Despite the fact that X-Men for decades following his introduction, he actually proved to be a better leader of the mutant superhero team than Professor X (for one reason).
Erik Magnus Lehnsherr aka Magneto is a mutant who can manipulate magnetic fields and control metal. When Erik was a boy, he suffered through the atrocities of Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp, during World War II. After seeing the extent of humanity’s cruelty, Erik’s mind was permanently altered, and he became convinced that something like what he experienced will happen again–only this time, to mutants. So, Magneto became a mutant extremist who sought to weaken humanity before they had a chance to strike first, though he was regularly stopped by the X-Men who were led by Magneto’s one-time friend and ally, Charles Xavier. Magneto would have given anything to be rid of Xavier during those early days of his Marvel Comics career, and in a cruel twist of fate, he gets exactly what he wished for–only to become a better version of his former foe.
In X-Men Chronicles #1 by Howard Mackie and Terry Dodson, readers are given a glimpse at the world before the Age of Apocalypse officially begins–though little do the characters know, it is already far too late. The Age of Apocalypse unofficially began with the death of Charles Xavier who was accidentally murdered by his son, Legion. Legion traveled back in time from the main Marvel Comics timeline of Earth-616 in an effort to kill Magneto, but instead, Legion attacked Professor X, and mistakenly killed him. This murderous act splintered the timeline and created an all-new branch–one where Apocalypse ruled most of the world and Magneto was the leader of the X-Men rather than the team’s greatest villain. In this issue, Magneto’s X-Men are training in what is the equivalent of the Danger Room before Magneto himself s them. When Magneto enters the potentially deadly workout space, he thinks to himself, “I can never lead from the sidelines”.
Magneto Fights Alongside His X-Men (Unlike Professor X)
Since the origins of the X-Men, Charles Xavier has always sent his students to go fight his battles alone–and this is a trend that held up throughout most of X-Men continuity. Sure, Cyclops was trained to be the field leader, but at the beginning he was just a kid who was in charge of a bunch of other kids battling an ultra-powerful mutant terrorist among other threats. While Professor X would step in and use his psychic powers to take down a villain if they proved too much for his X-Men, Magneto would never let it get that far in the first place. Erik is right there next to his soldiers in battle, giving them the and confidence they need to win rather than forcing them to hope that their leader can save them from afar, and only when they’re on the verge of death.
Magneto doesn’t sit behind his X-Men and wait for them to fail before he gets involved like Professor X does, he stands at the front and ensures that they succeed–and for that reason, Magneto proves he’s a better X-Men leader than Professor X.
