Magneto #19 was released on Wednesday of this week by Marvel Comics.
The titular Magneto reached an epiphany and ordered the Marauders to help him protect the people of San Francisco from the invading forces of the 1610-Universe aka the Ultimate Marvel universe.
Magneto ultimately realizes that all of mutantkind will be extinct if Earth is wiped out by the Incursion, which drives him to action. He laments that it’s crucial to stop the Incursion or both Earths will be wiped out.
The bad thing is that the people on the other Earth are thinking the same thing.
Nimrod-class Sentinels from the other Earth are dispatched to deal with Magneto, which feels incredibly appropriate. X-Men fans understand the antagonistic relationship between the mutants and the Sentinels.
I feel bad for Lorna aka Polaris because she has to do the grunt work and clean-up work.
That includes rescuing civilians about to fall to their deaths when part of a building was destroyed when Magneto killed a Sentinel. Parents always like to take advantage of their own children in many ways.
I laughed when Polaris was horrified and berated her father, where Magneto bluntly ordered her to rescue them.
It’s understandable because Magneto has to focus on destroying those sentinels.
Magneto is ready to play martyr to save everyone in San Francisco from getting killed and is willing to do questionable things to accomplish his goal. I’m not completely surprised that Magneto is saving regular humans because he does have plenty of humanity left.
Readers shouldn’t be surprised at Magneto’s actions in this issue because he is a man of questionable actions. One has to remember that Magneto used to be a bad guy as his views conflict with Professor Xavier’s views.
What did I think of Magneto #19?
I’m glad that Magneto kept true to his own character in the wake of the Incursion via the Secret Wars.
I was intrigued by the flashback scene when Magneto and the mysterious Briar decided to pay a visit to the shady Sugarman. It was understandable that Magneto didn’t want to see him, but he was the final option since the other scientists weren’t available.
When it ultimately comes to survival, you do whatever it takes.
Magneto did that by putting his body on the line to use a more potent version of the Mutant Growth Hormone, which started tearing up his body from within. It was painful to read, but I felt emotional when Magneto was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.
This is incredibly selfless and it speaks a lot compared to Mystique’s selfishness at the end of Wolverines. I remember when Mystique received a letter at the last minute from the late-Destiny, where it said reviving Wolverine was crucial to saving the world. Mystique was tricked at the end, which is fitting because she lied to and deceived everyone else.
Mystique prevented Wolverine’s resurrection because she would rather let the entire world burn if she couldn’t get what she desired. She wanted to bring Destiny back to life, where she set up an elaborate scheme under the guise of helping the new Weapon X survivors.
Magneto has “evolved” and understood that saving mutantkind means making nice with normal humans.
But Magneto still has a sense of fatalism, which is shown when he killed Sugarman after taking his research notes. I was shocked, but I understand Magneto’s choice to kill the person because the latter was a cancer to all mutants.
The flashback adds depth to this issue.
I give Magneto #19 the a grade of A+.
