Tag: quicksilver

It’s not that forced. I mean the Maximoffs were the ones that raised Wanda and Pietro, so them being revealed as their biological parents wasn’t much of a change. It also bug me that people thought less of them for being the adoptive parents.

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It’s forced for the following reasons.

  • The family ties between Magneto and the Maximoff twins had been thoroughly established for 30 years.
  • There was nothing about their original/introductory storylines that made them being Magneto’s kids into a grievous obstacle to who they are and what they’re meant to be as characters.
  • Taken with everything else Marvel has done to the X-Men since the Disney buyout in 2009, it’s blatant that the retcon on Wanda and Pietro’s parentage was to sever their ties to the X-Men because Fox owns the X-Men film rights; not an attempt to tell a good story.

Now, the status of their adoptive parents is an entirely separate matter. I can understand a fan of one or both of them being upset that a part of their background isn’t given as much respect and exploration as it should get. I’m certain there are plenty of stories to be told about how the Maximoffs raised the twins, how the twins got into their culture and were raised with certain values that have nothing to do with Magneto being their father.

… But forcing a retcon where Magneto’s no longer their father isn’t the way to do it. It severs ties that should never have been severed, kills potential in a fictional universe full of opportunities. Worse, the retcon creates pointless, unnecessary division and kills interest in the characters. Including potential outside their ties to Magneto.

Offering myself up as an example, I’m a huge Polaris fan. I vividly remember the day where I stumbled across her entry on the Marvel wikia and went out to the nearest comic book store to buy anything that had her on the cover.

I knew Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver existed because of X-Men Evolution… but I didn’t care about them at all. I had no idea Lorna was on X-Factor with Pietro, and at first, I had absolutely no idea they were a family.

That changed when I read Jeff Parker’s Exiles – the very first place I ever saw the Magnus family, and some version of Lorna and Wanda interacting as sisters. Through Lorna, I started to care about Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. I started to see an amazing variety of things they could all do together.

The forced retcon on Wanda and Pietro’s parentage killed all of that. I have no reason to read what Pietro’s doing on Uncanny Avengers or how the Scarlet Witch solo shapes up because as far as the 616 is currently set up, nothing they’re involved in post-Axis has any bearing on Polaris anymore. If I were as stubborn as I was 8 years ago, I’d take the forced retcon as ample reason to hate the twins’ adoptive parents because I’d see it as an obstacle to the Magnus family. Which would be a major disservice to the potential brought by the Maximoffs as adoptive parents.

In other words, the forced retcon doesn’t expand their options as characters, at least not in my eyes. It limits them. It keeps them from being as great as they can be. They’re not only Magneto’s children, but it’s still one of many important facets to who they are, and all characters in the Magnus family or worse off for that loss.

I’m sorry if this is far too many words than you wanted or expected, I can get carried away. Thank you for raising the Maximoffs as adoptive parents as food for thought that I hadn’t considered before.

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Okay, I’ve said a lot about Marvel’s treatment of Polaris, the Magnus family, and the X-men in general on here.

One thing I haven’t talked about much is something I realize is much more important and telling than I’ve considered: Marvel’s treatment of Quicksilver.

It all started with Fox. Skipping past the Disney buyout, the spats, all the other things I’ve mentioned before, Quicksilver got his live action film debut with Days of Future Past. What started as a simple appearance turned into a major cameo. Following up from DoFP, Bryan Singer decided Quicksilver should be a major player in the next film, Apocalypse.

… While also deciding not to include Scarlet Witch or Polaris, and all signs currently imply the daughter we see with Magneto in previews is meant to be Anya or some variant of her.

That’s Fox’s approach. They’ve decided to emphasize the guys and leave out the women.

Now it’s time to look at what matters more: Marvel.

When Days of Future Past was out in theaters, Marvel kept Pietro off covers of All-New X-Factor.

When Axis happened, Pietro got roped into the forced retcon on Wanda and Pietro’s parentage.

After a few fleeting comics together, Wanda went off to her own solo book, while Pietro is… a member of Uncanny Avengers? I think? Point being, he’s presently just a member of the team he was already on, only now he’s not able to interact with ANY of his family – Polaris and Magneto because Marvel’s made the horrendously awful decision to make them no longer his family.

And then there’s Secret Wars House of M. As much as I love that miniseries and especially what it did for Polaris, I have to admit it treated Pietro terribly and very OOC compared to how Pietro should be.

Finally, there’s the obvious: even though Pietro was in Age of Ultron, he was killed at the end. Last I heard, there are no plans for him at all.

Putting all of this together, here’s what we get: even though both Fox and Marvel have the rights to Quicksilver and can do whatever they want, Marvel stripped Pietro of everything that tied him to the X-Men franchise or let him be involved in it, and gave him only a single appearance in Age of Ultron in return.

Marvel’s sense of spite toward Fox owning the film rights for the X-Men franchise – and ONLY the film rights, even though Marvel can still do cartoons and video games and a lot more else – is so inflated that they even take it out on Quicksilver. Just because Fox got first crack at him in live action films.

There is a point I’ve made many times before: if Marvel wanted, they could use their control over the comics, cartoons, video games, etc to demonstrate they’d handle the X-Men franchise better if they had the film rights. They created the characters, they have the rights for all these other mediums, they could make a very solid case for this… if they cared about their own IPs enough to do so.

Marvel’s treatment of Quicksilver shows an entirely different angle on this point. Here, we have a character who BOTH Marvel AND Fox have equal rights on, where Marvel can feature Quicksilver in the MCU without giving anything to Fox or needing to consult with them… and it’s not enough.

Marvel doesn’t just want the right to use X-Men characters in live action films with a better contract or no contract with Fox. Marvel wants Fox to not be able to use or benefit from the characters at all, in any way, shape or form.

The only reasons Scarlet Witch gets what little she does, like a solo book and future supporting roles in MCU films, are because the MCU got to her first and Fox has no current plans to use her. Which certainly makes one wonder what Marvel will do to Wanda if Fox ever gives her a prominent role.