There are few X-Men characters as morally complex as Magneto, and that’s a major reason why he’s always such a popular figure. The stories of the X-Men and the wider Marvel Universe often feature Magneto, casting him as both a hero and a villain, sometimes even within a single story. The same can be said of movie and TV adaptations, as they often make use of the brilliantly written character and his emotional story in adaptations on the big and small screens alike. Both in Fox’s X-Men movies and various animated projects, Magneto has played a major role, and he remains one of the most iconic X-Men characters as a result. However, that doesn’t mean that he’s invincible.
In addition to the speculation that Magneto will die in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, there have been other times when the character has been killed in X-Men adaptations. As well as a handful of fake-out deaths and near misses, Magneto has actually been confirmed as dead in several different Marvel movies and shows. While it never seems to last, as he’s one of the most important Marvel mutants, the following are all examples of times when Magneto was killed outside of the comics.
There are a handful of things that don’t make sense about X-Men: Days of Future Past, and almost all of them relate to the somewhat confusing way it plays with the movie franchise’s timeline. Its dystopian future story sees the aging mutant survivors of the X-Men and Magneto’s Brotherhood banding together to resist the Sentinel slaughter of mutantkind, prompting them to send Wolverine back in time to prevent it from happening. As he navigates the past, they continue to fight on in the doomed future, Magneto included.
The battle against the Sentinels ultimately proves too much, even for the Master of Magnetism himself. While his death isn’t explicitly shown, it is implied that he dies after the final future battle against the Sentinels, having expended the last of his strength. However, the timeline is then swiftly erased by Wolverine’s intervention in the past, effectively undoing not just the death but everything that built up to it.
2017’s Logan is known for featuring some of the saddest X-Men movie deaths of all time. The movie’s story, which is loosely based on the Old Man Logan comic book series, depicts an aging Logan in a future where most of mutantkind has either been hunted down or had their powers effectively negated. The movie depicts Logan caring for an elderly Charles Xavier, whose deteriorating mental state is responsible for the Westchester Incident, which killed multiple X-Men and injured hundreds of other people.
Again, Magneto’s death isn’t explicitly shown or even mentioned, but considering his absence from Logan‘s story and the fact that he would be estimated to be over 100 years old at the time it takes place, fans have assumed he died prior to the film. As powerful a mutant as Magneto is, he’s not immune to the constraints of time and entropy, and he may have even been one of the victims of the Westchester Incident. The specifics of his apparent death might not be known, but his absence certainly indicates that he’s no longer living during the events of Logan.
Throughout the run of its first season, X-Men ’97 proved itself one of the best animated Marvel shows of all time. Following on from the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series, the show’s first season saw Magneto serve as a heroic figure who attempted to lead the X-Men into a peaceful coexistence with humanity. However, season 2 of X-Men ’97 changed the stakes considerably, with the mutant heroes transported back in time to 3000 B.C. to contend with the might of Apocalypse.
In perhaps the most shocking and devastating moment in the show’s history — even outdoing Gambit’s heroic death in season 1 — Apocalypse overpowers and kills Magneto. The manner of Magneto’s death in X-Men ’97 is truly devastating, as it seemed he was finally beginning to wholly embrace his more heroic nature. Where previous Magneto deaths were ambiguous or later revealed to have been mere fake-outs, Apocalypse vaporizing him makes for a truly heart-wrenching ending.
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