How Powerful is Magneto?

[The Serge]

Yes, it's one of those obnoxious fan-boy questions, but one I've ponder many a year. I ran the same question at my site and I'm curious to hear what the comic-fans here have to say on the matter.

So, how powerful is the Master of Magnetism?

Throughout the 80s, Magneto revealed the following powers:
1. Ability to manipulate all metals (not just ferric). He could manipulate them on the atomic scale. He had no apparent limits to range (he sank a Soviet submarine that was miles from his location and, in the same comic, create a volcano half-way around the world in the middle of a city). He even pulled Thor's hammer from him once. And he fought The Phoenix to a standstill by sealing her in a telekinetic-psychic cocoon that starved her of power and knocked her out (never fought Dark Phoenix to my knowledge).

2. Ability to manipulate any and all energy along the electromagnetic spectrum. Furthermore, he could manipulate soundwaves, he could manipulate gravity, he could manipulate electric pulses.

3. Ability to generate energy. He could blast one with energy.

4. Ability to attract or repel matter. He used this to fly and he could allow others to fly as well. He could send others reeling from him as well. This was the source of his shield.

5. Ability to generate a shield. Not only did this shield protect him from all forms of physical attack, it also protected him from psychic assaults (not even Xavier could penetrate his shield when it was at full strength). This shield was so powerful that it kept him and Rogue alive and completely healthy at ground zero of a nuclear blast.

6. Ability to limit, if not outright eliminate, psychic interaction. Sometime during the mid-80s he supposedly did something to the Earth's magnetic field that severely limited telepathic communication across great distances. I think this was later removed, but I don't by whom.

7. Ability to sense disturbances in a magnetic field; i.e., he couldn't be surprised by teleporters.

In later comics, he revealed the following abilities:

8. Ability to control minds by manipulating electronic impluses in the brain. He could also sense if someone so affected was lying.

9. Stop the heart by affecting the iron in a person's blood.

So, tell me... Is he technically the most powerful human being (well, human mutant) in Marvel? And why hasn't he, unlike Dr. Doom, been used to this potential... If true?

 

[Crothian]

As powerful as the story needs him to be.

 

[Klaus]

What Crothian said.

But Cosmic Boy would kick his old ass! Go Cos'!

 

[Darth Shoju]

I'd probably rank Molecule Man above Magneto, but I'd say Mr. Lehnshirr (sp?) is pretty powerful as well.

 

[Filby]

I think I agree with Crothian as well. Mind you, I've never read a single X-Men comic in my life (not counting Marvel: 1602), and my knowledge is limited to the 60s-70s version of the team, so I'm about as far from an authority as you can get.

That said, I tend to see Magneto and Doctor Doom filling the same roles as the alpha villains of the Marvel Universe that the Joker and Lex Luthor fill in the DC Universe (mortal villains, that is, not counting cosmic threats like Galactus and Darkseid). Magneto and Joker are both very anti-establishment (although Magneto would like to set up his own, I'm sure), whereas Luthor and Doom are both very pro.

 

[WayneLigon]

So, tell me... Is he technically the most powerful human being (well, human mutant) in Marvel? And why hasn't he, unlike Dr. Doom, been used to this potential... If true?

At one time he was one of the most powerful mutants on Earth, though by now the dilution of the character pool probablly puts him in the top five or six I would think. He's basically as powerful as the writer needs him to be, and his powers have been changed, retconned, strengthened, weakened and revamped every five to six years now for decades.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Batman will still win.

...Or whomever fills that role in Marvel.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

As others have said, Molecule Man ranks above him, and I'd argue that Graviton is also more powerful (he recently held almost all the worlds superheroes immobile- Mags ain't got nothin' on that!)

Magneto's power levels do vary, though, depending on the writer. Most (if not all) of the feats you've described were accomplished under Chris Claremont, and weren't necessarily recognized or matched by other writers.

(As an aside, Mags has demonstrated some low level telepathy in the past as well, not to mention a knowledge of human mutation that is among the highest on the planet, supplemented by Deviant technology.)

Currently, though- who knows? Mags was recently depowered (House of Meh), and then got powered back up in New Avengers when he absorbed the abilities of "the Collective"- and I have no idea whether that means he's back at full-magnetic power, or if he's got the mishmash of abilities that the Collective had. In any case, the Collective wiped out Alpha Flight and more than held its own against the New Avengers, so there you go.

Anyway, again, a list of the most powerful people on the MU Earth off the top of my head:

Molecule Man (another person whose power fluctuates as needed)
Graviton
Humus-Sapien (though no longer on Earth, he was so powerful he had to be kept in stasis for decades and while on Earth is potentially more powerful than Mags)
Magneto
Michael Korvac (hasn't been seen, to my knowledge, since his ill-conceived resurrection in early issues of Captain America v.3)
Rick Jones (potentially, at least when he has powers)
The Sentry
Count Nefaria

 

[GSHamster]

I actually like Magneto as portrayed in the film versions. He's not insanely powerful, but he uses his powers with style.

The thing with the grenades was classic.

 

[Merlion]

I actually like Magneto as portrayed in the film versions. He's not insanely powerful, but he uses his powers with style.

The thing with the grenades was classic.

I agree about the grenades, but the depiction of his powers in the movie doesnt fit with even his most basic portrayl in the comics. The movies insist his power is "manipulating metal". In actuality his power is, of course, manipulating magnetism, for a variety of effects. He is always portrayed as being able to manipulate non-metallic objects through magnetic repulsion, fire blasts of electromagnetic energy, and create magnetic forcefields that can repel a wide range of objects and forces.