The MCU's X-Men reboot will soon face one of the most challenging dilemmas in Marvel Comics history as it seeks to reintroduce Magneto. Thanks to Fox's X-Men franchise, moviegoers have already spent time with two versions of Magneto over the last two decades, played by Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender. The former Lord of the Rings star will soon reprise his mutant role in Avengers: Doomsday, 12 years after he last appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Those familiar with X-Men lore - be it from the movies, TV, or comics - will be well aware of Magneto's origins and the importance they carry in his character. Unlike many other superheroes, Magneto's origins aren't just another part of his superhero saga, but rather a foundational part of his feelings toward humanity.
Erik Lehnsherr was famously born in Düsseldorf, Germany, to a Jewish family and thus grew up through the trials of the Holocaust. He spent much of his childhood in Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp, where his parents were also killed. In fact, it was witnessing their deaths that initially triggered his magnetic powers.
Read more about how Magneto's origins were adapted in X-Men '97.
Having witnessed the horrors, hatred, and persecution of humanity first-hand, his desire to protect mutantkind while distrusting the rest of the world only grows stronger, thus forming his key conflict with the optimistic Charles Xavier.
How Marvel Studios Could Fix Its Magneto Conundrum
While Magneto's origin is considered one of the most compelling in superhero comic history, it is only becoming tougher to adapt as the years go on, creating a major problem for the MCU to overcome with its upcoming X-Men reboot.
Granted, Marvel Studios will reportedly avoid Fox's mistake of overusing Magneto as it is going another route with its first X-Men villains, at least as far as the first movie is concerned, but that's not to say he won't show up.
The franchise's most recent events (depicted in the Thunderbolts* post-credit scene and the opening of Avengers: Doomsday) take place in 2028. As such, for Magneto to be introduced in the present day after Secret Wars, he would have to be nearing 100 years old, which is, of course, rather unrealistic to cast.
To keep Magneto's all-important origin intact, Marvel Studios is nearing the arduous task of figuring out a workaround to this problem. In the interest of making that task a little easier for X-Men reboot writer Michael Lesslie, here are four viable solutions to the looming Magneto conundrum:
1.) Magneto Gets a New Superpower
Some mutants like Wolverine and Deadpool famously have powers of slowed aging, thanks to their healing factor. But that has never been in the cards for Magneto, who aged from Michael Fassbender to Ian McKellen over 40 years.
Marvel Studios could consider tweaking Magneto's power set to slow Erik Lehnsherr's aging so that an actor in his 40s to 60s could portray the 100-year-old across the MCU's third saga and for years to come.
2.) The MCU's Fantastic Four Approach
The MCU's Fantastic Four were introduced in a unique way in an alternate retro-future universe, with their story beginning in the 1960s. When it comes to joining the franchise's wider world from Avengers: Doomsday onwards, it seems likely that Marvel's First Family will be plucked from their time into modern-day.
While Magneto could get the same treatment, with some cosmic event pulling him from the past to meet his fellow mutants who were born more recently.
3.) Tweaking the Magnetic Man's Origin
Magneto's time in the Holocaust is so instrumental to his backstory due to the perspective it leaves him on the worst sides of humanity. Marvel Studios could keep that narrative intact by making changes to Magneto's origin that still leave him the victim of another, more recent genocidal event,
One common suggestion is the 1994 Rwandan genocide that saw over 500k Tutsis systematically killed by the Hutus over around 100 days in 1994. Despite producing fewer casualties and lasting less time than the Holocaust, such a shift could convey the same messages and produce similar character developments.
4.) World War II Shifts After Secret Wars
The aftermath of Avengers: Secret Wars is expected to leave a soft-rebooted MCU timeline that is mostly the same, with some minor tweaks. It is these tweaks that will bring the mutants and X-Men onto Earth-616, while also resurrecting some dead heroes and possibly altering certain historical events.
In the real world and current timeline, World War II lasted from September 1939 to 1945, with the Holocaust genocide truly starting in 1941. While a far less likely solution than others, Marvel Studios could shift these historical events to happen later in the 20th century, making Magneto a much younger man in modern day.
