Brief History

Young Max Eisenhardt would eventually grow up to be the man known as Magneto. Many factors welded the man into the myth, and Fritz Kalb was his most influential teacher in 1935. Being of Jewish descent himself, Herr Kalb took a liking to the young Eisenhardt.
 
During they boys' physical eduation, Max kept coming in last place. The headmaster began to ostracize and humiliate the young Jew, pointing out his weakness and cowardice. Herr Kalb rebuttals, "... the boy's near the top of the class in almost every subj--" before being corrected by the headmaster. At the last of their physical tests, the boys had to toss a javelin. Max was still fresh from the sting of the headmaster's critique and wanted to impress his new crush, Magda. He throws the javelin further than the whole class, earning him a gold medal. Herr Kalb took notice of the headmaster's disgust, and gave the young boy one of the more memorable quotes... 
 
"Max... your special. Gifted. You have immense promise. But you need to be careful. The Japanese say that the nail that sticks up gets hammered down."
 
The next day, the disgruntled headmaster singles out Eisenhardt and says the javelin he threw was defective. He challenged the boy to throw it again the next day using a regulation javelin, which was of course, was much heavier than it was supposed to.  Max does not heed the warning, and reproduces the same results to Herr Kalb's horror. Max is accused of cheating and expelled from the school. On his way out, he hears Herr Kalb from behind closed doors.