Despite the crimes against humanity Magneto has committed throughout his villainous Marvel Comics career, the argument could always be made that his actions were justified as he fought for the equal treatment of mutants in a world that was incredibly hostile towards his brethren. However, in a moment of true villainy where Magneto killed one of his fellow mutants, he proved that he isn’t a righteous revolutionary, but an undeniable bigot.
Magneto made his first appearance in X-Men #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In that issue, the newly introduced X-Men are called to action after Magneto stole missiles from a military base in an effort to further weaken humanity. Since then, Magneto has launched a number of schemes against the human race, both on Earth-616 and Earth-1610–otherwise known as the Ultimate Universe. However, Magneto’s Ultimate counterpart was taken out of commission fairly early in his villainous career after Charles Xavier altered Magneto’s mind and faked his death, giving the mutant extremist a chance at a normal, happy life.
In Ultimate X-Men #25 by Mark Miller and Adam Kubert, the current Brotherhood of Mutants–in Magneto’s absence–is run by his children, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. However, one of their new members who joined the team after Magneto was presumed dead, a super-evolved mutant-primate named Prosimian, discovered that Magneto wasn’t dead after all. Prosimian as well as a number of the other members of the Brotherhood didn’t like the non-violent direction Wanda and Pietro were taking the organization, so Prosimian came up with a plan to get Magneto back. In this issue, fans see that the ape-like mutant was successful in his mission, but after what happened next, he quickly wished he wasn’t.
When Magneto asked who came up with the plan to bring him back to normal, Prosimian spoke up, assuredly expecting praise. However, Magneto committed one of his worst crimes to date and thanked Prosimian by killing him on the spot. Magneto was sickened by the type of mutant Prosimian was (evolved from animal rather than human) and didn’t want him to be a part of his organization no matter how useful or dedicated he was to Magneto’s cause. This event proves that Magneto is an undeniable bigot as it shows he has very clear standards as to what he considers to be a ‘real’ mutant. Magneto isn’t fighting for mutant rights, he is fighting for the creation of a perfect world, but only in the way that he views perfection. Prosimian didn’t make the cut, and even after he saved Magneto from a life he would never choose, Magneto still saw the mutant as inferior because of his background and appearance.
Magneto’s villainous actions were always viewed as being responsive to systematic mistreatment of mutantkind, making Magneto something of an antihero in the eyes of his in-world followers and even real-world fans alike. The ‘Magneto was right’ argument even transcended the pages of Marvel Comics and made its way into fan discussions because his cause has always been, at the very least, understandable. However, because of Magneto’s cruelest mutant kill, his bigotry is undeniable.