When Charles Met Magnus

There are few stories which document the life of Charles Xavier in his younger days when he still had the use of his legs, but one of them stands out in terms of helping to define one of the most important relationships of his life--the first meeting between himself and the man the world would come to know as Magneto. It's a story which comes to print after writer Chris Claremont had begun to establish Magneto with more depth as a survivor of Auschwitz, an experience which had a profound impact on the direction his life would take. Now that the "prequel" films have given their own account of that initial meeting between these two men as well as their early relationship to some degree, this story from 1982 may now seem as if it's lost some of its luster--but at the time, it was one more piece of the puzzle that was slowly being assembled for a revamped character whose personal history had been thus far ignored.

One thing both versions of their story have in common:
trouble tends to find them more often than not.

The cover of the issue obviously takes some liberties with Magneto, since he has no fearsome costume nor helmet to his name as of yet. Nor is he even "Magneto," having adopted the name Magnus in order to hide his identity from the Nazis after leaving Auschwitz. The war of course has been over for twenty years by the time his path crosses with Xavier in Israel in the spring of 1962, where he's taken a position as a volunteer at a hospital which administers mental care for survivors of the Holocaust. Magnus is an assistant to Dr. Shomron, a psychiatrist who has brought in his friend Xavier for consultation on a case involving a catatonic young woman--Gabrielle Haller, who some of you may recall from Magneto's trial in Paris--and already, Xavier is finding during their otherwise pleasant introduction that there's more to this man than meets the eye.

Their patient, Gabrielle, is a survivor of the Dachau concentration camp--but the circumstances of her catatonia remain a mystery even to Xavier's mental probing, with the strange allusions to gold brought forth in the last of her memories from captivity. Yet the task of bringing her back to the land of the living is achieved, to no small astonishment from Shomron and Magnus.

During her recovery, Gabrielle becomes an informal charge of both Magnus and Xavier, with the unexpected development of the three of them becoming a circle of friends--and when Gabrielle makes romantic overtures to Xavier, he responds in kind. Yet his thoughts are preoccupied with Magnus, and the more aggressive stance the man favors in securing the survival of the mutant race.

It begins, of course, a long point of contention on their part, a meeting of the minds of two men who cannot see eye to eye on the issue they debate. It's interesting that neither the films nor the comics ever carry their discussion too far--seeing the value in leaving the subject unresolved between them, no doubt, since they're fated to become adversaries, but also leaving the reader/viewer to wonder how the points they raise with each other might evolve. It's certainly tantalizing to imagine what they might have accomplished on mutant relations if they were to put their heads together and work out a course of action between them that played to both their strengths and allowed them to approach the matter with a united front.

Their differences, however, are further defined during an attack on the hospital by German forces whose sole objective is to capture Gabrielle--and though they succeed, they don't escape unscathed.

Magnus makes a fair point with Xavier in regard to the latter's own experiences as a soldier--one that Xavier rebuts poorly, considering that in Korea he probably wouldn't have hesitated to shoot down an escaping enemy aircraft if he had the means to do so. Perhaps it's clear why he makes a distinction with Magnus; with the X-Men he would someday train, he would have had the luxury of knowing they'd try to disable an escaping craft with a precision strike. In Magnus's case, Xavier might have simply assumed Magnus would have had a degree of control in how he handled the situation, yet chose not to exercise it.

With Gabrielle in danger, however, it's really not the time and place for such a discussion at length--and so the story wisely pivots to Xavier and Magnus seeing to her rescue. As for our villains, we're witness to the beginnings of the organization known as Hydra, formed from Hitler's SS and led by none other than Baron Strucker. But why would Hydra be after Gabrielle? The answer lies in the final days of the war, when Hitler's personal gold reserves were smuggled out of Germany to a hidden location in Africa, in the hopes that it would finance a resurgence of the Nazi party, and hopefully a fourth reich. But we'll let the good Baron explain further, though he's unaware that his words are within earshot of two powerful mutants in his midst.

With their discovery, the unspoken intimations shared by both Xavier and Magnus in regard to each other's true nature are dispensed with, and their abilities brought out into the open as they're forced to engage with Strucker's men while safeguarding Gabrielle in the process. From what we've seen, it's doubtful that Magnus needs Xavier's assistance to fend off Hydra, but he gets it anyway--though it's Gabrielle herself who presents a complication to their escape.

Unfortunately, we're forgetting about someone:

Strucker never seems to meet with success when donning the formidable Satan Claw (which five will get you ten provided the inspiration for the Iron Fist), a weapon which gives its wearer no defense against an opponent who doesn't just stand in place waiting to be bludgeoned. Of course, when one can stand in place and deal dismissively with his foe, such a weapon merely becomes a means to an end. In his defeat, Strucker at least deserves credit for remaining defiant, to say nothing of optimistic for Hydra; but for Magnus, this is not an end but a beginning, as his life's path is set out before him along with the wealth to bring about goals which have long brewed in his mind and heart.

To Xavier's delight, Gabrielle has accomplished what he'd hoped--pulling herself out of her state, and ready to face life on her own accord. But Magnus's parting words have helped to set Xavier's path, as well--to find a better way to guide homo superior, and perhaps by extension the human race, into the future. In hindsight, it was arguably apparent that "Magneto" proved to be the more tenacious of the two in pursuing his objectives, with Xavier more than once being forced to see the world as it was rather than what he aspired it to be--a conflict which nevertheless provided many years of memorable stories for readers.

Uncanny X-Men #161 Script: Chris Claremont Pencils: Dave Cockrum Inks: Bob Wiacek Letterer: Tom Orzechowski