Nearly a decade ago, Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr founded a sanctuary for persecuted mutants: the Brotherhood of Mutants. They viewed it as a school, but other considered it a cult. Feeling unsafe in their San Francisco mansion, they relocated to the Savage Land, a remote Pacific island, to build a new community. However, Lensherr, now calling himself Magneto, came to believe mutantkind should eliminate mankind for the good of the planet. Fearing Magneto would provoke a genocidal war, Xavier fled back to the Sates, though Magneto crippled him before he left. While Xavier was recovering, the Brotherhood launched its first terrorist attack when Detonator blew up part of the Pentagon.
After several years of similar attacks, Magneto openly declared his plans to supplant humanity, generating anti-mutant hysteria and provoking the U.S. government to unleash giant Sentinel robots, which indiscriminately killed any mutant they found. The Brotherhood responded by kidnapping the President's daughter, threatening to kill her if another mutant was slain. She was rescued by Xavier's new students, the X-Men, and the grateful President halted the Sentinel hunts.
The disillusioned X-Man Cyclops deflected to the Brotherhood, feeling that Xavier was currying favor with an enemy regime. In response to plans for British Sentinels, he helped the Brotherhood bomb the British Houses of Parliament and MI6 building in London, though he tried to limit human casualities. The U.S.A. found the Savage Land and launched a massive Sentinel attac, but Magneto reprogrammed them and attacked Washington. The X-Men and his own son, Quicksilver, halted Magneto's genocidal plan. With Magneto believed dead, Quicksilver led a less murderous Brotherhood. When the X-Men were captured by Weapon X, the Brotherhood freed them; many of Weapon X's liberated mutants joined the Brotherhood. They freed sentinet mutant animals and attacked financial institutions. Quicksilver called a cease fire, and eld talks with the U.N.
Splinter groups such as the Acolytes broke from the Brotherhood and resumed terrorism. Asserting his authority, Quicksilver led the Brotherhood in disarming nuclear arsenals of Pakistan and India. Certain followers such as militant animal evolutionary Prosimian remained dissatisfied, and, learning his death had been faked, they tracked down the amnesiac Magneto and restored his memories. Magneto promptly "purified" the Brotherhood by slaying the evolved animals who had rescued him. He relaunched the bombing campaign, and gave humanity six months to surrender. Fearing their father's retaliation, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch deflected to the Ultimates. Based in the Citadel in the Arctic Circle, Magneto plotted to destroy the established world by reversing Earth's magnetic fields. Forge built a power boosting device, and other Brotherhood members stole art treasures and recruited more mutants. The X-Men thwarted this plan, Magneto was apprehended, and much of the Brotherhood dispersed. Some of the Brotherhood, Forge and Mystique, subsequently helped arrange Magneto's jailbreak. Magneto has informed his newest follower, Longshot, that he has no intention of reforming the Brotherhood.
Leaders:
Scarlet Witch
Quicksilver
Active Members:
Mystique
Sabretooth
Teddy Allen
Former Members:
Magneto
Professor X
Toad
The Blob
Wolverine
Cyclops
Rogue
Mastermind
The Juggernaut
Forge
Multiple Man
Lorelei
Unus
The Vanisher
Hard-Drive
Longshot
Prosimian
Sumatran
Orb-Weaver
Saluki
Kathleen
Bug Mutates
