I'm going to blog about what it takes to make someone a super hero or super villain using preexisting super heroes and super villains. When I was thinking of who to do I was first going to do Daredevil who some of you may have seen the movie about him where he was played by Ben Affleck. I will keep him for the next one. I want to do him because I like how the movie handled the downside of his heightened senses and the decisions you have to make when you have “unusual powers”. This time out however I'm going to give you a two-for-one by contrasting Magneto and Professor X or if you prefer Professor Charles Xavier but I will be calling him Professor X for quickness of writing. I was watching the third X-Men movie the other night and I thought it would be interesting to tackle the two at the same time.
Both Magneto and Professor X have essentially the same goal. They want a world in which super human mutants (or “homo superior” as they are called to distinguish them from humans with other kinds of genetic anomalies) can live and thrive. Where they differ is that Magneto wants to rule said world and as far as he is concerned his world doesn't have to include homosapiens and Professor X wants this world to be a world where everyone gets along be they mutant or non-mutant human.
Powerwise both men are frankly ridiculously powerful. If you've watched the second X-men movie you know Professor X can kill every one in the world with his mind with the help of his mutant finding device known as Cerebro and if you've seen the third movie you know Magneto can with only a little effort tear the Golden Gate Bridge out of it's supports and move it so it can be used as a bridge between San Francisco and Alcatraz Island. Just to give you a numeric idea of this from what I read on About.com the Golden Bridge weighs about 887,000 tons I'd hazard he only carried 80% of it but that's just a guess, which would roughly be 709,600 tons. To make it even more scarier that's 11 aircraft carriers (there are only 11 active in the U.S. Navy).
Magneto's power is essentially the manipulation of magnetism which I assume includes generating magnetic fields as well as being able to detect them which lets him detect ferromagnetic metals (metals susceptible to magnetic forces) in the movie he claims to be able to “smell” Wolverine's adamantium skeleton. In the comic books this extends to being able to see magnetic fields and to read a targets “magnetic aura” also unlike in the movie Magneto can parlay his ability to control magnetism into the ability to influence electromagnetic forces and electricity as well. Although he rarely does that so it's assumed it's not that easy for him to do. I like to speculate that he manipulates the magnetic side of the electromagnetic force and the “electro” part just kind of comes along because of it or better yet it's like playing hockey using a hockey stick to manipulate another hockey stick that is in contact with the hockey puck.
Professor X's powers are “psychic” in nature. He is essentially the world's most powerful telepath permitting him to read just about any mind. He can also detect mutants by their particular “mental signatures” (well that's how they used to explain it in the comic books) although in the comic books this ability isn't as strong as his regular telepathy hence why he used Cerebro to enhance his abilities. I'm going to assume that it's the same in the movie. As seen in the movies and the comic books his telepathy let's him do more than just read minds he can use them to manipulates minds as well. He can wipe out memories, create illusions in the movie he even “froze” a museum full of people as well as every one attending a meeting at the White House and possibly all of the staff without the use of Cerebro. He can also use it to directly control people's action like he did to Toad and Saber Tooth in the first movie when they were making off with Rogue. Magneto was immune to his control because of his helmet that he built specifically to thwart Professor X's telepathic powers.
Another big contrast between the two of them is how they were raised. In the movie and in the comic books Magneto is Jewish and was in Auschwitz as a child. Consequently he saw that humans can be truly monstrous and it formed in him a fear of authority. In the comic books he was also persecuted by the villagers in the quaint little village he settled in and started to raise a family. That ended in the death of his young daughter and separation from his wife that put the nail in the coffin of his trust of authority and humans in general. When mutant persecution became prevalent he didn't want to see what happened in Germany or in that little village happen again so he decided to use his fully matured powers to see that it didn't happen. On the other hand (this I have to go by the comic books since the movie don't talk about his upbringing) Professor X was born to a “family of privilege” and had a loving and dotting mother (if I'm not mistaken) who loved him very much. His father died when he was young and his mother remarried. His step-father wasn't as nice as his father to him but still treated him like a golden child even though he routinely beat his own biological son who wasn't as brilliant or as “special” as Professor X was. This led to his step-brother bullying him but his mother or step father would normally protect him so essentially Professor X grew up with the view that people aren't either good or evil and that even the worst people he knew had redeeming qualities after all his “brother” only beat on him because his father beat him because he wasn't as good as he was so their was a reason for his behavior and with enough understanding the problem could be overcome.
In the movies neither of them wear a super suit per say. In theory Magneto wears a super suit. He wears a cape, a helmet and the same “suit” whenever he goes on a mission. In the comic books his “super suit” has a very practical application. It's made of iron particles and he uses his magnetic powers to reinforce it as armor or if worse comes to worse he can use his costume as a weapon. Professor X has only ever worn a super suit once as far as I know in the comics. He wore one when his paralysis was cured and he could walk. He decided to take a more direct role in the missions he sent the X-Men on. It was yellow and black with a huge X on it. Otherwise due to his paralysis he never bothered to adopt a super hero identity strictly speaking.
A fun little fact about Magneto in the comic books. When the first “Secret Wars” happened Magneto was placed in the camp of the good guys. The Secret Wars was a battle put together by an entity know as the Beyonder who wanted to know who would win between “good” and “evil”. When he divided up the teams he placed Magneto with the super heroes because the alien felt his desire to protect mutants meant he was doing something noble and heroic so he should be placed with the other super heroes. The other super heroes didn't like that because on Earth most governments consider Magneto a terrorist and an evil person. Wolverine defended him by saying that “Terrorist is what the bigger army calls the smaller army” leading to a potential rift in the super hero camp. Magneto decided it was in everyone's best interest if he left. One could call it a noble act further proving the Beyonder right in his choice or you could look at it as he just wanted the prize for himself and would have been better off without the interference of the “super heroes”.
To me the behavior of each character makes sense as a whole. I don't necessarily agree with how every writer treated them but essentially I find it reasonable in the real world for Magneto to have become a “terrorist” fighting for Mutant Rights who ultimately created a sovereign nation for all mutants (the homo superior kind) just as Israel was made a sovereign nation for all Jewish people. As we all know some politicians like to play fast and lose with the lives of the citizens of their countries. If I had gone through what Magneto and had his considerable powers I would have gone the same way.
Professor X makes the most sense to me. He has struck a balance with the rest of the non-mutant world by training mutants to use their abilities so they aren't a danger to themselves or to the rest of the world. He also works with non-mutant humans to help them understand that not all mutants are evil. He is so committed to keeping that balance that he will protect “normal humans” from mutants who try to harm them. Just like in the real world his efforts go mostly unappreciated by the larger human population but he is heavily relied upon by most governments when it comes to dealing with mutants and frankly for other non-mutant threats like alien invasions.
As for me given my own background I would fall somewhere in between both. I wasn't in Auschwitz but then I also didn't lead a life of privilege either. If I had Magneto's powers I would have carved out my own sovereign nation like he did but I would keep it small and keep it only for myself and possibly only a few small villages. However I would offer my services to various countries to make myself invaluable to enough countries that I wouldn't be outright attacked by those countries that were afraid of me. As an example I would run a space program that I would work along side other countries in return for making it really cheap for them to explore outer space by carrying the equipment and astronauts into orbit myself. Not to mention cleaning up space debris and repelling asteroids or meteors from colliding with space stations or satellites. I'd offer my services for the sake of physics experiments as well. Magnetic fields can be used to manipulate particles so I would also offer my services up for that. The thing is that in my mind if you have physical powers on the level of Magneto you really have to gain the trust of most countries security agencies. It's way too easy for people to get paranoid of one person being that powerful that isn't under their control. It wouldn't long before propaganda would be produced to incite a war against me. I say me instead of my country because defeating a small country is no big deal but defeating someone who would be as powerful as I would be would be seen as coup for these paranoid people. I say paranoid but I've lived long enough to know that people start wars without being paranoid. Mind you that being said there is also a possibility that other countries would want to ally themselves with me to have access to my "resources". The world is a complicated place and not everyone has the same motivations. I might do like Bunshu a character from the Japanese cartoon called "Soul Hunter" who offers his "divine" wisdom and sometimes reluctantly his "divine" powers to help build and shepherd an empire without being in control of the empire. I may just take the role of adviser and protector of the country I carved out leaving the day to day politics to those who live there. I really have no patience for the obvious dishonesty of most politicians. I can only imagine at some point I would start off a war because some politician would say something callous about some tragedy that occurred somewhere in some third world country and I would then drop him or her off in that country to fend for him or herself so he or she could see what it was like to live there. That would of course be considered an attack against their country of origin and then I'd soon find myself getting my country at war. Then eventually I would appear to the world to be the menace that some countries who coveted my powers would be painting me as in the media. Great physical affecting powers are real burden sometimes. At that point I would probably just go rogue and destroy the machinery of war of the countries who harass me. So like I said I would let others do the day to day politics and that way I can be productive in the world.
Now if I had Professor X's powers well...stealth would be the name of the game and because I could read minds and alter perception it would be easy to accomplish. I wouldn't let anyone know I had these powers. When I think about it these powers would be right up my alley. I would continue doing what I normally do, listen to people's problems and help them solve their problems however with the enhancement of mind reading and mental manipulation I can bring it up a notch. Not only could I help someone come to terms with their child disappearing I could actually find the child if they hadn't died. Imagine how easy it would be to find information if you can read the minds of “reluctant” witnesses or even just search for the missing person's mind. Although not really shown in the movie Professor X has the ability to astral project (cause his "soul" to leave his body) so it would also be easy to search for said missing person by looking around as a “ghost”. Now on a personal level I would so be the life of the party. Never mind all the fun party tricks you can do there is also using your mental powers to make people feel comfortable around you or to make them “feel good” in general. I wouldn't directly manipulate people's mind unless I absolutely had to though. Even if I did it would be situational and would only last the duration of the encounter. You know something along the lines of “freezing” someone in place so they can't hit me or shoot me or do me some harm. I would have to admit I would use these powers during sex. One to read my partners mind to know what she wanted and two to “enhance” her perceptions so she is always getting the sensations she needed to be satisfied. Now the most annoying thing I would do is if a number people new about my abilities all my discussions would be accompanied by mental images I would “paint” in people's minds. If I was talking about a dog as an example I would plant the image in people's mind of the dog being in the room with us. Possibly frolicking around and making a genuine nuisance on itself. I might make every one hear that song from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” every time someone I thought was bad ass entered the room.
Given the raw telepathic power I would possess I would spend a lot of time eavesdropping on politicians and business people among others to know who is causing problems or who are responsible for disasters. Once the truth is learned I'd most likely "push" the person or persons to reveal their guilt. Possibly by showing them the consequences of their behavior or by directly manipulating them into it. I'm not sure yet I might just plant the right idea in the right person's mind at the time or help the appropriate people discover the information needed to bring the truth to light.
Well that's that for now. It was a bit long and I didn't really say everything I wanted to but I was trying to make this fit within a certain space. Mind you I did tackle two subjects at once so we will see how future ones turn out. As I said in the beginning the next subject in line will be Dare Devil.
Thank you for reading.
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