The Trial Of Magneto Begins As Murder Victim Revealed [Spoilers]

Marvel previously announced the Trial of Magneto would be happening. It wasn’t really clear why he would be going “on trial.” I speculated it would be either because of his past crimes against humanity (that seemed like a bit of a stretch) or because he might’ve broken a Krakoan law. The latter seemed more likely since Marvel stated this trial would threaten to divide mutantkind.

In this week’s X-Factor #10, we got the answer to what crime Magneto would be accused of. As the X-Men’s Hellfire Gala drew to a close, a very prominent mutant was discovered murdered.

Spoilers below, obviously.

It turns out Scarlet Witch was found dead. For some reason, the first reaction from Wolverine was to ask where’s Magneto?

It’s possible Logan might have asked this so he could be told right away before he overhears it. Magneto may not actually be Wanda’s father, but he clearly cares deeply for her.

It also happens that Magneto is one of the last people to be seen with Wanda. She snuck into the gala and the two shared some words.

As you can see, they actually had a very pleasant conversation. Magneto proclaimed despite everything that’s happened, Wanda will always be his daughter. And now he’s going to be accused of killing her…

Clearly there are many many other mutants who are likely still holding a grudge against her for uttering “No more mutants” some years back. This is why Wanda had to make a quiet entrance into the gala to talk to Magneto.

What does her death mean? If Wanda is a mutant, she can be resurrected on Krakoa. I say “if” since it was back in 2014’s Avengers & X-Men: Inversion #7 where the revelation was made that Magneto wasn’t her father. I don’t believe it was ever stated she wasn’t still a mutant. If so, I must be blanking it out. You can read about the Inversion reveal in this old old article written back then.

We’re left with the questions of who really killed Wanda and is Magneto being set up?

The Trial of Magneto #1 (of 5) by Leah Williams with art by Lucas Werneck is on sale August 18.