Scarlet Witch has been murdered and all evidence points to Magneto. Will X-Factor, X-Force, and the X-Men get a confession and smooth over relations with the Avengers? Find out in The Trial of Magneto #2 by Marvel Comics!

X-Men: Trial of Magneto #2 Review — **You can purchase this issue via the comiXology affiliate link**

X-MEN: THE TRIAL OF MAGNETO #2 (OF 5)

Writer: Leah Williams
Artist: Lucas Werneck
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Editor: Jake Thomas and Jordan D. White
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 15th, 2021

Previously in The Trial of Magneto: Scarlet Witch has been killed during the Hellfire Gala and all the evidence points towards Magneto. Magneto though, has been attempting to convince the Quiet Council to resurrect Wanda but ultimately, they refused. As everyone tries to go over their grief, the rest of the island celebrates the death of “the Pretender.” X-Force, X-Factor, and the X-Men rally together to arrest Magneto leading to a huge fight that was nearly fatal. Now Magneto is in custody and the Avengers are on the way to pick up The Scarlet Witch’s body.

HOW FAR IS TOO FAR

The Trial of Magneto #2 begins with Hope Summers and Professor X trying to manipulate Magneto’s mind to get more information. To Hope, this is a form of torture and tactical manipulation which she is not comfortable with. Meanwhile, many of the mutants of Krakoa arrive to meet Iron Man, Captain America, Wasp, and the Vision. Together, they reminisce about Wanda while trying to keep the secrets of Krakoa away from the Avengers. Meanwhile, X-Factor is still trying to get more evidence and find out that Magneto took the Cerebro helmet.

Hope decided to awaken Magneto and try to prevent the Avengers from getting Wanda’s body. Magneto begins a fight between the Avengers and the mutants of Krakoa and even took Northstar’s husband hostage. In the outrage, Magneto admitted that he killed Scarlet Witch. But to everyone’s surprise, Wanda appears and goes and gives Vision a great kiss and encourages everyone to put the events behind them.

LOTS TO UNPACK

The characters in The Trial of Magneto #2 have been motivated by emotion, grief, and a sense of duty. This leads to many of the characters acting irrational. And in a split moment of Wanda returning and those emotions are gone, perhaps replaced with surprise, relief, or disbelief. By going on this emotional roller coaster, the writers can do things with their cast that may be considered out of character for them. Which is exciting for me to see. I want to know how all these characters will react to the death and return of The Scarlet Witch and if they will have time to process those emotions. And I want to see things that are different than previous X-Men stories.

I wanted to take a moment to talk about Charles Xavier and his conversation with Hope. This kind of coaxing of her to commit something she considered an atrocity felt a little scummy but sadly in line with the character. I wonder if we are going to attribute this to the Onslaught event coming up or if this is going to be a plotline since Legion has been hanging out with Nightcrawler. Interesting choices and good work from the creative team.

BOTTOM LINE: PACKED ISSUE

I think that The Trial of Magneto #2 has been a fast-paced storyline that hasn’t given the characters and the audience a chance to process what is going on. Now that Wanda is back, I am excited to take a step back and try to get some answers. 4 out of 5 and I am excited to see where the story goes from here.

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