One X-Cellent Scene - Rage and Serenity

That and his magnetism relying on his positive and negative feelings, his poles, seemed very thematic.

"Shaw was holding him back." I love that. I feel like it often relates to how artists interact with their art. The myth that we can only create through pain and struggle is so harmful for a variety of reasons, but it's also oftentimes inaccurate. Being submerged in pain and anger can really limit your abilities, it can destroy your potential. The process of healing is difficult, but it's vital.

Fun Fact about the 'chess master' thing in X-men: Neither Patrick Stewart or Ian McKellen knew how to play chess, so in the scene where Magneto and Professor X play chess they were basically coached on which pieces to move and where.

"A light that refuses to go out" is such a beautiful symbolic concept. Especially with this context.

I'm still not over Darwin. You're seriously telling me that the one mutant whose super power is the ability to evolve/adapt in order to survive any situation inhales died?!?!

"..and each other" - HELL YEAH. Also, I never noticed Erik and his mother looking nervous in that memory - what a perfect touch!

Also the memory appears to be of him celebrating his Jewish heritage despite the danger of being found out and reported. This is literally his entire motivation as a mutant terrorist. To live out his heritage despite the threats and the nay-sayers and to enable others to do the same thing no matter the cost. Which also also ties back into the self-destructive tendencies we notice earlier when he wants Charles to shot him (which also also also might kind of be foreshadowing the end of the movie? Cause he manages to deflect the bullet and it's Charles that gets hit). It also also also also highlights both their blossoming friendship and him being uncomfortable about Charles being able to read his mind as easily as he can because he sees that and by extension Charles as a weakness of his, hence the telepathy-proof helmet later on. Point is there's a lot of important stuff being show very well in this very short scene.

"Magneto's potential for serenity is NOT the same as his potential for good" BOOM, Expert Tier Analysis. Hat's off to you, Red. This whole video was AMAZING, and really enhances how much I loved that movie for how well it contextualized the motives of most of the OG X-Men.

"How do you control darkness so well?" "I use both light and darkness." "That is pretty genius." "I know right?"

As a person who is both Jewish and gay I owe a lot of my kindness to the stories I held onto in my youth. I want to fight for people who can’t fight for themselves, and I feel a protective and empathetic bond to wrongfully hated minorities

"I could talk about this scene for hours" Please do I'm not done taking notes

Ok here's a cool detail most people wouldn't get: Shaw, the name of the villianous officer, sounds eerily similiar to Shoa, the hebrew word for holocoust. Pretty cool!

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if you talked about this for hours.

Magneto represents what I think is a really interesting antagonist: an intensely intelligent and capable person acting in their complete right mind coming to such a dramatically different interpretation of what’s good and right as our hero. Magneto isn’t what he is because he’s crazy or selfish or even just vengeful. He is what he believes he must be, because he’s certain he’s right. He sees his actions as his responsibility because haha the power to affect change. There will be losses (and in some softer-hearted interpretations he even recognizes that he’s burning some gems along with all the coal, and expresses regret) but they are necessary for him to build the world he feels his and his people’s oppressors will never really allow for them. Magneto is wrong. But he means to do right. Terrifying.

Aaaaaaaah even just someone describing this scene is tearjerking to me.

Then when you look at the rest of the movies-Erik's always trying to build a family-be it literally, like in Apocalypse, or bringing cast-out mutants together, be it in a commune or a team. He wants that happiness but keeps being brought back to having to fight for it.

Another way to look at Magneto, albeit one we can only infer or guess at: Magneto may have a guilt-driven complex about becoming powerful. His powers manifested in the concentration camps, but he didn't have the control or strength to really capitalize on them. Ergo, Magneto may feel guilt over having been unable to save himself, his mother, and his people when they needed him the most. Feelings that would motivate him to master his powers and develop them as much as he can. He knows the price of having power but being unable to use it, and so strives to never be so weak again. It's also why he works to find mutants, recruit them into his Brotherhood, and encourage them to hone and embrace their abilities, regardless of how terrible their effects could be. He doesn't want mutants to be made victims because they couldn't capitalize on their potential. He never wants another young mutant to end up like him.

An X-Men movie collab, I’m glad this is thing. The people involved are the X Men of YouTube

Magneto was always fascinating to me as his character changes so much depending on who is actually handling him. But in the best hands he's actually in the right.

2:18 "While Erik believes they can't afford to take that kind of risk" AND HE WAS RIGHT! All mutants got genocided to oblivion.