has a helmet that makes him immune to Professor X? The way they write him sometimes it becomes much more than just a niche power. Saying he can only "manipulate metal" is like saying Professor X can only "read minds". He can actually do quite a bit more.

Damn straight. Preach it.

 

[Zorg Machine]

Wait wait wait, we are talking about the guy who can (when he is using his powers in the most unimaginative way possible) compress a tank into a small ball and throw said ball across the world?

and with a bit of finess he can remove electrons from a core...He is Rose Tyler/bad wolf in X-men form.

 

[intheweeds]

I always felt the Xmen kind of used it mutation powers as an excuse to not properly characterize the people. Other superheroes usually have a origin story or way they got their powers and how it affected them as a person, whereas the Xmen usually just have to show an awkward scene from high school of their powers turning on and making a big fuss. Usually the people are only characterized by what side they were on, the forgiving side or the vengeful side. Also, the obvious tie to gay rights does kinda get in the way, mostly in that it is done so forwardly and without much subtlety that it gets pretty preachy.

Although it can be argued that the political undertone in X-men is tied to gay rights, as well as any oppressed minority group, it was really meant to be a commentary on the civil rights movement. Magneto and his crew represented the black nationalists and Xavier represented the group (who's name i can't remember) that felt they should become politicians and leaders themselves to fight from the inside. (if I am not mistaken)

 

[funguy2121]

Is Magneto . I finally realized this in the new X-men movie(First Class.) The main problem is how a guy that can only manipulate metal be the central villain . Even as I child I could never take the X-men story seriously ,so to say . So , you wanna tell me that in a world where mutans can move things with their mind ,have incredible strength , be indestructible , shoot laser out of their eyes , in this world, the leader of the bad guys is a dude with one niche ability?

Don't get me wrong , I love the personality of Magneto( the actor in First Class did a good job in expressing how I always thought Magneto was) , but his" power" is really weak in the grand scheme of things even compared to Xavier.

So , anyone ever had this problem ? As in , do you think the main villan needs to be more powerful than the hero for the story to be interesting ( especially in a superhero series)?

Huh? Didn't you just describe moving something with one's mind as an incredible power, then say that it's not?

You did see first class, right? He was the only one who could've done that (maybe the Phoenix, who wasn't yet around). How does this make him weaker? Personally, I'd consider Cyclops' ability more "niche," as you put it, than Magneto's.

 

[SageRuffin]

.. magnetic fields? woudnt making weapons out of anything but iron/magnetite/nickel counter his skill?

Well, yeah, that's also why he can't rip Wolverine's skeleton out of him.

Actually, yes he did. It's based off an inside joke from one of the writers at the time.

Remember in X-Men 2 where Magneto pulled the excess iron out of that guard's body? Same thing more or less, save ol' Jimmy didn't die from it.

 

[flyingwithsharks]

Well, yeah, that's also why he can't rip Wolverine's skeleton out of him.

Yes he can.

 

[JohnDoey]

I get the deep message of X-men( fight discrimination with force or try to make the majority accept ) and , yeah , his power is to control the magnetic field of the world , but Jean Grey has the power of Telekinesis ( which is practically a more generalized form of Magneto's powers) and there are other that could probably destroy him in 1vs1 combat.

Jean's telekinesis is in no way a more generalized form of his abilities. She can just move things with her mind, much like Prof. X. You're failing to see exactly how dangerous being able to control a magnetic field is. If he had a very large amount of power to work with, he could potentially destabilize the entire planet. I honestly can't think of any one X-Men member that could defeat Magneto in a fight, but I also can't think of any fight in the X-Men universe that is truly fair when only applying single combat.

.. magnetic fields? woudnt making weapons out of anything but iron/magnetite/nickel counter his skill?

Well, yeah, that's also why he can't rip Wolverine's skeleton out of him.

If I remember correctly he did rip wolverines adamantium off then professor X brain drained him temporarily.