Real name: Max Eisenhardt changed identity created by Georg Odekirk to Erik Magnus Lehnsherr
Max was born and raised in Nuremberg, Germany by a middle class Jewish family. While attending a local school he became attracted to a young Romani girl named Magda, the daughter of the school cleaner. Max would do things such as create necklaces and excel in sporting events to gain her attention. While returning from school one day, Max encountered a Nazi rally and found his uncle Erich beaten and wearing a sign saying that he had shamed a German woman (as he was Jewish and she was not). Not long after, at a school event, Max won a javelin competition to impress Magda, and the following day was accused of cheating (following the belief that a Jewish boy could not exceed his classmates). Max was told to either give up his medal or recreate the throw with a "regulation" javelin. After winning the competition a second time, Max was again accused of cheating, expelled, and beaten by the other children.
In 1944, Max witnessed Mister Sinister and geneticist Josef Mengele, operating at Auschwitz. Max didn't trust him and, consequently, became a Sonderkommando to avoid selection. Cleaning out the furnaces of the crematoria, he discovered the bodies of his friends who had been picked, turned into monsters. The only member of his family to survive the Holocaust, Max learned first-hand how brutally human beings could treat those they considered different. Max was unable to access his mutant powers at puberty, like most, due to a bout of hepatitis from working in the camp.
While in Auschwitz, Max was reunited with Magda and continued to smuggle food and supplies to her. Max saved Magda from the gas chambers and then from execution; as the Sonderkommando revolted, the two of them escaped together. For several years, Max and Magda lived in a Carpathian mountain village, and eventually they were married. They had a daughter, Anya.
Max, at this point, sought out a forger named Georg Odekirk, who was supposed to be among the best, and asked him to create a new identity for him. Odekirk fabricated the existence of "Erik Lehnsherr, the Sinte gypsy," so that Max could live more easily among Magda's own people. Max added "Magnus" as his middle name and, although many knew of his history as a Jewish prisoner, no one knew of his life as Max Eisenhardt. Not satisfied with the simple life of a mountain village, Erik moved his family to the then-Soviet city of Vinnitsa so he could better himself. On their very first day in the city, Magnus consciously used his powers for the first time. Erik magnetically hurled a crowbar at his boss who was cheating him of his pay. When he returned to the inn where Magda, Anya, and he were staying, Erik saw that it was on fire and his daughter Anya was trapped on the upper floors. He tried to use his new-found powers to save his daughter, but his boss had called the KGB and they beat up Magnus and held him down, preventing him from rescuing Anya. The child fell, burning to her death, in front of her father. Magnus then used his powers to destroy the men holding him, the crowd watching, and a large section of the city of Vinnitsa in revenge. Terrified by her husband's powers and overwhelmed by the tragedy, Magda fled, unknowingly pregnant with twins. As Magnus attempted to bury his daughter, more soldiers arrived after hearing what he had done and attacked him. After being shot in the head, Magnus forced the soldiers to turn their own guns on themselves.
Powers
Magneto was previously thought of being an Alpha-mutant, but is currently considered to be an Omega Level Mutant. He has been stated on several occasions to have been one of the most powerful mutants, he has also been described for several times as the most powerful mutant, Earth's most powerful super villain, even the single most powerful being on the face of the Earth. He possesses tremendous amounts of power, which is, for all practical purposes, limitless. The upper limits of Magneto's power can't be surpassed in any measurable fashion.
After the conflict between the Avengers and the X-Men, Magneto's abilities were greatly reduced. Additionally, the prolonged use of his powers takes a physical toll on him. Using an extremely-refined MGH, he has been able to reach his former levels for a period of hours.
While Magneto was operating with his own team of X-Men and later mentoring the time-displaced X-Men, his abilities remained damaged. After an unspecified amount of time, his abilities have appeared to return to their previous levels of power.
-Magnetokinesis: Magneto has comprehensive control over all forms of magnetism and utilizes that control to manipulate any metal and achieve a variety of effects. He recently proved able to effectively hold together the headless form of a Celestial. Magneto can manipulate an entire planet's electromagnetic field and once even pulled back the giant metallic 'bullet' where Kitty Pryde was trapped inside, which was at least a few light-years away from Earth, though these are tasks that require great effort on his part. Magneto's power is comparable with Phoenix's, he has harnessed magnetism to stop armies, raise islands from ocean floors, move mountains, change the course of rivers, and threaten to devastate the world with floods and earthquakes. Magneto once blanketed the entire globe with a self-generated electromagnetic pulse that caused widespread devastation. Moreover, he can use his magnetic powers in more than one way simultaneously. He can completely assemble a complicated machine within seconds through his powers. It is unclear whether Magneto's power is psionic or purely physiological in nature.
-Magnetic Force-Fields: Magneto usually protects himself with a personal force field that he can quickly expand to protect large areas. His force field has withstood the effects of multiple nuclear weapons, volcanic eruptions, the depths of space, and attacks from multiple Avengers or X-Men. It has protected him against plasma attacks which were hotter than the sun. It also remained intact after being attacked by Ghost Rider and Hercules (Earth-616). Magneto can also use his force fields to hit or trap an enemy, and also levitate objects and beings in the air.
-Magnetic Armor: In addition to the obvious external force fields, Magneto can reinforce the metallic fibers of his uniform with magnetic fields, making his clothing like armor with a durability approaching adamantium. With this ability, he can resist punches from opponents such as Namor or Colossus and remain conscious.
-Magnetic Rays: Magneto has the ability to shoot powerful rays and electromagnetic pulses, and has shown this ability to destroy both metallic and nonmetallic objects. Magneto can also use this ability to seriously injure his enemies as he did with Storm.
-Magnetic Flight: Magneto is capable of sustaining flight for very long distances and at varying speeds. Apocalypse, through attempting to replicate Magneto's power in Mystique, mentions Magneto interfaces with magnetic field lines in his immediate surroundings rather than along it. This was later confirmed by Beast and later Sinister who formed a temporary alliance to snap Mystique out of Apocalypse's influence. However, in order to travel in space, Magneto requires and is limited by the interior capacity of his force field to breathe.
-Geomagnetic Link: Magneto's X-gene plays an important role in mediating tactile perception to Earth's electromagnetic field. This trait remained even when rendered temporarily powerless by Lilandra. As it is affected, so is he. He knows instinctively all that happens to it.
-Gravity Reduction: Magneto's control over the magnetic and electromagnetic force is so refined that he can shut off gravity within a limited radius of himself by reversing the polarity of the earth's own magnetic field.
-Metal/Matter Manipulation: Magneto can perceive and manipulate matter at the sub-atomic level. Magneto also demonstrated the ability to indirectly manipulate non-metallic objects via metal ores they may contain. Magneto is also capable of creating powerful electromagnetic fields capable of moving and manipulating nonmetallic objects, as well as levitating them (he can also do this via force fields). He can even perceive tachyons and a variety of antiparticles.
-Metal Morphing: Magneto displayed the power to physically bond metallic substances to other elements at an atomic level. This newly developed technique allows Magneto to blend alloys to earthen, watery, gaseous and even organic substances. Using such a technique was how he could commandeer the techno-organic physiology of Omega Sentinel with such relative ease.
-Organic Iron Manipulation: Magneto can control the traces of iron within organic matter and can manipulate the iron-enriched blood-flow to one's brain to potentially induce very limited effects. There are only 2.5 grams of iron in the bloodstream of a healthy human body and perhaps a gram at most in the rest of the body. As a reference, a penny weighs 2.5 grams. Magneto has used his magnetic abilities to extract the adamantium bonded to Wolverine's skeletal structure.
-Electromagnetic Sight: By concentrating, Magneto can perceive the world around himself as patterns of magnetic and electrical energy. He can perceive the natural electromagnetic auras given off by living beings.
-Electromagnetic Spectrum Manipulation: Although Magneto's primary power is magnetism, he can also project or manipulate any form of energy within the electromagnetic spectrum, though this is extremely tiring for him, so he primarily sticks to magnetism. He can potentially shoot and absorb forms of electromagnetic radiation or energy, create intense heat as infrared radiation, and become invisible by deflecting visible light around his body. The electromagnetic spectrum includes visible light, radio waves, ultraviolet light, gamma rays, and x-rays -- Magneto can project any of these to some extent, though doing so would dramatically tire him.
-Electrokinesis: Magneto is capable of generating and projecting powerful bolts of electricity, due to his manipulation over the electromagnetic spectrum. He is capable of absorbing bolts of lightning and projecting an electric aura around himself.
-Wormhole Creation: Through an as of yet unknown application of his powers, Erik can open wormholes between two points in space and time in order to traverse the most impassible of distances almost instantly.
-Photokinesis: Erik can manipulate, generate and redirect various fields of light as easily as he can bend metal to his will. Becoming invisible by bending it around himself, turning Dazzlers' own luminary based powers against her, creating holographic projections cast from over a world away and change laser trajectory.
-Astral Projection (possibly formerly): Magneto has occasionally been said to be able to manifest an astral projection of himself. However, like all formerly attributed psychic powers, this has been retconned out of existence at least once, and hasn't been used by Magneto since the "Silver Age" (chronologically speaking).
-Telepathic Resistance: Magneto has trained himself extensively for fighting telepaths, and is resistant to telepathic attack. This training is similar to that given to the X-Men and New Mutants by Professor X, although the effects are further augmented with the aid of his helmet (see below), his strong will, and his own electromagnetic powers.
-Genius Intelligence: A mastermind, Magneto is a genius in various scientific fields. He is an expert in genetic engineering and mutation. He has created artificial living beings, mutated humans in order to give them superhuman powers, instilled genetic mind-control, created adult clones of human beings, and manipulated the genetic structures of those clones during their development. His discoveries in particle physics would revolutionize the field and place him among the giants of scientific history if they were to be revealed. He has designed magnetically-powered aircraft and spacecraft, space stations, an underground complex said to be a masterpiece of automated technology that would do Tony Stark or Reed Richards proud, complex robots and computers, magnetically-powered generators, and machines capable of nullifying mutant powers within a radius of several miles.
-Multilingual: Magneto is fluent in English, Arabic, French, German, Hebrew, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, and Yiddish.
-Indomitable Will: Magneto will strive to complete his tasks, no matter what it takes.
Weaknesses
-Physical Condition: Magneto's ability to wield his superhuman powers effectively is dependent upon his physical condition. When severely injured, his body is unable to withstand the strain of manipulating magnetic energy. When his powers are not at their peak, he also appears to have greater difficulty utilizing his magnetism for great feats. He is also susceptible to physical and mental fatigue that can ultimately affect his ability to adequately use his powers, especially if he overuses or extends them in a short amount of time.