Mag-NETT-o vs. Mag-NEET-o: The Magneto Supervillain Pronunciation Debate!

The pronunciation debate has long been settled.  I know that.  As soon as the X-Men movies started getting released 25 years ago, everybody just says Mag-NEAT-o, but it hasn’t always been that way.  

Back in the 1970s, comic book collectors argued about the correct pronunciation of Magneto, the X-Men’s most powerful individual villain.  I’ve always said “Mag-NETT-o” because he has the power of mag-NETT-ism.  Most other collectors said “Mag-NEAT-o” because they’re stoop… because of the spelling (I thought).  Since ‘Magneto’ has only one ‘t’ before the ‘o,’ they believed that the ‘e’ should have the long ‘eeeeeee’ sound.  This is the only time that I’ve seen normal people care about English pronunciation rules.

I thought MagNEEEEETo sounded stupid, almost childish.  Besides, his power was of magNETTism, not magNEEEEEETism.  There is no such thing as a magNEEEEET, I thought.

And then I found out that I was wrong.  There is such a thing as a ‘magneeeeeto.’  It’s even spelled as ‘magneto.’  Aaarrgh!

According to Merriam-Webster (if you trust it), a magneto is a “an alternator with permanent magnets used to generate current for the ignition in an internal combustion engine.”

The first known usage of ‘magneto’ (if you believe Merriam-Webster) was in 1877, long before Jack Kirby and Stan Lee came up with the name. The existence of this magneto thing and its established (if you believe it) pronunciation kind of hurts my argument. 

Magneto the villain has never called himself an alternator.  He calls himself the Master of Magnetism.  Maybe Jack Kirby and Stan Lee should have just put a double t in his name.

Magnetto. 

That would have settled it!  You’re not getting Mag-NEEEEET-o from that, motherfu… ahem, excuse me.  I get carried away with this stuff sometimes.

I don’t blame the people who are mispronouncing ‘Magneto’. I’m not blaming myself if I’m wrong either. Instead, I blame Marvel Comics.  In fact, I blame corporations (and politicians… and the Ivy League ) in general.  They’re  always trying to split us and make us argue over stupid stuff so that we don’t notice all of their financial crimes until it’s too late.  And I fell for it with this Mag-NEEET-o crap.  That’s okay.  I haven’t bought a new comic book for its full price since 1996.  

I know my pronunciation of Magneto is already a lost cause.  The X-Men movies say Mag-NEEET-o.  X-Men writer Chris Claremont says Mag-NEEEEET-o.  They’re wrong, but I can’t prove it, so I still lose the argument.  Even so, I’m taking my stand on this hill.  Don’t get me wrong; I’m not going to die on this hill.  I’ll abandon this hill if it comes to violence.  But I’ll stand on it as long as there’s nothing important at stake.

Just don’t get me started on The Submar-EEEEEN-er.

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Here are more comic book blog posts!

How Classic Comic Books Led Me To Classic Literature! 

Why The Fantastic Four was once The World’s Greatest Comic Book Magazine! 

Jack Kirby: The True Creator of the Marvel Universe?  

Comic Book Nerd Book Review-Jack Kirby & Stan Lee: Stuf’ Said by… by…  

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And here’s my ONE novel!

It’s the oldest story in the world, 1990s style!

Man meets woman; man falls in “luuuvvv” with woman; man gets thwacked upside the head by reality!

The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy is now available on Amazon and from the trunk of my car!