One of the Justice League’s most dangerous enemies, Magneto desires to rule the world, apparently because he believes that only he is best fit to rule. He deplores all existing world governments. A search of old T.H.U.N.D.E.R. records provided information on a former U.S. Intelligence agent named Magnus who helped track down escaped Nazi agents after the war. Magnus’ powers and physical description fit Magneto's, although his power levels were recorded as far beneath what Magneto currently displays. An order for Magnus' termination was issued after he killed a group of ex-Nazi agents who were now working against the KGB in South America. He, his lover, and the agents sent to kill them were listed as killed after an explosion. From conversations overheard aboard his fortress, it was learned that Magneto is a Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, and this fuels most of his nihilistic beliefs. But aside from these facts, maddeningly little is know about his past.

What is clear about Magneto, however, is his surpreme ambition coupled with a frightening degree of charisma, raw power and strategic prowess. Magneto first appeared in 1955 when he and his forces captured a new ICBM base and threatened the world with nuclear destruction if it did not bow to his will. In this first confrontation, Magneto commanded a group of former SS mercenaries under the command of the Iron Colonel Stormfront, as well as the superhumans Shatterstar, the Vanisher, and the enigmatic Verdun. Magneto possessed advanced technology, including tesla-coil weaponry, as well as his own immense powers over the electromagnetic spectrum. In fact, it seemed that most of Magneto's devices, including his flying fortress, were powered by Magneto's own powers, and it was this division of his strength that allowed the JLA to finally defeat him.

Magneto used Colonel Stormfront and his troops as pawns, leaving the Colonel's troops to be destroyed in an atomic explosion and almost killing the Colonel himself. Despite his injuries, Colonel Stormfront escaped and bided his time, eventually assembling a fighting force comprised of a mysterious race of savage mer-men and the might of The Warlords, a perennial T.H.U.N.D.E.R adversary. This motley army successfully invaded Magneto's secret undersea base--a massive alien fortress of unknown origin which Magneto had found abandoned underneath the ocean and adapted to his own needs--and captured Magneto and Verdun. Luckily, one of Magneto's followers, Shatterstar, escaped the siege and warned the JLA of the threat the fortress now posed to the world. With her help, the JLA infiltrated the base, freed Magneto and captured the Iron Colonel. The base, however, was destroyed in the process, and it is clear that, despite fighting side-by-side with the JLA in this one instance, Magneto's thirst for power was not lessened.

Recently, Magneto began actively recruiting for his cause. During the Legion Crisis, he rescued Daredevil from corrupt government agents and hosted him for several weeks aboard his orbital fortress, called Asteroid M, all in an effort to persuade Matt Murdock to join him. Later, the former Red Knight Corps answered his call and Magneto’s quest for followers soon brought him into conflict with Professor Charles Xavier’s New Metas. 

Magneto had become the secret patron to a group of young metahumans whom he formed into a superhero team called “The Meta Avengers.” These “Meta Avengers” quickly ran afoul of the New Metas, who exposed the group's true leader and sinister purpose. Even with this minor gambit thwarted, Magneto only spent a matter of weeks regrouping before launching his most ambitious and audacious plan yet.

In early 1957, Magneto stole the Master Mold, the mainframe and factory mechanism for the Sentinel-series of giant hunter/killer robots, from the U.S. government. He then kidnapped the hero Supernova to use as a power source for his mothership, which was in reality a massive bomb that would level Metropolis and neutralize the super powers of all metahumans on Earth. After reverse-engineering Boom Tube technology from Mother Box designs that Supernova had in his possession, Magneto then, for good measure, launched a full scale assault on the Hall of Justice, utilizing a powerful strike force comprised of Sentinels, the former American Knights, the phasing ninja Shadowcat and a pair of unusual psis named  Delusion and Despair. This overwhelming attack resulted in the Hall of Justice being gutted, and several nearby buildings being severely damaged, but it didn’t take long for the JLA to start to give as good as they got.

During this climactic confrontation, Genni-Cide and Mister Miracle rescued Supernova, while Captain America learned that Magneto’s lieutenant, Shatterstar, possessed moral reservations concerning her mentor’s methods and murderous plan. Cap persuaded Shatterstar to listen to her conscience, widening the rift that had been growing for some time between her and Magneto. She eventually turned on Magneto, helping Cap gain control of Magneto’s mothership. They then set it on a collision course with Asteroid M, destroying the base completely before Magneto could initiate the second phase of his plan and launch from it a massive invasion of the planet’s surface, with waves after waves of Sentinels descending on all the major cities of the Earth simultaneously through Boom Tubes.   

As Magneto was onboard Asteroid M when it exploded, some believe that the threat of Magneto has, at long last, come to an end. The off-the-record position of the JLA, however, is that he almost certainly survived. That said, with his grandest plan defeated, his most impressive fortress obliterated, many of his followers taken into custody, and his most trusted aide having betrayed him, it could very well be some time before Magneto is prepared to strike again in any meaningful way.  

(Note: Unlike the Marvel Comics character, this universe's Magneto is not considered a "mutant". The mutant/normal friction of the Marvel universe has not been introduced to the Sansoniverse. It is unclear where Magneto gained his powers, but he does not label himself "mutant", "homo-superior", or any other such concept which plays so heavily in the Marvel universe.) [Tom "Nico" Bolenbaugh]