Marvel Studios Officially Unveils Its Magneto Redesign (Photos)

Marvel Studios provided an exciting look at an official redesign for noted X-Men villain Magneto. Magneto is set for a huge year in 2026, coming back into the spotlight in multiple projects being released across the greater Marvel universe. This will also come with looks for the character that have never been used before in a major live-action or animated project in Marvel history.

Marvel Animation revealed a new promotional poster for X-Men '97 Season 2, which is expected to debut on Disney+ in 2026. Dozens of characters from the show's second season are featured on this poster, including the iconic villain Magneto.

In the bottom left corner of this image is a new look at Magneto (voiced by Matthew Waterson), as the poster shows a side-profile look at the classic mutant. Here, he has the same long hair that he had in Season 1, but also dons a thick white beard, which has not been seen before in this series.

Additionally, a second poster for X-Men '97 highlighted more members of the team, including Professor X, Beast, Jubilee, Forge, Bishop, Rogue, and more — all of them in exciting new costumes. Magneto is placed in the bottom left corner of this image. 

Here, Magneto still has the beard he had in the other image, this time wearing his iconic red helmet with the cutout that shows off his face.

Magneto first returned to the spotlight in X-Men '97 Season 1 after spending five seasons playing a main role in the original X-Men: The Animated Series from 1992 to 1997. This series brought him 

This show and its successor both used different versions of Magneto's suit from the comics, which is most commonly a red and purple suit with a purple cape He also dons a metal helmet on his head, which is usually used to keep Professor X from going into his mind with his telekinetic powers

Magneto's beard will be part of the next steps in his journey in X-Men '97, in which he is currently stuck in ancient Egypt with Professor X and other X-Men team members.

Magneto has rocked a variety of different hairstyles in the comics, including longer hair on multiple occasions.

Additionally, Magneto will don a thick white beard for the first time in live-action when Sir Ian McKellen returns to his role as Erik Lehnsherr in 2026's Avengers: Doomsday. In a piece of promotional material given exclusively to Doomsday's production crew, a piece of art shows McKellen wearing his classic red helmet and seemingly boasting a white beard on his jawline.

This same look came into the spotlight in Doomsday's X-Men-centric third trailer from December, which revealed McKellen's reprisal of Magneto in the MCU for the first time. Sitting across from Sir Patrick Stewart's Charles Xavier, McKellen's Erik Lehnsherr had a beard for the first time in any of his live-action movies.

X-Men '97 continues the story laid out in X-Men: The Animated Series, returning to the small screen under Marvel Studios and Marvel Animation. Bringing back most of the cast from the original series, Season 2 will pick up with the mutants separated across multiple timelines, while the threat of Apocalypse puts the entire group in serious danger. X-Men '97 Season 2 is expected to debut on Disney+ in 2026.

Magneto's Next Steps in X-Men '97 Season 2

At the end of X-Men '97 Season 1, Magneto found himself stuck far away from his time, as he was taken back to ancient Egypt and stranded. He will be seen here with Professor X, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Beast, who, immediately upon arriving, met En Sabah Nur, a character set to eventually become the scary supervillain Apocalypse.

While story details are still being largely kept under wraps for Season 2, Magneto's wild relationship with Rogue is confirmed to be revisited at some point in the show's next set of episodes. This romance was one of the most shocking moments in Season 1, particularly since the shock was only compounded immediately after their passionate dance when Gambit was killed in Genosha.

Outside of this plot point, Magneto is going to have to put aside his differences with Professor X, at least temporarily, to get back to their own timeline. However, considering what he did to Wolverine and to the world with his powers, plenty of animosity is sure to be back in play for the mutants with Magneto at the center of it all.