#Asteroid M

[fakedimebag]

"Gods abandon those who believe in them..." another powerful Magneto Was Right '97 episode today.

[rei-ismyname]

Magneto falls from the sky

Warlock fled his people due to their unconventional inheritance practices and came to Earth. He barely noticed that he fucked Asteroid M up by crashing into it, though Magneto certainly did probably as he was somehow surviving reentry. Badman landed in Lee Forrester's boat of all places and she was not happy to see him. She remembers being taken prisoner on R'lyeh for one of his Bond villain schemes in Uncanny X-Men #150.

Turns out Lee moved to his old island after everyone else left, lol. Good for her. They're getting along a bit better but she calls bullshit on his mutant supremacy as he sulks.

They shack up pretty quickly after he stops being a megalomaniac and an ingrate. Ironically, Magneto is a lot more open about his trauma than Scott Summers. I fucking love Lee Forrester and I wish she would return. Briar Raleigh too, now that I think about it. Magneto's exes. It'd be nice to see more amicable ex relationships

[rubbish-convention]

Classic day on asteroid M

[evilhorse]

Marvel Universe Cards Series I 145: Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

[rzc11]

1994 Fleer Ultra X-Men #108 - Fatal Attractions.

[lehoodcollector]

Magneto figures out Fabian Cortez

[biblioflyer]

Power as Privilege

Magneto’s power gives him options that are unavailable to most Mutants. It would also make him a kingmaker if not the king, whether he wants it or not. Who could defy him in a separatist enclave aboard Asteroid M except another Omega? Since no one could, then who would dare?

Previously I discussed why X-Men as a setting is fundamentally pessimistic as a necessity according to the creative choices made. It is an essay in 5 parts:

1,2,3,4,5

This is a new series analyzing how experience and social status influences Mutant outlooks on the assimilation vs separatism/supremacy question.

A mile wide asteroid is not a very big place. Doing a bit of back of the envelope math, that works out to a volume of about 2.2 million cubic meters. Which is an impressive number to be sure.

For comparison the ISS has a pressurized volume of about 1,000 cubic meters and an inhabitable volume of 388 cubic meters. That supports 7 people usually. That works out to about 1 person per 143 cubic meters.

Following the same ratio, Asteroid M could probably support a population of 15,384. Where things get fuzzy is that the amount of personal space Asteroid M residents seem to enjoy, such as lavish reception halls complete with Sentinel scrap thrones, is much higher than your average astronaut. Asteroid M is also theoretically fully self-sustaining whereas the ISS needs periodic resupply and provision of spare parts. On the other hand, Asteroid M also was built with salvaged alien tech from the Savage Lands so that might even things out quite a bit.

Just over 15,000 people is the population of a large town trapped inside a machine that provides them with the essentials of life in an environment that would otherwise kill them within 30 seconds, absent special powers or survival gear.

We don’t have to work very hard to imagine the damage that could be wrought by just a handful of Omega tier Mutants deciding to cut loose inside Asteroid M’s walls. The boss fight with Bastion is a pretty excellent example. The damage to structural integrity and essential systems can add up very fast. I forget the specifics, but Asteroid M also had to be abandoned previously due to damage that made it at risk of becoming uninhabitable in the wake of Cortez’s coup against Magneto.

Accountability for Omegas and Protections for the Mutants Who Don’t Have Cool or Awesome Powers

This leads into a question of how an insular Mutant state could govern itself. Realistically the only answer to a Bad Omega tier Mutant is a Good Omega tier Mutant. Yeah, I don’t really like the implications of that analogy either.

The alternative is large numbers of lowertier Mutants or Humans with sufficient firepower or technological doodads but we’ve seen time and again that this winds up being a Zapp Brannigan strategy. It can work, but it costs a lot of lives and material. I wouldn’t personally be overly eager to sign up to be part of a special task force whose objective is to try to slip a power suppression collar on Magneto.

TAS/’97 never really elaborate on what sort of society Magneto was planning to create and how it would be organized, constitutionally speaking. Notably Genosha was setting up a constitutional monarchy prior to the Wild Sentinel attack. It was also notable that of the known members of the executive council, the majority were Mutants with extremely formidable powers. The presence of Moira MacTaggert in some capacity and Callisto represent at least gestures towards the idea of egalitarianism and informed decision making, but the presence of Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost, both known Mutant Supremacists and unapologetically hierarchical, does not instill confidence.

The groups directly influenced by Xavier’s teachings seem to be the only organizations that don’t have an implicit power based hierarchy. In this way Mutants seem not to have surpassed Human organization and Human concepts of justice. This is something I’d like to think Xavier recognized, especially the further down his path of separatism and domination Magneto went, which is why in theory, if not in practice, Xavier was willing to work inside of Human institutions.

Flawed as they are and unreceptive to Mutants, well designed Human institutions are designed to disaggregate power and regulate how authority is used when it is necessary for an individual to have wide latitude and vast resources at their disposal. This often does not work as well as might be desired, but history is full of examples where being unable to alter the course of an absolute ruler once they’d set their mind to something proves disastrous.

As such, the X-Men working to contain and disrupt the activities of Mutants who are too powerful for traditional Sapiens authorities to deal with practically is probably the most potent statement pro-coexistence Mutants can make about their ability to be folded into existing society and institutions and their willingness to be held to the same standards as baseline Humans. 

It's a statement that Mutants who use their powers destructively can be confronted and brought to justice by a force of Mutants willing to be bound by and enforce rules and norms of Human society. In doing so, they declare themselves to be Humans who have mutant powers, rather than something else entirely.

Next: No matter how many times we save the world, it just seems to get in jeopardy again. Also when we save it, you hate us more for some reason.

[mutant-of-thunder]

Avalon (before Asteroid M, now the new Magneto's HQ)

X-Force #44

[cryptocollectibles]

X-Men vs The Avengers #1 (April 1987) by Marvel Comics

Written by Roger Stern, drawn by Marc Silvestri and Joe Rubinstein.

[scarlet--wiccan]

Were the og brotherhood based out of magneto’s castle in the QS series? I feel like that came up there but it wasn’t something that I have any memory of from the silver age. It wasn’t asteroid m, correct?

I kind of wish we had more details about the twins time with the brotherhood but that feels like something I’d regret asking for if it ever came to be

Oof, okay, this question really led me down a rabbit hole. I just re-read a ton of old comics, and my main takeaway is that Magneto and the Brotherhood have been all over the place, and have lived on way too many castles and islands, some of which are not named, or only appear in single issues.

But, also, just so you know, your question was not entirely clear. I assume that you are asking about the abandoned castle, on what appears to be a small island in the Atlantic Ocean, that Pietro and Nestor visit in #13 of Quicksilver (1997). Pietro claims that this is where he and Wanda were brought by Magneto after he saved them from the mob. To my knowledge, this is either a very hasty retcon, or simply a continuity error, as no such castle was shown in previous depictions of their time with the Brotherhood.

In X-Men (1963) #4, the Brotherhood are shown living in the presidential palace of Santo Marco, which is a fictional country in South America that had been conquered by Magneto. This is the first time we meet Wanda and Pietro, so this is the setting you see in most flashbacks to their origins. In later comics, it was retroactively stated that Magneto had already established a base on Island M in the Bermuda Triangle-- you know, that place with the weird octopus castle-- so I assume that this is where they were living before they moved into the presidential palace.

After abandoning Santo Marco, the Brotherhood established their next base on Asteroid M. In X-Men #6, however, they are shown meeting with Namor on an unnamed island in the Atlantic, where Magneto had constructed an array of magnet-powered machines. A very similar, but different, island is also shown in Avengers (1963) #49, in which the twins temporarily rejoin Magneto, who wants to turn the island into a sovereign mutant nation. Sound familiar?

I believe that the castle in Quicksilver is based on or both of these small Atlantic islands, but to me it reads as a sort of... accidental composite setting. I think the writer just needed a place for that one scene, and they didn't want to bother checking all of the facts. And I get it-- like I said, these people were living all over the place, and it gets kinda confusing.

Avengers Origins: Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver, which is a dubiously canon retelling of Wanda and Pietro's backstory, expands on the Brotherhood's stay in Santo Marco. Here, Magneto seems to have set up permanent residence in the palace. The twins eventually flee from the Brotherhood and must escape the palace after Magneto becomes forceful and violent with them. In canon, however, they actually departed from the Brotherhood of their own volition during a skirmish in New York in X-Men #11.

[1000-year-old-virgin]

Reading a novelization version of the 90's Asteroid M X-Men arc and why is Psylocke the only team member missing when she was a prominent character in the comics during that era.

[pierre-reads-comics]

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #5 — Stan Lee, Jack Kirby

Oh shit, Magneto's asteroid base! I remember seeing this first adapted as a kid in the first season of X-Men: Evolution.

I'm guessing I'm gonna recognize a lot of things I didn't realize were from the comics.

[rei-ismyname]

Magneto's very specific revenge

After Mags is resurrected by Eric the Red (long story,) he is fuming about the X-Men and has plans for them. They're busy being overpowered by Mesmero, however, so he tracks them down.

Swole Magneto

Mags strolls in and defeats Mesmero off panel, because he's a chump and Magneto is not. He wipes the floor with the X-Men, including full power Phoenix, then laughs maniacally. Classic Mags. Notably, he looks far more physically capable and intimidating than he has before. He's ripped, he's confident, and in seconds he solo'd a foe the entire team was struggling with. Silver Age Magneto was cowardly and relied on abused lackeys to carry out his schemes, often fleeing as soon as he was in danger. That guy is gone and in his place is an antagonist who's brave, extremely intelligent, capable, and a almost insurmountable threat. He's still fantastically dramatic, but his histrionics owe more to Shakespeare than Snidely Whiplash.

Turns out he's really not happy about Chuck and Moira's baby tampering, nor his previous defeats at the X-Men's hands (or the Alpha thing backfiring.) He takes them all to one of his volcano bases, restrains and depowers them. He Then Magneto explains the specific revenge he has in mind for the perennial thorn in his side that is the X-Men. It's complicated and cruel but utterly terrifying.

They're to remain without powers, restrained and regressed to the physicality of 6 month olds. He constructed a saccharine-sweet Nanny robot to be their carer and their jailer. 'An eye for an eye' he ominously decrees. I kinda wish he did this to Chuck instead, but he's off banging the bird queen in Greece.

His immediate thirst for vengeance quenched, Mags leaves them to it and flies into space - to the nearly complete base known as Asteroid M. Where old Magneto hung out in a depressing lair with his terrified underlings, this Magneto has the power to reach space without technology, and the skills/resources to establish an asteroid base - a throne above the Earth.

Making the robot look like Moira is so funny

The X-Men are utterly in his power, with a creepy robot assigned to keep them alive and miserable. They fucking hate it, understandably. Unable to move, completely dependent on this awful automaton for their basic needs. Wolverine starts to crack. Cyclops maybe likes it a little - I don't see anyone else getting a bath and massage.

The extent of Wolverine's pain is visceral and existetially horrifying - he gets desperate quite quickly, his usual bravado shattered. Banshee and Nightcrawler seem to be doing a bit better, but Logan is not used to being helpless (plus his years of medical trauma haunt him.)

Days pass, and Ororo has a plan to escape this hell. Drawing on her upbringing as a thief (and the dubious claim of having the physicality of a child at 6 months old,) she finally gets her lockpicks out of her hair and attempts the near impossible.

After a short flashback to Achmed and the Houdini tests he put Ororo through, there's a brief hope spot where it looks like she'll succeed. Unfortunately Nanny returns, notices, and Storm is undone. She does not take it well. Of course, this is particularly sadistic torture, so who would?

Meanwhile, on Asteroid M, Mags thinks about how much of a rich genius he is (and to be fair his accomplishments are impressive, especially for a once-broke self taught evil scientist.) Magneto's interest in learning, especially science, is highlighted. His thoughts also drift to his beloved Magda, his former wife and mother to Pietro, Wanda, and Anya. He's not doing great, and torturing the X-Men isn't making him as happy as he expected. Despite his shitty actions, the seeds of Well-intentioned extremist with pathos Magneto are being sown.

Mags notices some aberrant readings on one of his many machines, and thinks that Nanny should have sorted that out. Better safe than sorry. The escaped X-Men unleash on him but while they're doing better than last time, the best they can achieve is forcing a stalemate of sorts but Magneto takes their best again and does not fall.

Continuing the theme of Phoenix power being a double edged sword, she inadvertently destroys a control panel during the fight. As everyone knows, a destroyed control panel is the Achilles Heel of any evil base and it starts crumbling/blowing up. Magneto manages to escape in the nick of time and learns the value of redundancy in data storage. After a dramatic speech he bounces to do more Magneto shit, figuring on balance he came out ahead. His volcano base and the data/gadgets within are no more, but so are the X-Men. Nobody remains to foil his plans, or do they?

Obviously they survived, but they're split up for nearly a year. Cyclops and Marvel Girl each think the other is dead, a dynamic that powered so much of the drama all the way to the Dark Phoenix saga. Magneto is back, better than ever, and he's here to stay. His actions will change how the entire world behaves while he starts a journey of his own. I believe this is the first time we see him shirtless too, setting up that he's attractive and loves being naked.

[albertonavajoart]

#Xtober Day 31 Magneto (making-of)

Empathic Prosperity by Artificial.Music https://soundcloud.com/artificial-music

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

Free Download: https://bit.ly/45RshP3

Music promoted by Audio Library https://bit.ly/3rnyHXa

[zndr315-blog]

the government: completely mishandles a situation in a way that makes everything worse.

anyone familiar with politics:

dudes.

[rzc11]

X-Men / Fatal Attractions