Magneto Nearly Caused Marvel's Dark Ages 30 Years Ago
The Marvel Comics event Dark Ages that is currently being published shows an alternate future where a spell Doctor Strange used to save the world accidentally plunged the Earth into a new dark age, but 30 years ago the once X-Men villain Magneto unleashed his own electromagnetic pulse upon the world that almost led to a dark ages in main continuity decades earlier. The iconic crossover event Fatal Attractions from 1993 depicted Magneto at his most villainous, looming over Earth in his Avalon spaceship with a vengeful group of cult-like followers called the Acolytes, and his actions killed thousands of people across the planet.
The current Dark Ages event is a refreshing twist on the post-apocalyptic fantasy, with the story jumping many years into the future to witness the surviving heroes and the next generation, their children, fighting back against the evil mutant Apocalypse as he attempts to cement his rule of the entire world after a magical EMP destroyed all non-magic powered technology. While the Earth being flung back into the Dark Ages was an accident caused by Doctor Strange saving the planet, in Fatal Attractions Magneto very intentionally used his Omega-level magnetic powers to cause an EMP explosion, rendering all technology useless on Earth and killing many people. If the X-Men had not stood up against him he would have surely created more EMP blasts, further wounding the world and sending them into the Dark Ages.
Related: Magneto Is a Hero, and Marvel Zombies Proved It Beyond Doubt
Magneto's EMP assault happened in 1993's X-Men #25 «The Death of the Dream» — written by Fabian Nicieza with art by Andy Kubert, Matt Ryan, and Joe Rosas — in the 4th part of the Fatal Attractions story which saw a human-hating
Read more on screenrant.com
