Magneto Shouldn’t Be Jewish Anymore. Updating Marvel

By on Monday, July 7th, 2014

Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr is one of the most greatest characters in the Marvel Universe.  He is a villain,that is both sympathetic and to a great extent correct in the world view.  As a survivor of the Holocaust the character’s concerns for his people are justified by the pattern that History has shown.  It is because of  this that Marvel needs to revamp Erik Lehnsherr.  World War II ended 69 years ago, if Magneto is still walking around he’s not as nimble as he used to be and probably needs a nap after lunch.  Magneto’s resonance was his connection to this real world, a connection that growing weaker with each passing year.

I’m not suggesting Marvel retire Magneto.  What I am suggesting is that they take a page from DC’s new 52 and update the character.  There have been numerous genocides since the Holocaust, and if Magneto was a survivor of say the Bosnian Genocide, or the Rwandan Genocide it would bring the character into the modern age as well as create greater awareness of more recent tragedies.  This updated Magneto would be even more justified in his disdain for humanity, as they pledged never again after the Holocaust and yet it occurred again.  When Magneto first appeared in 1963 World War II had only been over for 18 years and the Cold War was in full swing.  He was a creation of a moment in time, and his resonance was a product of this.

punisher

The last US Soldiers left Vietnam 41 years ago.  Frank Castle first appeared 40 years ago.  This was an incredibly topical character, a disillusioned veteran who means well but is being manipulated.  While I truly enjoy the world worn version of The Punisher, the man is in his late 50’s or early 60’s at this point.  And this is if he entered combat toward the end of the conflict.  While I would never suggest Frank Castle be retired, his origin needs to be updated.  US Forces left Iraq in January of 2011 and it is currently descending into chaos, kinda how South Vietnam fell to the North two years after the withdrawal of US forces.

I know updating these characters is going to seem odd at first, however the longer its put off the harder it’s going to be to reconcile how distant the key moments in their life were.  Keep in mind in 1991, 46 years after World War II this is the body Erik Lehnsherr was sporting.

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S#!T Talking Central

  • TheGoddamnBader

    These are really interesting suggestions. I think a Magneto that survived the Bosnian or Rwandan genocides would be great! It could even be cool because he would be embittered by the failures of the world rather than the people who committed the genocides necessarily. An extension of the Magneto that is currently appearing in the Magneto solo series but obviously more contemporary.

    Also, I ever understood how an old fucker like Magneto could ever look like a body builder in his 20s for decades on end.

  • Matthew Sisk

    I like the suggestions. I get that these are characters that need a moment in time to tie them to these recent last 2 decades. I could see a version of Magneto from somewhere in the middle east. Most of their religion is ruled by fanatics, but some are just trying to save up to get to a place where nobody snatches their kids for organ harvesting. Imagine Erik with a background of seeing his siblings ground up for various organs on the black market. Imagine it done by tribes who later tie into attacks on Ororo Munroe and blah blah. New 52 changed the rules. DC did something smart and reinvented. I won’t lie and say I hate the new Superman and Batman. Superman changed for the good and Batman just got better. So if Marvel were to do the same thing I would not be upset. I say do a reboot on the whole Marvel Franchise.

  • Jay

    Magneto is such an incredible character because you can use him as an analogy for so many oppressed groups throughout history. That said, to even debate changing his background shows a lack of understanding about the importance of representation. Magneto is the most prominent Jewish character in comics, period. Like the Black Panther, his ethnicity is an intricate part of his character, Magneto’s entire identity is based on the historic oppression of his people. Your debate that his origin is based around an event 69 years ago is null and void because in comics time differs between pages and there is no actual static time span between events. TIME MEANS NOTHING. You state, “Magneto’s resonance was his connection to this real world, a connection that growing weaker with each passing year.” Clearly this is not correct, the repercussions of the Holocaust are still felt deeply by many each day and it effects our history every moment. The scars are still real and Magneto is evidence of this. The fact that you can easily compare his history to any genocide, current or historic, shows how relevant he is. If comics were to truly represent the make-up of the world we live in, we would absolutely have characters representing the histories of all our people. This is absolutely not the case. Magneto is still one of Marvels biggest characters and he stars in his own series, so luckily, Magneto is as relevant as ever.

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