Originally posted by Khellendros
I have a question, though. How would Magneto know Black Bolt uses a particle that interacts with electrons to produce this shockwave? I mean, knowing he could ignore lightning (electricity) and Ice Man's attacks (superconductawhatnow?) is fairly simple science these days. How would he know that Black Bolt is using an unidentifiable particle that interacts with electrons to produce a shockwave of pure destructive force?
Magneto used to be an X-man. They keep all kinds of files on just about everybody. In fact, most superhero teams keep extensive records about friends and foes and frequently share intel with each other. Presumably, Magneto would know about BB's powers from those files.
Another way he could know is by reading BB's energy signature right away. Magneto indicated that elemental mutants (and specialty mutants like Forge) can actually perceive the world along the elemental lines they control. So Magneto would be able to read the energy that BB eminates and have an instinctive idea of how to approach the fight.
Finally, Magneto, just by putting his shields up (which, as I mentioned earlier, works by removing electrons from objects and automatically generating an identical charge), would be able to block the charged energy coming his way.
As for whether it's "charged energy" or a shockwave, I'll address that a bit further below.
Also, I know Magneto can manipulate electrons, but at some point, BB's attack stops relying on electrons and just becomes a shockwave. How could Magneto stop that, he can't just move all the electrons in the area away from Black Bolt can he?
His shield, which works based upon rejecting electrons, would do that automatically. Any electron-based energy his way would be automatically repelled with a negative charge.
You call his scream "charged energy". Well, is it positively charged? Negatively? Does changing it from positive to negative effect the fact that it destroys anything it comes into contact with? I don't even think calling it charged energy means what you think it does. I think, once the initial electron/particle reaction happens, the resulting energy is out of Magneto's hands, but that's just me. I'm just looking for answers to my questions, I'm still unsure about who could beat who.
Given that it's electron-based energy, it would be negatively charged, since an electron is negative energy. If Black Bolt generated Protons, then, you know....
By generating negative EM energy, Magneto would repel re-direct BB's energy back at him. I don't know how BB would react to that. Perhaps he's immune to his own power, perhaps he could absorb it back into himself, perhaps he could disperse his own energy, I don't know. But either way, it wouldn't hurt Magneto.
I'll address the shockwave thing below.
So we have an "unknown type of particle which interacts with ambient electrons." The writers don't have the slightest clue how BB's powers work, but if you insist on getting all scientifically : it's not mere electrons, but an interaction of unknown particles and electrons.
I talked about this in an earlier post. I said that while the unknown particle interacts with ambient electrons is the cause of the attack, the effect of the attack is very much known and fully understood. It generates a shockwave of protonic energy. The unknown particles just facilitates the stimulation that creates the blast. So Magneto wouldn't have to deal with that.
That's very important, or do you think Magneto can absorb the electrons and neutralize the unknown particles in half a second ?
No, because there's no release of the unknown particle, according to his bio. It's just the stimulus.
Nobody of the Magneto defenders have answered this question. Or, can anybody guarantee me they know:
Guarantee is a strong word. It's all speculation and theory.
1. the exact extent of Magneto's "absorbing powers" ?
Untested. It's one of those mysteries, like whether there's really a limit to Hulk's strength, or whether Juggy is really infinitely durable. Perhaps a writer would write it so that Magneto does get overwhelmed. That's ok. Perhaps another writer would write it so that Magneto easily absorbs it. That's ok too. All I can do is say that he has the ability to absorb that type of energy. It's completely open whether or not there's a limit to how much of that type of energy he can absorb, given that there's no evidence for or opposed to it. I say yes, maybe you say no. That's the comic board for ya.
2. the origin of the unknown particles and their role ?
If anyone could answer that, it wouldn't be an unknown particle. It's a lot like "extra-dimensional sources" that seems to be responsible for half the superpowers in the Marvel Universe. But as I said above, it doesn't matter what the unknown particles are...they're just the catalyst for his power, not the output.
3. how the unknown particles will interact with Magneto's power (who is, by the way, NOT magnetism incarnated). For all we know, it' KABLOOM-Magneto.
Didn't you ask all three of these in the beginning of your post?
The explanation on the shockwave is coming below.
i think ppl are getting a little bit too crazy with magneto's supposed abilty to absorb electrons. when black bolt gets his scream on its the massive "uncontrollable disturbance" of the electron interaction field that causes the shockwave. the same way the moving of tectonic plates cuases e-quakes. so after BB does his thing its not the electrons are any other ambient particles themselves that are going to reach magneto its the subsequent shockwave thats gonna reduce him to subatomic particles.
ok, about the shockwaves. I think there's a misunderstanding on the parts of all three of you about what exactly a shockwave is.
A shockwave is what's considered a P-type wave. It's the propagation of a change in volume. Essentially, it squeezes and unsqueezes whatever medium it's using (in this case, electron energy and air). The shockwave itself is meaningless - it's just the squeezing of the air. That's like saying, "he was killed by a sonic boom". It's not a sonic boom that kills you, it's the sound energy that kills you. What does the damage of a shockwave is the individual particles vibrating to and fro in the direction of the propagation. The "individual particles" that vibrate in the direction of the shockwave are particles of whatever caused the disturbance in the first place. In this case, it's the electron energy that was released by the interaction between the unknown particles and the electrons. It generated a shockwave in its wake, but that's not what gets you. It's the rapid vibration of the energy creating massive destruction that gets you. And it would get anybody...except someone who can control charged energy.
It was a little science-intensive, but I hope that made sense.