Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of Magneto in the X-Men prequel films humanized the character and made viewers sympathize with his motivations. Magneto’s tragic backstory and reasonable motivations, paired with Fassbender’s impeccable performances, created a nuanced and morally ambiguous character. In the film “X-Men: First Class,” Fassbender’s Erik Lehnsherr is shown as a Holocaust survivor with a desire to protect mutants from human prejudice, which he believes will lead to the slaughter of his people. Despite his violent actions, such as attempting to kill the entire human race, viewers couldn’t help but understand and sometimes even root for Magneto. The subsequent sequels continued to use worse villains to justify Magneto’s actions, further endearing him to audiences.
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