Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, better known as Magneto, is a major antagonist of X-Men: The Animated Series, serving as the secondary antagonist of the first season, an anti-hero throughout the rest of the show and will return in some capacity in the upcoming Disney+ revival X-Men '97.
He is a revolutionary leader who believes mutants are the next stage of evolution for humanity and are destined to take over the world, desiring to create an utopia for his species. Magneto is Professor Charles Xavier's former best friend and on-and-off ally.
He was voiced by the late David Hemblen, who also played Shere Khan in Jungle Book Shonen Mowgli, Reverend Buckley in Where the Spirit Lives and the Night Master in Yin Yang Yo!.
Roles[]
During the first season, he plans to incite a war with humanity and allow mutants to live safe in the world, but is thwarted by the X-Men. Following the first season, Magnus would be an uneasy ally of the X-Men and still seems to respect Professor Xavier.
In Season 2, Mr. Sinister tricks Xavier and Magneto into going to the Savage Land only to end up trapped there and get their powers removed; Xavier regained his ability to walk here. When the X-Men arrive to save the two, Sinister is blown up and Magneto goes his separate ways.
In Season 3, he is introduced by the High Evolutionary to his children, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. He tells them that their mother was horrified at him upon hearing his speeches about mutant freedom and abandoned him while still pregnant with the children. They manage to defeat High Evolutionary, but the two still hold Magneto in negative regard.
During Season 4, he creates Asteroid M and kidnaps mutant scientists from Russian and American space-stations to do so, and brings loads of mutants (including the X-Men) to his haven. He ends up being betrayed by Fabien Cortez and is forced to destroy his mutant sanctuary upon discovering his intention to launch nuclear missiles at Earth. He also kidnaps Psylocke for Apocalypse in hopes that he'll create a utopian world for mutants, but in the end he manages to stop Apocalypse before he destroys the entire universe.
In the series finale, Magneto gathers an army of mutants to attack the world, but upon hearing that Xavier was dying, he saved him by sending his telepathic message to Lilandra and watches him be taken away by her.
Trivia[]
- It's currently unknown who will voice Magneto in the upcoming X-Men '97 revival due to David Hemblen's passing in 2020.