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Complicated question with a complicated answer.

No, I don’t think Chris was wrong when he revealed Magneto’s background as a Holocaust survivor, as that deepened his character dramatically. I do think it’s unfortunate in that it tethers Magneto to a particular period in time in a manner that makes it difficult to adjust for “Marvel time”–at this point, he and Professor X cannot have met before Magneto was a seasoned and fully-formed adult, set in his ways.

I think Magneto struggling with the emotional issues that drive him is always interesting, and can make for good reading. But I also think that trying to absolutely redeem him is a bad instinct. If you did that in some way, you would take away from the character the very things that make him interesting.

I’m also not sure that there are certain actions that you can truly be completely redeemed from. To turn this around on you a little bit, do you think it could be possible that the Nazi Concentration Camp officers that did these horrific things to Magneto, his family and his people could ever be redeemed?