Magneto: Testament Part 2

[proteus_lives]

Greetings True Believers.

Here is part two of the mega-post about the 2008 mini-series X-Men: Magneto Testament.

It is a very well done and well researched story. If you want to get a handle on Magneto as a character (or who he should be as a character) check this series out.

You may want to consider it not safe for work because of the Nazis treatment of Jews and others.






Max and his family flee before the Nazi invasion of Poland.



Like other Jewish refugees, they flee to Warsaw but become trapped there when all Jews are confined to the Warsaw Ghetto.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto

Max and his uncle help their family by becoming smugglers. His uncle keeps him from killing a German soldier after Max watched the man shoot a child in the street. Uncle warns him against killing because the Nazis will take massive retaliation. "Max...we can't punish them...but we can defeat them...if we keep on surviving."

Max continues to "find" coins and supply his family with food. In 1942 the Nazis begin putting people on trains. There disturbing rumors and tales about them. The Nazis are offering work and shelter to whoever gets on the train and Max almost gets on one but sees blood on the floor and flees.

The family decides to get out of the Ghetto. They escape through a smuggling tunnel and the uncle sends to a contact on the outside. But he's not coming with them, he has decided to stay and fight in the upcoming rebellion. Max tries to stay too but doesn't.



They make it over the Vistula river and into the woods but their contact has betrayed them.













Part 3 coming soon.

Comments

[miss_abnormal]

Did he accidentally redirect the bullets that were shot at him to his father? Or am I seeing it wrong?

Besides that, it does look interesting. I'll have to go see the previous part of this post.

[proteus_lives]

I think it's drawn so it's left up to the reader.

[okkult3000]

I think it's been implied since the '80s that his undeveloped powers saved him from the bullets.

[crabby_lioness]

It's deliberately written so it could be implied as either he redirected the bullets or his father pushed him out of the way. Or perhaps his father redirected the bullets. It's stated in the first part that the family had been metalworkers (specifically jewelers) for generations, but no one had ever had a "gift" as strong as Max's. As powerful as Magneto and his offspring are, it's not impossible his family had a small amount of "talent" that had been building over generations.

[proteus_lives]

Excellent point.

[drmcninja]

This is one of my favorite series of all time. Its just really, really, really well done. Everything in it is. Characters, atmosphere, pacing. Its just really well done.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Something I just thought of - how can he use his powers to 'find' coins when his powers are magnetic in nature? I mean, his powers don't work on ALL metals - just iron and steel. Unless the coins are lined with same, I don't see how his powers would help him find them.
As for the bullets, my interpretation is that he COULD have acted to save his family, but waited too long. Hence the 'God forgive us if we don't' line - he didn't, whether he could have or not, and now he's got to pay the consequences.

[blake_reitz]

Well, it's not like his father wasn't going to be his by more bullets anyway...

[proteus_lives]

You do know that he completely unaware of his powers, right?

He finds the coins because he's looking for them and his powers are helping but not on a conscious level.

Same with the bullets.

[crabby_lioness]

Max isn't going to be consciously aware of his powers for another ten years. He's too busy trying not to die, and too malnourished. His powers don't properly manifest until after he's had a few years of decent meals and rest under him. Right now he's just "lucky".

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, that's what I was going for with the bullets, yes. He had a moment in which he COULD have recognized his powers and used them consciously, but didn't.
As for the coins, I still don't see how his powers could help him find them, unconsciously or not, unless they had iron or steel in them.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Right, I get that. My point is that this COULD have been a turning point in his life regarding his awareness of his powers, and had that been the case, he probably could have saved his family. But the moment passed, and he remained just 'lucky' enough to not be hit himself - and once he DOES recognize his powers, I'm guessing that will haunt him for the rest of his life, in an 'I could have done something if I'd only known' sort of way.

[proteus_lives]

"He had a moment in which he COULD have recognized his powers and used them consciously, but didn't."

How? Even if they turned on full-blast, how would he have known what to do with them or what they were?

"As for the coins, I still don't see how his powers could help him find them, unconsciously or not, unless they had iron or steel in them."

Magneto can work all forms of metal. Like when ripped out Wolverine's adamantium. He's not limited to iron or steel.

[omnipotent]

My goodness, this is so powerful. I got pretty close to tears at some points. Thank you so much for sharing.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Adamantium, as I understand it, is some sort of an alloy which includes iron or steel. Wikipedia describes it as 'partially magnetic'. I've never seen any indication that his magnetism allows him control over ALL metals - if so, that ain't magnetism, that's something else.

[jimthehedgehog.livejournal.com]

Nickel is also ferromagnetic and widely used in coins so there's a possible real-world explanation as well as the MarvelPhysics way...

[blunderbuss]

I absolutely love how Max's father tries to explain his mutant power in the only way he knows how - it really does make mutant powers seem more like a miracle rather than a Excuse For A Superhero.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Very well, then - so it DOES make sense. I bow to your superior scientific knowledge.

[valtyr]

I think it's clear that at this point, his powers are very low level and subconscious; even if he were aware of them, there is a whole world of difference between being aware of the presence of metal, and being able to control speeding bullets and turn them on their wielders.

That being said, I think there's no question that if Magneto's powers had been fully manifested in 1939, things would have gone very differently - possibly on a global scale - and I can't see how that wouldn't haunt him forever. And mean that when it seems like a second Holocaust of his other people is on the horizon, he would fight it in all the ways he couldn't fight the first one.

I think in many of Magneto's more out-there villainous moments against flatscan humans, in his head he's fighting the Nazis as he couldn't then.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Oh, I get that he CAN'T do anything here, but he's not going to buy that argument once he finally works out just what he's capable of. As you say, that'll haunt him forever.

[crabby_lioness]

I'm guessing that will haunt him for the rest of his life, in an 'I could have done something if I'd only known' sort of way.

No question about that. I imagine it'll haunt not only him, but it'll also haunt any of his surviving sonderkomando buddies who figure out who "Magneto" is. You'll learn about them in the next two parts.

See, there is a reason to read the WWII stuff after all. :)

[crabby_lioness]

Not only that, but it ties in with the recent conversation Magneto and Cyclops had in X-Men Legacy 242 about viewing mutation from a religious vs. nonreligious viewpoint and how that viewpoint applied to opinions about Hope Summers.

[stolisomancer]

Man, that would be a What If I would read. It'd be hard to do, but "What If Magneto's Powers Manifested in 1938" would be interesting as hell.

[proteus_lives]

I've seen him control bronze, copper, the whole nine. His powers are over the entire electromagnetic spectrum.

[valtyr]

It really would. It can be surprisingly easy to forget just how ridiculously powerful Magneto is; his powers could've single-handedly gutted the Nazi war machine. And that's not even addressing the social effects of a Jew at that point in time suddenly manifesting vast and apparently supernatural powers.