X-Men: Marvel Introduces the Female Magneto and Her Sisterhood of Evil Mutants

In 1985, the milestone Uncanny X-Men #200 established a new status quo for Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Chris Claremont's classic "Trial of Magneto" saw the master of magnetism stand before the International Court of Justice and face charges of crimes against humanity for his super-villainy — Magneto's attempts to protect homo superior from extermination by becoming humankind's would-be conqueror. Xavier, suffering from a failing heart that could be treated only by the Shi'ar Empire's advanced alien technology, left Earth with Empress Lilandra and entrusted Magneto with a great responsibility: carry on in Xavier's place as headmaster and teach the New Mutants. 

"His last wish was that I take his place — and try my best to fulfill his dream of a world wherein human and mutant may live together in peace," the reformed Magneto told Xavier's students in The New Mutants #35. As he sought redemption, Magneto led the New Mutants — Cannonball, Cypher, Karma, Magik, Magma, Mirage, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, and Warlock — and fought alongside the X-Men as an ally.

Marvel Comics revisits '80s era X-Men in August's Magneto Vol. 4 #1, set during Magneto's tenure as headmaster to the New Mutants. Written by J.M. DeMatteis with art by Todd Nauck, "Evil Mutant Chapter One: Things Past" finds the reformed supervillain reflecting on his path as a mutant terrorist-turned-teacher of the next generation of X-Men. He recalls the attack on the Cape Citadel missile base (in 1963's X-Men #1) and how he revealed Magneto to the world as "the total manifestation of humanity's mutant nightmares," forcing Xavier's X-Men out of the shadows.

But as he reckons with the past and the ghosts of the Auschwitz death camps where Max Eisenhardt's family was murdered, Magneto finds the X-Mansion invaded and the New Mutants beaten unconscious. Their attacker is a woman, aged 18 or 19, who wields flame the way Magneto manipulates metal. "Oh, Magneto — I have dreamed of this encounter for years — ever since we first met," she tells her victim, who does not recognize her. "I was beneath your notice then! But I assure you that this encounter is one you'll never forget."

With that, her flames siphon negative feelings — ugliness, brutality, rage — literally tearing a "dark tsunami" from Magneto's soul. The woman gleefully absorbs "a lifetime of anger" that he worked to repress — only to use it as a weapon, unleashing it on Magneto and rendering him unconscious. "Max Eisenhardt. Erik Lehnsherr. Magnus. Michael Xavier. The names you've hidden behind! The roles you've played! It's no wonder you're confused about your identity! Your purpose! But there's only one name that reflects the fiery reality — of who you truly are." 

Magneto awakes on the island-nation of Santo Marco to find Irae, Queen of Wrath, and her Sisterhood of Evil Mutants kneeling and hailing Lord Magneto.

"Magneto may be the single most complex character in the Marvel Universe: a man of dizzying contradictions who has endured, and caused, extraordinary suffering. Who's been both villain and hero. Whose long, tangled history invites endless exploration," DeMatteis told Marvel.com. "Our new Magneto series allows us to look at all aspects of Erik Lehnsherr's soul and psyche—at a period when he was trying to put his life as a so-called 'evil' mutant behind him and step, somewhat reluctantly, into Charles Xavier's shoes, attempting to guide a new generation of mutants. We also get to look back at the early days of the X-Men—one of my favorite periods in Marvel history—and introduce a new villain, born in the cauldron of Magneto's dark past."

Marvel's Magneto #1, the first of a four-issue limited series, is out now.