Character Spotlight #1 — Joseph

You know…I like characters that are decently obscure. Y’know, ones that were in the mainstream comics and a member or enemy of the mainstream team(s) but most of the time you mention them and people raise their eyebrows and look at you like you’re retarded. I love getting that look…well, mostly because it means I get to explain the character and the story arc to them, and the information doth flow freely until most people tell me to shut up, move along, and that they no longer care.

Been happening a lot with Transformers until I got back into the X-Men recently. Started re-reading X-Men and Uncanny X-Men from the very first issue onward and been having a great time with it, to be honest. Now, I know most folks don’t care, but I HOPE most of you at least remember a young man by the name of Joseph…

Magneto limited series #1

JOSEPH

Joseph - Uncanny X-Men #342

Most people have at least heard of poor Joseph. Whether or not they really remember him is another thing entirely. His first appearance was in Uncanny X-Men #327 where he was found by a nun named Sister Maria after he’d been sent plummeting to Earth. With no memory and no name, the Sister and the children she tended to at the orphanage began calling him Joseph. The children grew very fond of him, and he felt somewhat at home with them and Sister Maria. Still, he couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong, that something about him was wrong. After a run-in with a local degenerate, Joseph went into a rage trying to protect Sister Maria and the children, killing several people and terrifying the children he’d grown so fond of. He chose to leave, but not after Sister Maria gave him a magazine with an image of the original team of X-Men on the cover and telling him that he’s not alone…

Joseph infiltrated an anti-mutant group known as Humanity’s Last Stand  run by Bastion and “Operation: Zero Tolerance” (and these jokers didn’t realize he, oh I dunno, LOOKED LIKE MAGNETO?!) where he met, befriended, and subsequently rescued Rogue. Well, befriending her wasn’t the hard part; she recognized him as Magneto, the X-Men’s greatest enemy and a man she’d thought about knockin’ boots with on several occasions, so seeing a younger and chivalrous version of him probably made her green and yellow spandex melt a bit…I know my knees would turn to jello if Joseph/Magneto held out his hand and pulled a cheesy “come with me if you want to live” routine XD

ANYWHO…

Rogue and “Magneto/Joseph” ran off together to find the X-Men, with Rogue still just thinking he was a strangely younger and amnesiac Magneto to whom she was VERY attracted to.

(…What’s with comic book characters and having explosive cases of amnesia that other characters seem to think are NORMAL?!)

During this time, the X-Men first encountered the being known as Onslaught (who is a whole ‘nother barrel o’ worms I don’t feel like gettin’ into right now). Believing Magneto to be responsible, the Avengers sought Joseph out. Well, I guess since Onslaught looks like a giant, walking set of Magneto’s armor, can anyone really blame them? Rogue and Joseph arrived together in New York just in time to help the X-Men fight off Onslaught . Out of guilt for what he believed were his past sins, Joseph joined the X-Men in their war against Onslaught. After helping to fend off “That Which Shall Survive”, Joseph was allowed to stay with the X-Men. The X-Men, little goody-goody twits that they can be, thought it best to keep Joseph in the dark about his past deeds as Magneto. Smart, X-Dweebs. Smart. Well, I guess with their past track record, they felt he was dangerous still and if they revealed his rather bloody and tyrannical past to him that he would regress or have a psychotic breakdown. *sigh* As is always the danger when dealing with amnesiac villains, amirite? I guess they made up for it by assuring Joseph that he was different from the evil man they knew and that he should be happy for the new lease on life.

I guess. Even so, if it were me I’d like to know about my past and try to steer clear of it. Anything’s possible with friends by your side, yadda yadda…

DAMMIT JUST HUMP ROGUE! WE KNOW YOU CAN!

Rogue & Joseph

*gasp* Sorry for the outburst.

It turns out that the X-Men’s secrecy was just annoying (isn’t it always?) and Joseph took it upon himself to do some digging into his past. Oh, dear, this can’t end well. In an attempt to find out more about his past, Joseph encountered the Acolytes and their leader Exodus. They too believed that Joseph was Magneto and begged him to lead them. Joseph, trying his damnedest to be intimidating and convincing, donned Magneto’s costume and defended the Acolytes against Humanity’s Last Stand, gaining their trust. Smart man that Joseph was, he pretty much told them to go screw themselves when he found out that they were planning to attack more humans in Magneto’s name. Exodus turned on Joseph when he noticed that Joseph was not the Magneto he knew. Joseph pretty much gave them a verbal (and mildly physical) bitchslap and told them to stop being assholes, ordering them to abandon their current activities. Exodus disagreed, but obeyed because he believed he saw a glimmer of the old Magneto within Joseph. Joseph returned to the X-Men, satisfied that he no longer was Magneto.

Shortly afterwards, Joseph dedicated himself to reconstructing the Z’nox chamber to give Rogue some control over her powers. It was successful, to an extent, in that while standing under it, Rogue’s powers were temporarily disabled. He kissed her on the forehead, and it made me squee. Immediately after this, Joseph and some of the X-Men were sent to the Shi’ar Galaxy in order to fight The Phalanx. When they returned to Earth, they were captured. In captivity Joseph met the mutant Maggott, who had been saved by Magneto years before and expressed his gratitude to the confused Joseph. Maggott discovered though that their captor Erik the Red was the real Magneto in disguise. Feeling that he owed Magneto for saving him, he didn’t tell the X-Men that Joseph wasn’t Magneto.

Several weeks later, the Israeli agent Sabra appeared at the X-Mansion and wanted to kill “Magneto”. Maggott revealed to her that Joseph wasn’t Magneto, confirming Sabra’s suspicions. Joseph, now even more confused about his past and now his ORIGINS, joined Sabra in a quest to literally find himself. It was discovered that he was, for all intents and purposes, a perfect clone of Magneto.  He was kidnapped by Astra, who told Joseph his true origin.

Then the real Magneto showed up. Things kinda snowballed from there.

Magneto vs Joseph. Final Showdown.

Astra sent Joseph against Magneto. These events came to be known as the Magneto War (a very succinct and bland title for something so epic ). During this Magneto War, Joseph sacrificed himself in order to repair the damage done by Magneto to Earth’s electromagnetic field, using the full and unchecked power he had to restore it.  He whithered and faded away, dying alone out in space.

Joseph's Last Moments

And I cried.

I know, I’m pathetic. Honestly, though, I really didn’t capture Joseph’s personality in this mess. This was just a summary of the storyline he was part of. Joseph was a fiercely protective man, very passionate and ready to stand up for those he cared for. He was also kind and gentle, willing to go to great lengths to give those he loved a happier life. He took on the burden of being one of the cruelest men of the age, bearing the weight of the guilt brought on by past actions, before he knew he was simply a clone and had a choice.  He was the man Magneto could have been, and the man Magneto was in the Age of Apocalypse. To save every living thing on the planet, he sacrificed himself.

And, ironically, Joseph is one of the few Marvel characters to never have been revived or had an Alternate Universe version of himself. Joseph died and, as of this moment, has remained dead. I’d like to think he was such an interesting and impactful character that bringing him back to life repeatedly would have been seen as cheap, but he’s one of the few characters I really would have liked to have seen more of. Still, I hope they never bring him back. It would lessen the impact he had on the franchise.

For those of us who remember him, anyway.

I don’t know about the rest of you, so I guess I’ll just speak for myself when I say Joseph is missed. I hope Rogue thinks about him sometimes, too.