#also it was a crime how Pietro was sidelined for almost this entire story

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

I’m not done yet, I want to properly articulate how much the treatment of Toad in Trial of Magneto really pisses me off, especially in comparison with the treatment of Magneto himself.

And to be clear, I like Magneto as a complex figure, as a man who is capable of both great good and great evil.  I have no issue with that.  I just don’t like him being elevated while his sins against his followers are totally smoothed away.

So, we see Toad supposedly confess in Trial of Magneto.  We find out later that confession is false, and that Wanda actually killed herself with an enchanted object, so that she could go through the resurrection protocols and later use a spell allow the resurrection protocols to access ALL dead mutants, including the ones who died before Cerebro.  But apparently Toad was needed as a scapegoat.  Wanda’s death “had to” look like foul play for her to be resurrected, and supposedly they couldn’t let the Krakoans know that the “gift” of her spell came from the conspiracy between the two of them, or it wouldn’t be accepted.  So Toad supposedly “had” to be the fall guy.  Given that he confesses, I guess this was a voluntary sacrifice on Toad’s part, although Williams did not bother to make this clear.  We never get a scene with Magneto asking him to do this, or discussing the plan with him. 

But it all goes down like this:

Why did they bring him in in a big ball of water?  So he could be all wet and gross for the trial, just in case anyone was too sympathetic towards him?

Here’s Magento HIMSELF pressing for the harshest sentence, while Wanda at least calls for mercy.

Boy, it’s a good thing no one asks any inconvenient questions about how Toad got that enchanted metal, isn’t it?  Toad, with no magic powers, somehow got rare enchanted metal and spelled it to attack Wanda all by himself, and no one questions this. 

Of course, Toad has to be drawn at his very ugliest with his tongue lolling out as he’s dragged into the Pit!  I know Williams is setting up the surprise later, but we can’t let Toad have a moment of dignity here?  The dude is making a massive sacrifice for the good of mutantkind, or for Magneto and Wanda at least.

Then we get sad Magneto angsting:

This is what pisses me off, this “heavy is the head that wears the crown” bullshit.  It looks like Magneto is totally distraught by what they just did.  But who is he crying for?  Toad?  Magneto has rarely, if EVER shown that he gives a shit about Toad, originally his most loyal follower, and the man that he repeatedly abused back in the old days.  Magneto seems much more upset about Wanda having to die (temporarily) than Toad being condemned to a living hell.  And frankly this scene makes Magneto look downright hypocritical.  Why did he press for exile for Toad at the Council meeting?  To keep up appearances?  Why didn’t HE take the blame for Wanda’s death and go into the Pit if it was so important to have a scapegoat?  No, once again he throws away his most disposable follower, and we’re expected to sympathize with him as noble man making hard decisions.

And shut up about the “Magneto does terrible things out of love,” BS, Williams.  Magneto does not love Toad in any way.  Magneto has done terrible things out of anger, hatred, and a misguided desire to protect mutants.  That’s fine, it makes Magneto a complex and interesting character, which I like.  Out of love?  I guess we could say he sacrificed Toad due to his love for Wanda.  Not sure how we’re supposed to sympathize with THAT.

The flashback scenes that show Magneto and Wanda planning this are all about them, at no point is Toad as scapegoat even mentioned, only implied.

This is the only moment that implies Magneto went to Toad to be their sacrificial pawn.  Again, we don’t even get a scene of Magneto and Toad talking together - which we could have gotten, now that the secret’s out.  Just Magneto looking slightly regretful.

Then Magneto looks all horrified while Wanda is all “Tee hee, don’t worry Daddy, it won’t hurt, and death isn’t a big deal for me!  Love ya!”  It’s all about Magneto and Wanda, which is....fine.  This whole story is about them and their relationship.  But there is so much more emphasis on Magneto’s grief over Wanda having to kill herself, and so little time spent on Toad that it’s very hard for me to believe that Magneto is actually crying over Toad in that earlier page. 

Basically, Toad gets the worst of this whole story, and the least amount of story focus.  Wanda comes back from the dead and gets to cast the spell that redeems her.  Magneto gets a lot of focus as sad man making tough decisions, but gets to be all lovey with his two daughters at the end.  Toad goes to a living hell for a crime he didn’t commit. 

Honestly, this last scene kinda makes me sick.  I’m GLAD Wanda has been redeemed and she’s not gonna be the mutant boogeyman anymore.  It was terrible the way M-Day destroyed her character, and she’s been paying for it ever since, so if the X-Books move past that, I’m glad.  But I don’t wanna see Wanda the Redeemer telling self-aggrandizing stories to the kids about her  redeeming the dead mutants while knowingly letting an innocent patsy stay in the Pit.  I can’t really be happy for her here. 

Oh, and then there’s this:

It WAS your fault, Wanda!  You set the whole thing up!  It’s nice that she says she’ll fight for Toad’s freedom, but, uh......you could easily do that by admitting the truth.  If they needed a scapegoat for mutantkind to “accept the gift,” now that the spell has been performed, the gift has been given!  Wanda can tell the truth, and she and Magneto can face the consequences of the QC being a little pissed off about the deception.  They’ll probably be willing to overlook it all, since Wanda has now added the potential to resurrection 20 million more mutant lives.  But instead, Wanda is going to continue the ruse of being a saintly murder victim who is fighting to help her killer.

I’m afraid this sounds like I hate Wanda, and I don’t.  Again, I’m glad that Wanda is moving past M-Day and won’t be trashed for it anymore.  She didn’t deserve that character assassination.  I’m just disgusted by the way she and Magneto used Toad, and were portrayed sympathetically the whole time.  Toad was just a plot device.  He got no real character exploration or dignity in this comic, even though he was making the biggest sacrifice of them all.  Williams didn’t seem to care, her entire focus was on Wanda and Magneto.  Magneto’s poor sad feelings were more important than how Toad, the actual victim in all this, feels. 

TL:DR - Trial of Magneto uses Toad as a scapegoat, and doesn’t even bother to give him any focus as a character while he makes this grand sacrifice, which makes it very hard for me to sympathize with either Wanda or Magneto in all this.