Magneto (X-Men Movies)

"No one ever talks about it. They just DO IT. As you go on with your lives, ignoring the signs all around you. And then one day when the air is still, and the night has fallen, they come. There's only one question you must answer: who will you stand with?"

- Magneto attempting to convince the mutants in the church to join him in X-Men: The Last Stand. "I will bring you hope, old friend. And in return I ask only one favor...don't get in my way."

- Magneto to Charles Xavier

Magneto, also Erik Lensherr, is a character from the X-Men film series who is portrayed by Sir Ian McKellen in the modern-day films and by Michael Fassbender in the prequel series. He is the main (and most recurring) antagonist of the film series in general. Specifically, he is the main antagonist of X-Men and X-Men: The Last Stand and an anti-hero turned the true main antagonist in X2: X-Men United and the past timeline in X-Men: Days of Future Past, then the deuteragonist turned true main antagonist in X-Men: First Class and tritagonist in the future timeline of X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Discovering his powers
Magneto appears as his younger self and is one of the two protagonists turned the true main antagonist in this film. He starts out as young Erik Lensherr who is a Holocaust survivor. When he is persuaded by Dr. Klaus Schmidt to use his power of controlling metal, he refuses to, and tries desperately to when the villain points a gun at his mother. After Schmidt kills his mother, Erik gets enraged and bursts into a rage thus enabling his powers; he turned a filing cabinet inside-out, squeezed two guard's helmets to crush their brains and send loads of metal equipment in the neighboring surgery room flying in a murderous frenzy. Schmidt says that he will unlock his power and gives him a German 5-cent coin that he was meant to move around moments before.

Getting revenge on his creator
Years later, Erik searches for Schmidt and vows to kill him in his quest for revenge. When he finds Schmidt (now calling himself Sebastian Shaw), he meets Charles Xavier, who assists him in the investigation of his plans of launching missiles onto Cuba thus triggering World War III. He starts a close friendship with Charles and a romantic relationship with his fostered sister Raven (Mystique).

When Erik (now dubbed Magneto) and Shaw finally come face to face in Shaw's submarine, Magneto destroys part of Shaw's telepathy shield, removes his helmet and allows Charles to paralyze him long enough to stop him. Unfortunately, Magneto dons the helmet to block Charles' mind. He reluctantly kills Shaw by placing a Nazi coin through his brain (while ignoring Charles' begging to stop). Later on, the USSR and the US launched missiles at the mutants threatening to kill them and stopping World War III. Magneto takes control of the missiles thus turning them on their launchers. CIA agent Moria McTaggert tries shooting at Magneto, but Magneto deflects the bullets accidentally paralyzing Charles' legs. He invites the rest of the mutants of the Hellfire Club and the other X-Men to join him in his quest to protect mutant-kind. The X-Men refuse but Mystique joins him and the rest of the Hellfire Club. At the climax of the film, Magneto and his newly formed Brotherhood of Mutants break Emma Frost out of her prison and asks her to join them.

X-Men (2000)
Magneto appears as the main antagonist of the first-made film in the series and so far the third chronologically. He believes that a war between mutants and humanity is fast approaching and must prepare for it. His Brotherhood of Mutants in this film include Mystique, Sabretooth and Toad. His first scene in the film is when he is leaving the Senate hall before he is stopped by Professor X and persuades him to stay out of his way and not to interfere with his plans for humanity.

Mutating Kelly
He is next seen when Sabretooth informs him of the attack on Wolverine and Rogue and that Prof. X and the X-Men knew about their whereabouts in Alberta, Canada. Magneto sees a small dog tag around Sabretooth's neck and grabs it magnetically and examines a bit of what the Wolverine is capable of. He then informs that the time has come to put his plans into action by testing a machine that turns humans into mutants (unknown to Magneto that his machine kills them after their mutation). Magneto sends Mystique and Toad to kidnap Senator Robert Kelly and test his machine on him stating 'Let's just say that God works too slowly'. After Kelly falls to his apparent death, Magneto proceeds with kidnapping Rogue plans to use her as a pawn for his machine to mutate the World Leaders on Ellis Island.

Finale
On Liberty Island at the climax, Wolverine attempts to save Rogue, but Magneto holds him hostage just as the machine starts expanding towards Ellis Island as he holds the other X-Men hostage. Cyclops blasts him and Magneto is therefore sent to a plastic prison. He is visited by Professor X as the two play chess. Just before Prof. X departs, Magneto states 'The war's still coming Charles. And I intend to fight it.'

X2: X-Men United (2003)
Magneto returns as an anti-hero turned secondary antagonist, no longer intent with changing humanity but destroying it.

Escaping Prison
He is visited by Col. William Stryker various times while he retrieves information on Prof. X's mansion and Cerebro, the machine that locates mutants around the world. While conversing with Prof. X, Magneto states that his war has already begun. Later, with help from his associate Mystique, Magneto escapes prison by using the metal in the blood of one of his prison guards.

Magneto is seen afterwards and rendezvous with the X-Men and their allies, giving them information about Stryker's plan to annihilate all mutants. The X-Men and the Brotherhood form an uneasy alliance to stop Stryker for the freedom of mutation.

"Destruction of humanity"
Once at Alkali Lake, Magneto along with Mystique, arrives at Cerebro and switches it around thus revealing his intentions to destroy all humans instead of mutants. Later on, he meets up with William Stryker and nearly chokes him to death. Just before a narrow escape, Magneto recruits young Pyro, who takes his advice 'Your a god among insects.' and is not seen at the time of the flood of Alkali Lake.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Magneto returns again as the main antagonist of the third film.

Flashback
In a flashback scene, Magneto and Prof. X recruit a young Jean Grey to join their School for the Gifted which she reluctantly accepts.

War with humanity
In the movie, after learning of a special cure for mutations made with the blood of a mutant, Magneto declares an all-out war and expands the Brotherhood of Mutants with new members such as Juggernaut, Multiple Man, The Omegas (Callisto, Arclight, Kid Omega, Psylocke) and various others in addition to his old members Mystique and Pyro.

After a rescue attempt and recruitment, Magneto was to be stunned by the cure, but Mystique sacrificed herself and was abandoned to live amongst the humans. Just as Magneto starts to expand his new army, he learns that Jean Grey (now known as the Phoenix) has survived her death and attempts to recruit her with only Prof. X, Wolverine and Storm standing in his way. He sends for Juggernaut and the Omegas for back-up to distract Wolverine and Storm. Persuading Jean to think that Prof. X wants to control her power, Jean goes insane, destroys her house and kills Prof. X in her outrage. Feeling heartbroken, Magneto takes Jean with him back to his lair. As Magneto sets out to destroy the source of the mutant cure (a mutant as it turns out), he senses that Wolverine was in his midst and stops him from taking Jean away from the Brotherhood.

Battle of Alcatraz Island and "losing his powers"
On their way to Alcatraz, Magneto and his Brotherhood army use the Golden Gate bridge to destroy everything on Alcatraz to reach their goal of destroying the cure. After fighting the X-Men, he is cured by Beast from behind. In defeat, he says to Jean 'This is what they want for all of us'. Feeling regret on what he did to Jean, he flees the Dark Phoenix's final stand.

At the end of the film, Magneto reluctantly moves a chess piece magnetically thus getting his powers back.

End-credits
At the post-credit scene, Magneto appears before Wolverine in search of help to fight a new kind of war that could destroy every mutant in the world with a revived Professor X.

X-Men: Days of Future Past
Magneto appears as the tritagonist in the future (2023), but in the past (1973), he is the anti-hero turned true main antagonist, with both McKellen and Fassbender returning for the character and Fassbender being the antagonist version.

Trying to save the world
He is one of the characters necessary to help change the future from the dystopia filled with Sentinels created by Dr. Boliviar Trask. He first appears as a prisoner held in the 100th floor below the Pentagon in a specially made cell. However, he gets freed with the aid of Charles Xavier, Wolverine, Beast, and Quicksilver. Magneto later tries to kill Mystique by putting a bullet into her, specifically, her ankle, to ensure the Mutant's future and survival, but fails to do so. Afterwards, a public showcase of the Sentinels at the White House is made to make sure that people will be kept safe from Mutants.

Announcement to the world
However, Magneto has commandeered the Sentinels by inserting metal into their polymorph bodies and also uses a lifted up stadium to keep other humans out. Announcing Mutant supremacy on live television, Magneto is attacked by Beast and Wolverine but keeps them at bay. However, when threatening the President, Mystique disguised as Nixon shoots him. After Mystique spares Trask at Xavier's urging, the Professor allows Mystique and Magneto to leave, believing that there is hope for both of them to change for the better.

2023 timeline
Meanwhile in the future timeline, Magneto helps the X-Men fend off the Sentinels but is injured badly during the war of the sentinels. Right before the Sentinels can finish him off along with Xavier, Wolverine, and Kitty Pryde, the future is changed. What became of Magneto in the revised timeline, and how much of the original still occurred, is unclear at the moment.

Moral Event Horizon crossings
Magneto crossed the Moral Event Horizon once in each of his appearances (aside from The Wolverine, due to having a mere cameo)
 * 1) He was willing to sacrifice the teenage and helpless Rouge for his machine to work, something that Wolverine pointed out was a despicable act ("You're so full of shit. If you were really so righteous it'd be you in that thing)".
 * 2) He reversed Cerebro so that it would target all humans, effectively coming close to annihilating the entire human race.
 * 3) Turned Jean Gray back into Phoenix, a destructive wild creature and he ordered Juggernaut to kill Leech, despite fighting for mutant equality and knowing that Leech was just a defenseless child. He crossed it by starting the Battle of Alcatraz Island in the first place.
 * 4) Almost killed many innocent soldiers by deflecting their missiles at them.
 * 5) Almost drowns Logan and uses the Sentinals to come dangerously close to killing Beast, the President Richard Nixon and many other government officials.

Trivia
Although the main antagonist in the X-Men Franchise, Magneto is the overall secondary antagonist in the film X-Men Franchise. He was thought as the primary antagonist of the film, though this may have proven to be true, he is eventually outranked anyway's by the film's true main villain