Welcome to Die!

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About

Welcome to Die! is a memorable quote uttered by the villain Magneto in the 1992 arcade game X-Men. The absurdity of the phrase has made it a popular in-joke among the X-men fanbase and Video Games community.

Origin

On February 12, 1992 Japanese video game company Konami released an arcade game based on a 1989 television pilot that would later go on to become a 1992 television series. In one part of the game, the X-Men are tasked with saving Kitty Pryde, who has been kidnapped by Magneto and taken to a cave on Island M. Before you reach the end-of-level boss, Wendigo, Magneto appears, laughs and says "X-Men, Welcome to die!" before destroying the ground beneath your feet and starting the boss fight.

Spread

On November 12, 2005 YTMND user ArtemusWolfwood created a page with the quote against a background depicting Magneto from the opening cutscene. As of October 25, 2016 the page has received over 25,000 views.^[1] On April 22, 2006^[2] single-serving site WelcomeToDie.com^[3] was created featuring a similar layout to the YTMND site albeit with flashing red and blue text and a sprite of Magneto from the game that follows the visitor's mouse cursor around. On November 23, 2008 YouTube user wackywikivideos uploaded a video of the scene and as of October 25, 2016 it has received over 464,000 views.^[4] On November 27, 2010 The Angry Video Game Nerd referenced the quote at the end of his episode on X-Men video games. He later referenced the quote again in his 2013 video game Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures.^[5]

AVGN's use of the phrase stems from its ironic fandom in the video game community. For example, in 2010, Playstation's official blog^[6] dubbed it "one of the greatest pieces of video game dialogue of all time." When X-Men Arcade was released on the Playstation Network, the developers included a "Welcome to Die" trophy.^[7] In Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, Deadpool says it to Magneto before they fight.^[8] Fanartists have also created pieces devoted to the quote.