X-Men ‘97 once again gave credence to the phrase “Magneto was right” after the events of the first season. After becoming an ally of the X-Men, leading the group of mutants after Charles Xavier’s presumed death in X-Men: The Animated Series, Magneto had once again lost his faith in humanity following the attack on Genosha and his torture at the hands of Bastion. However, as Magneto’s stance is still a subject of debate, X-Men ‘97 stars Matthew Waterson and Ross Marquand answer whether Magneto was right all along.
During an X-Men ‘97 panel at the 2024 Nashville Comicon via ComicBook, Waterson and Marquand weighed in on whether Magneto was right. Waterson supported his character Magneto’s point of view regarding the mutants’ relationship with humans. For him, if Charles, voiced by Marquand, sees the good in people, Magneto feels their hate for mutants after being tortured at Auschwitz.
“One of the things that's so much fun about these particular two characters is Charles literally can see the good in everyone because he can see to their heads. So, it doesn't matter how horrendous a character is being; he can see the good,” he explained. “And so, there's something there for him whereas Erik, that's not Erik's skill. Erik is like, ‘I just have to react to what people actually do, not their potential, their reality.’”
Waterson furthered that Magneto experiences the reality of the world he is in. Living as a mutant in a universe where they’re hated is unlike a walk in the park for Magneto. However, despite being known as an antagonist, his hate isn’t rooted in selfish reasons. He wants humans to leave his people alone; if they don’t, he’s not fine with it. That being said, Waterson believes Magneto was right.
“And that makes it very easy morally to attach to it, to go, ‘No, I'm with him,’” he continued.
Alternatively, Marquand supports Waterson’s claim. But for him, though Magneto is probably right, it doesn’t mean Charles is wrong. With all the hurt Magneto experienced, from living through the Holocaust to being subjugated for being a mutant, all he knows is hurt, which makes him react the way he does. With everything he has been through, the voice actor believes there’s a sense of fear in Magneto.
There is a sense of fear, a sense of, 'I don't know if I can trust them because they might come back and hurt me someday, so I have to be proactive and take him out now.' But he knows that there's goodness there; he knows that there's goodness behind the fear, and he's always trying to bring everyone together and say, 'No, no, no, it's ok. We don't have to fight all the time.' But you can certainly understand why he believes the things he does. So, was Magneto right? Yes, you can understand why he would say that.
But despite believing Magneto was right, Marquand stressed that Charles wasn’t wrong either. Though he found it weird, he said it was the beautiful thing about Charles and Magneto, comparing them to Joker and Batman “but more familiar.” However, although they have the same dream of uniting the world, they still differ in many ways.
“I think that's what's always going to make these two characters some of the most interesting in the comic book universe because they genuinely are rooting for each other,” he added. “They just go about it in vastly different ways.”
What does "Magneto was Right" Mean in X-Men '97?
In X-Men ‘97 Episode 8, Tolerance is Extinction—Part 1, Val Cooper asked Magneto for forgiveness regarding the events of Genosha. She then set him free after being captured by Bastion and later claimed that “Magneto was right.”
Unlike Charles, who strongly believes that mutants and humans can peacefully coexist, Magneto is convinced that humans will forever see themselves as superior to mutants. Hence, after surviving the Holocaust, he wants mutants to conquer the world and eradicate humans. He then put this belief on the sidelines when leading the X-Men. But after Storm loses her powers, the massacre on Genosha, and Bastion unleashing his Prime Sentinels, he has proven to himself that he’s right about humans all along.
Magneto’s beliefs about humans and mutants’ coexistence have always been controversial. However, after everything that happened in X-Men ‘97, many can’t help but believe that he’s right.
All episodes of X-Men ‘97 Season 1 are available on Disney+. The second season is now in the works, though no official release date has been announced yet.
