The Astonishing Origin of X-Men ’97’s ‘Magneto Is Right’ – The Escapist

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 8, “Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 1.”

X-Men ’97 Season 1’s “Magneto Is Right” slogan returns in Episode 8, “Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 1.” So what is the origin of “Magneto Is Right,” and does it appear in Marvel’s X-Men comics?

X-Men ’97 Season 1’s ‘Magneto Is Right’ Slogan, Explained

The phrase “Magneto Is Right” first appears in X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 5, “Remember It,” plastered on banners and signs dotted around Genosha. It’s presumably a callback to Magneto’s rousing speech in Episode 2, “Mutant Liberation Begins,” in which he asserted mutants’ right to co-exist alongside humans. The Master of Magnetism’s words – coupled with his efforts to thwart an attack by the anti-mutant outfit Friends of Humanity – were enough to earn him a pardon for his past crimes and convince the UN to open its doors to Genosha. As such, it’s unsurprising that the “Magneto Is Right” slogan took off in the days that followed.

Related: X-Men ’97: Why Couldn’t Cable Prevent the Genosha Massacre?

That said, “Magneto Is Right” takes on a different meaning in “Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 1.” Here, Doctor Valerie Cooper reframes it in a more negative light following the Genosha massacre. Confronting Bastion over the tragedy, Val declares that Magneto was on the money when he previously argued that humanity’s innately “ugly” nature makes peaceful co-existence with mutantkind impossible. “[T]he scariest thing about Genosha wasn’t the death or the chaos,” Cooper says. “It was a thought, the only sane thought you can have when being chased by giant robots that were built to crush you: Magneto was right.”

Is the ‘Magneto Is Right’ Slogan In Marvel’s X-Men Comics?

Nope – but “Magneto Was Right” is. The slogan first appears in the New X-Men arc “Riot at Xavier’s” by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, on a T-shirt sported by Quentin Quire/Kid Omega. One of the next generation of Xavier Institute students, Quire dons this provocative attire as part of a wider effort to distance himself from Professor X’s pacifist teachings. In that sense, the shirt is the X-Men comics’ equivalent of the real-life fad of clothing bearing Che Guevara’s likeness.

Related: X-Men ’97: How Are Bastion and Nimrod Connected?

Why does Quire’s shirt use the past tense? Because at this point in New X-Men‘s overarching narrative, everyone thinks Magneto is dead. Like his X-Men ’97 counterpart, he supposedly died during a large-scale Sentinel attack on Genosha. As a result, Magneto becomes a powerful symbol for those (like Quire) who believe the infamously human-skeptic mutant leader may have had a point.

X-Men ’97 is now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes dropping Wednesdays.