The Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to have to go through some changes in the 2020s and one of those will be introducing the X-Men. This opens the door to all kinds of new villains, but there's one that everybody wants to see: Magneto. Played in the Fox X-Men movies by Sir Ian McKellan and Michael Fassbender, Magneto proved to be one of the franchise's most popular and intriguing characters.
The character, both in movies and comics, has run the gamut between hero and villain, which begs the question: should the MCU portray him as a villain or go more of an antihero route with him? Both approaches have their pros and cons.
10 Should Be An Antihero: It's A Better Role For The Actor
Magneto is lucky in that he was played by two great actors. The way the role was structured gave them a lot to work with, but the character was more well-rounded in the First Class movies where he was more of an antihero. Making him an antihero gives an actor more to play and has a good chance of netting them a better actor for the role.
Playing Magneto more as a one-dimensional, MCU-style villain would limit who would want to play him. Playing the character as an antihero would give the actor more to work with, with a better chance of getting a great actor who wants to work that way.
9 Should Be A Villain: He Always Swings To That Side Of The Spectrum Anyway
Even in the First Class movies, Magneto wasn't exactly the best guy around. Sure, he helped Xavier fight the Hellfire Club but he also almost killed Richard Nixon on TV and teamed up with Apocalypse. In the comics, whenever Magneto is on the side of angels for any amount of time, he always swings in the opposite direction at some point.
Magneto was created as a villain and when it comes right down to it, he fits there better. Making him a villain puts him in opposition to Professor X, making him the villainous opposite that the MCU loves to showcase in origin movies.
8 Should Be An Antihero: His Hatred Is Justified
Magneto's hatred for humans doesn't come from some mysterious place, it's actually pretty rational. He grew up in one of the most harrowing situations in the modern world and watched his neighbors turn against him and his community, slaughtering them. It's hard to argue against his reasoning —he has terrible, terrible proof.
Most people, when Magneto explains why he believes the way he does, would completely understand why he is who he is and don't really fault him. He's out to protect his people in the only way he knows how, with violence. He's perfect antihero material.
7 Should Be A Villain: He's Too Stubborn To Change
Whether it be in the movies or the comics, one thing that Magneto resists mightily is change, and this always leads him back to the villainous path. Magneto is a stubborn man and even when he's ostensibly a "good guy," his years of old grudges come to the fore, and usually ends up massacring a bunch of people.
This is what would make him such a compelling villain. He'd basically be a new Killmonger. Killmonger was ostensibly right but his life made it impossible for him to change his violent ways. Magneto would work in the same way for the same reasons.
6 Should Be An Antihero: It Could Mean That MCU Fans Are Going To Get The Krakoan Status Quo
Right now in the comics, the X-Men are going through something of a renaissance. Taken out of the school and put onto the island of Krakoa, they've started a new nation, one that has given mutants more power than ever before. This new status quo is the most interesting the X-Men have been in ages.
Magneto is one of the leaders of the island, so having him be an antihero may mean that the MCU is going to take the X-Men in this bold new direction. That would be amazing and something that could go a long way in erasing the legacy of the Fox movies from the mind of the general public.
5 Should Be A Villain: It Opens The Door For Character Development
In the X-Men movies, Magneto evolved from a complete villain to something else, a man struggling with who he was, what's happened to him, and what he's going to do about it. This opened the character up to development that he otherwise wouldn't have gotten if he had started out as a more heroic version of the character.
The MCU plays the long game, so introducing Magneto as a villain gives them more to do with the character, opening him up to the kind of development that makes him so interesting. Starting him as an antihero limits his growth because the only direction he has to go is down.
4 Should Be An Antihero: There Are No Antiheroes In The MCU & They Need One
Antiheroes have been an important part of superhero stories since the '70s when they entered the public consciousness thanks to Dirty Harry movies. Characters like Punisher, Deadpool, and early Wolverine have all proven just how great antiheroes can be in comics. The MCU has long claimed comic accuracy as a feature and yet they haven't at all gone the antihero route.
It's time to change that and the best possible way may be with Magneto. Sure, Wolverine is almost certainly debuting before long but the only reason he's an antihero is the killing and the gruffness. Magneto is a much more interesting example of a morally grey hero.
3 Should Be A Villain: He's Powerful Enough To Threaten Anyone In The MCU
While the MCU has rarely crossed over villains, someone like Magneto is the perfect villain to start doing that sort of thing. Magneto is one of the most powerful beings on the planet; he can wreck human civilization with little more than a thought any time he feels like it. At his worst, Magneto is too much for any one team to handle.
Magneto as a villain opens him up to be used not just in X-Men movies but in other Marvel movies, as he battles for the cause of mutant supremacy against other heroes. Villain crossovers are the MCU's next step and Magneto can open the door for them.
2 Should Be An Antihero: The MCU Fails Its Villains Constantly & No One Wants A Subpar Magneto
The amount of great MCU villains can be counted on one hand and even then, they're sometimes wasted. Killmonger is the greatest MCU villain of them all, almost more compelling than the hero he fought and they killed him off. Thanos got a massive amount of fleshing out but his plan was asinine at best and made him look foolish. Loki is basically a hero nowadays and no one has seen Vulture in years.
The MCU has a lousy track record with villains. For whatever reason, they don't do a great job with them and no one wants them to do the same with Magneto, one of the greatest Marvel characters ever created. Making him an antihero is a much safer choice.
1 Should Be A Villain: He Was The X-Men's First Foe
The MCU's comic accuracy can —and should— be questioned, but since they claim it so much, they should put their money where their mouth is and make Magneto a villain. Magneto was the first villain the X-Men ever fought, so making him a villain makes perfect sense.
He fits into the mold of an MCU debut villain perfectly; he's the ideological opposite of the heroes, and having him fight the team first is a nice comic throwback. Plus, even with all of his justifications, Magneto is still a monster, a terrorist who would kill every human to protect one mutant.