Magneto's Telepathy

Nightcrawler ZERO · Post by **Nightcrawler ZERO** » Fri Oct 11, 2002 11:52 pm

I recently picked up a copy of "THe Essential Uncanny X-Men" Volume 1, which collects issues 1-24 of the original series. One of the things I found odd was that Magneto, in addition to having his Magnetic powers, was also a telepath of decent ability. So far in my reading, he's read minds, hypnotized people, and projected an astral form. However, I've never seen this telepathy in anything except Stan Lee's work. Does anyone know what happened to it?

kurtlover · Post by **kurtlover** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 1:31 am

how strange, i didn't knew that, i only knew he can cope Xavier's mind blasts but not that.

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 1:53 am

maybe Paty would know more about this... this is the first i've heard of him being telepathic.

Crawler · Post by **Crawler** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 2:37 am

It was basically to counteract Xavier's telepathy, I think. It was more or less to keep Xavier from easily controlling and defeating Magneto...I think.

ahmed · Post by **ahmed** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 2:45 am

Weird...

kurtlover · Post by **kurtlover** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 2:57 am

yes mighty Paty should know

Dark Bamf · Post by **Dark Bamf** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 3:01 am

I don't know how familiar Paty is with the early stuff. She hated Magneto as the raving megalomaniac he was portrayed in those early Lee and Kirby issues.

He did indeed display strong mental powers back then, but they went by the wayside somewhere along the line. Possibly the writers felt that he had his own powers, and telepathy was cutting into the Professor's territory.

Paty will tell you that Xavier can't read Magneto's mind, can't control him. I'm not 100% in agreement with her on that, he's certainly done a couple of nasty things to Mags's mind over the years. But he unquestionably has a very powerful mind, whether he has true telepathy or not.

I'll sic Paty on this question in the morning.

:

Nightfollower · Post by **Nightfollower** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 5:36 am

Magneto's a telepath??? Wow, I never knew that! I've never seen him in psychic action before (apart from the metal control).

silver_frosted_roze · Post by **silver_frosted_roze** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 5:57 am

I thought it was the helmet he wore that prevented xavier from messin' with mag's head... at least that's how they've portrayed it in the x1 and the ultimate book....

Nightfang · Post by **Nightfang** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 6:54 am

Sometimes people decide to ditch extra powers... eg. have you seen Nightie dissapear into shadows recently? (Maybe you have and I'm way out of line here...) Or, they just find some other way to explain it, like silver_frosted_roze said.

Paty · Post by **Paty** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 8:31 am

:mags: :mags: :mags:
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Think about it people...The nature of powers is your brain telling the rest of your body to do this or channel that or interact with the molecules of the atmosphere in thus and such aa way...right? and this is your power signature...the thing Cerebro tracks...the expenditure of abnormal brain wave activity that marks a mutant. right?
Now...what runs the brain? What runs every single movement in your body? electromgnetic energy. We are little walking magnetic generators, people. We even have an aura of electromagnetic force around us that some people can see. But every command from blinking our eyes and our heart pumping to farting is controlled by electromagnetic energy. the brain zaps a message to the muscle...and it works. when the pathway from brain to muscle is disrupted, it doesn't work.
What is Magneto the Master of? Magnetism...electromagnetic energy! Yes, he has telepathic ability. Xavier has never been able to infiltrate his mind...this was established when he and Xavier met in the kibbutz in Israel. Xavier can blast him into unconsciousness with an electromagnetic overload, but infiltrate? gimme a break...mags would detect an anomaly in his own magnetic field if Xavier tried it...which makes the action in XMen 113 totally bogus...or some scheme of Mags own devising.
He has exhibited this power at least once before...in an Avengers back in the Seventies...Don Heck art I believe...He is sitting there making the Scarlet Witch dance for him...this before he found out that she was his daughter. Although he has the power and has experimented with it, he doesn't seem to want to use the power...possibly because he doesn't want to hurt someone's mind...and one little slip could do that. Theoretically, he could broadcast a magnetic pulse that would send anyone fighting him into an epileptic grand mal siezure...but injudicious use of such a pulse could kill some and brain damage others while only stunning others...so as a weapon it would only be used as a last resort...and he has never done that. He has withdrawn from the field of battle rather than do permanant harm to anybody. He may rant and rave a lot.. but he just doesn't use killing power on anybody...except those idiots who lobbed a nuclear warhead at him, of course. Lob a warhead at me and I'd sink your stinking sub, too! If attacked with deadly force, retaliation with same is logical...and smart. You only get one shot to take me out is a rule...or if it isn't, it should be.
Mags' power is technically so far above most other powers that the mind boggles...if it were used to it's fullest extent...and I don't think even Mags realizes it's full potential...and he won't while he is being written by people who dont understand either.
Different writers have stretched his powers, given us a hint as to the extent of them...and I think Chris Claremont was going in that direction...but that never came to fruition.
Can Mags project and organize his telepathy as well as Xavier? no. That is Xavier's forte. Could he, by changing his magnetic signature, mimic powers? No, again...his cells are not aligned to process the powers those brain waves triggerin others whose cells are designed by nature to use the power inherent in certain electro magnetic signatures. He could not, for example, reconfigure his magnetic signature to have Rogue's power of assimilitating others minds and powers...but he could create a similar arur of magnetic force and neutralize her effect on him wherever she touched him...in fact, after the first touch, his body probably already recognizes this power signature and responds automatically...or should i say, autonomically.. to protect him. Ergo...he is the only one who can touch her if her power is active. ..and take no harm. It would take an act of conscious will to drop that shielding and let her access some of his memories...I doubt seriously if he has shown her everything...or to let her steal his power...as he did in the movie. You notice that in the movie, she didn't take everything...or knock him out...only the amount he needed for her to have. This implies a control over what he will allow to be taken.
If you get right down to it, his power source is not limited to the earth's magnetic field,either. There is a more potent electromagnetic field surrounding us...and it is put out by the sun. I hinted at this to Bob Harass one day at Marvel...and it was like seeing a light bulb forming over his head as he realized what exactly it was I was saying. He never did anything with it, though...robably because Lobdell was writing the book at the time and Lobdell didn't like or understand Magneto...so he did very little with him...and what he did was totally inept and misunderstanding of the character.
Writers , as has been mentioned on another thread, have a total control of their characters...since Marvel seems to lack any editorial control at all...and if the writer doesn't understand a character or like a character they are gonna write him or her badly. The problem here is that good or bad, what is printed becomes canon and has to be dealt with by later, possibly more competant, writers.

Yes, Mags has telepathy...yes, he has used it more than once...yes, writers have ignored this..or forgotten it...although there is no excuse for that since Marvel has archives with everything in the way of backstory available and all a writer has to do is... his homework.
This doesn't happen either...but a really good writer will do it...and when he finds contradictions or anomalies, try to explain them.
Chris did this with Mags. Stan wrote him as a nutball...a total villain with no reason for existance but to provide a foil for the X kids. Chris wanted to develop the character...but had to explain the difference in his behavior...and looked into the archives, found the storyline where Mags was reduced to infancy...and later restored to the prime of life...and used that. He introduced the storyline that Moira McTaggart had monkied with his gene structure to correct a flaw that was disrupting the flow of power and making him nutsy fagan every time he used it. After correcting tht flaw, he could use his power without going nuts and he became the reasoning, non manical person we see in later Claremont stuff. A logical progression.
Mags has used the helmet to enhance his telepathic abilities...sometimes to his sorrow...and it is my personal opinion that the helmet, while helping to protect him from Xavier's assults, is one of the reasons he acts crazy sometimes. It feeds back and disrupts his own magnetic fiesld...possibly on such a minescule level that he is not even aware of it...but he usually acts saner when he doesn't have it on...
Just a FEW observations...LOL...
Paty
:mags:

Garble · Post by **Garble** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 5:16 pm

In some of those early issues, Professor X desplays clarvoyance and telekenisis, also.

Abbatoir · Post by **Abbatoir** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 5:25 pm

Yeah. He removed Banshee's "bomb head-band" thing with a "mental bolt". That disappeared too.

Garble · Post by **Garble** » Sat Oct 12, 2002 6:43 pm

He also used his "mental power" to protect himself in a car wreck, and to turn off some sentinels.

Paty · Post by **Paty** » Sun Oct 13, 2002 3:24 pm

:mags:
Telepathy implies an exchange of some sort in the electromagnetic field...from one person to another. Telekinesis, as jean Grey exhibits also implies manipulation of magnetic fields. Are either of these people in the same league as Mags in the manipulation of magnetic forces? No. Xavier was, in early issues, truing to teach jean to use her telepathy and telekinesis more accurately. why are women always portrayed as less able to control their power? Jean Grey, the Scarlet Witch, and others...sigh...
In any event, their powers are very specificly involved with the exchange of brain waves...and limited manipulation of the electromagnetic field. Xavier obviously has more finesse..more fine control of the electro magnetic field of the brainwave frequency than Mags...this is why he can "talk" directly to people in their minds, eavesdrop if he wishes, "suggest" things to them...and such. His broad spectrum control of the electro magnetic force is nowhere near as great as Magneto's. When Polaris was introduced, here was possibly, another electromagnetic power. weilder... and Zaladane, as well.
Manipulation of electromagnetic power in some form or another seems to be a fairly frequent mutation...and writers who don't understand the possibilities inherent in the power are always gonna confuse it and say that they are different powers. they are not...there is only the different degrees of control of the power and the specific genetic ability of the individual's cells to use certain aspects of the power to greatest advantage.

Can Xavier move things by telekinesis? It would seem so...since he was teaching Jean to do it. Is he as good at it as she is? No. Conversly, she was not as good a telepath as Xavier. thus, the two powers could be seen as two different types of power. But they are, in essance, not two different types...merely aspects of the same power.

Magneto has less control of the fine aspects of the magnetic manipulation. He could obviously get into people's heads if he wanted to...but he may lack Xavier's ability to screen out the individual and specific wavelength that he wants to access. Listening in on someone's brain activity has gotta create quite a buzz of electro static in the mind if you can't screen out certain frequencies...such as those telling your heart to beat and your stomach to digest, and such. Magneto could, for example, fire all the synapses of a brain, and lay someone out...but lacking the fine control, he just might electrocute them or kill them with a grand mal siezure...because he can process the electromagnetic pulse on such a larger scale. With practice, he could probably learn to fine tune his control, but maybe not...at least not as fine as Xavier's control is...for that is Xavier's forte...not his. It would be easier and safer for Mags to send a magnetic pulse around the world, knocking out communications and disrupting electromagnetic frequencies than it would be for him to drop everyone in an army coming to capture him...safely, with no loss of life. Xavier could do that, in all probability...Mags would probably kill a lot of them with a massive overload. Xavier works with the laser surgery of electromagnetic manipulation..Mags works with the atomic bomb of electromagnetic manipulation. It is a matter of degree and scope. but because of this common ground, the manipulation of electromagnetic energy, Xavier's powers, Jean's powers, Lorna Dane's powers and Magneto's powers are closely related...and their genetic makeup has got to be very similar for these powers to manifest in such a way...albeit different degrees and formats.
Now, there is a thought to conjure with...a common genetic ancestor for all of these electomagnetic power weilders...Hmmmmm....

Paty
:mags:

Sephiroth · Post by **Sephiroth** » Mon Oct 14, 2002 3:18 am

I love Magneto. He is one of my favorite characters.

:

Paty · Post by **Paty** » Mon Oct 14, 2002 2:26 pm

:mags:
a wise choice...
Paty
:mags:

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Mon Oct 14, 2002 2:34 pm

interesting, Paty. i necer thought of Telepathy/telekenesis and magnetic control as related before.... hmmm.... *wanders off to ponder*

Garble · Post by **Garble** » Mon Oct 14, 2002 10:01 pm

Hm.. it's all about using your will to manipulate energy fields...

Paty · Post by **Paty** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 7:25 am

:mags:
Um hm...and what are the energy fields of the mind but electromagnetic impulses...
now, how the cells to which those impulses are directed process that energy and use those electromagnetic commands is what differentiates powers. .. the individual frequency being the power "signature". Mags can identify someone walking into a darkened room just by their electromagnetic signature. He could probably control it to some degree...but not to the degree that Xavier controls mental energy... it wouldn't be a matter of not being able to access the magnetic spectrum...but, rather, a degree of finesse. but to think that Xavier could breach Magneto's electro magnetic shields is ludicrous. It would be like trying to pierce inch thick metal plating with a darning needle. Not that it couldn't be done with enough force...after all, pieces of straw can pierce solid wooden beams if hurled by the force of a twister...but that kind of effort would have to be an enormous blast focussed tightly...and Xavier has done this at least once...sending Mags into a coma. I doubt seriously if mags would allow Xavier to do it again...or to allow him any access to his mind in any way...and for Xavier to hide his electromagnetic signatrue in another form is just not viable...Mags would know Xavier's signature regardless of what the external form looked like. In fact, I am sure he would be very curious about someone else with Xavier's aura. Electro magnetic signatures are probably as individualistic as fingerprints...and you can bet the rent money that Mags knows Xavier's very well.
Paty
:mags:

Nightcrawler ZERO · Post by **Nightcrawler ZERO** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 7:05 pm

Let's see- what other powers are related to electromagnetic forces?

Shadowcat phases by slowing down the vibrational rate of her atoms. I'm assuming that is conected to electromagnetism?

Garble · Post by **Garble** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 10:18 pm

She might phase by disrupting or reducing the relative electromagnetic repulsion of her atoms.

Storm's power is likely to be linked to the earth's EM field.

Nightcrawler ZERO · Post by **Nightcrawler ZERO** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 10:30 pm

Well, while checking some X-men sites, I found a description of Kitty's powers that uses the word "magnetic" several times.

Here it is:

"generate magnetic repulsion within her body to become ephemeral, allowing her to pass through solid objects, walk on thin air, utilize her magnetic distortion to scramble electronic systems, and extend her intangibility to anything she touches"

So, with Absolute control, Magneto would gain Telepathy, Telekinises, Intangibility, weather control, and who knows what else......

Paty · Post by **Paty** » Fri Oct 18, 2002 5:57 pm

:mags:
Well...not necessarily...the cells of his body might not be able to use the frequency in the manner necessary to generate the power.
He did have a runin with storm in one of Dave's issues...I believe...she struck him with a bolt of lightening and it rejuvinated him...didn't hurt him...actually gave him extra power. and he has been known to generate electromagnetic fields...not unlike lightening... to blast things...but whether he could call the rest of the weather related phenomena is a good question. He could definitely shut down her brain activity...as he could with anyone if he chose todo so...possibly with fatal or traumatic results, though. As I said...it is not the ability to control the electromagnetic impulses of the brain...but the finesse to do so without injuring the other party...and in this, Xavier excels
The manifestation of the power has everything to do with how the cells of the body process the electromagnetic impulses sent from the brain. He might be able to define the frequency that Kitty uses to phase...but could he do it himself...Probablly not...his cells do not work that way. they manipulate the flow and shape it to his usage, but they do not process the flow in the same way kitty's cells do. But he could probably strip anyone using clothing made of unstable molecules nekkid as a jaybird...the key factor here being the fact that the molecules making up the fabric have been made mutable by being made unstable...which means they are more vunerable to magnetic dispersal...and disrupting and manipulation of magnetic fields is Mag's forte. An interesting possibility that would have given him a distinct advantage on the battlefield... I mean.., think about it...middle of a battle and your clothes disappear! the shock value alone would give Mags a needed edge. This is, however, an avenue of attack which he has chosen not to use. I have the feeling he would rather kill an opponent than embarass them in such a fashion. Magneto has a sense of honor..and, unlike Xavier, he has class...LOL
Paty
:mags:

ahmed · Post by **ahmed** » Fri Oct 18, 2002 6:03 pm

:Most would argue with that...