Marvel Studios president and producer Kevin Feige seems to dodge a question about a family reunion in WandaVision, where Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) is magically pregnant and her husband Vision (Paul Bettany) is expecting twins. Wanda, sometimes portrayed as the daughter of the mutant Magneto in the Marvel comics, is the twin sister of Pietro Maximoff, also known as Mercury. In the Marvel cinematic universe, those born in Sokov, Wanda and Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) are orphans whose parents were killed by weapons previously manufactured by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). Years later, HYDRA experiments conducted by Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) turn the twins into the Scarlet Witch and Mercury, who use their superhuman powers to attack Stark in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Mercury’s death at the hands of Ultron (James Spader) would soon be followed by Wanda losing his sight, who is inexplicably alive in the comedy-inspired suburbs of Westview. In a reality where anything is possible, Wanda’s brother will appear for a quick visit in WandaVision?
“[Wanda’s] there are a lot of family members in the comics, “said Feige Rotten tomatoes. “It’s more about the relationship with Vision and more about the dynamics and evolution of this couple’s relationship, and how it grows, evolves and unfolds.”
When pressed on “other family members” appearing in WandaVision, Feige said with a smile, “There are other characters in other episodes of this series. Who they are, what they are, is not worth discussing now.”
In the early 1980s, miniseries The vision and the scarlet witch Vol. 1 # 4, the X-Men supervillain Magneto reveals himself as the true father of Wanda and Pietro. Wanda once falsely believed that his father was Robert Frank, a golden age superhero known as Whizzer, but Magneto’s revelation was accepted as the status quo until Avengers and X-Men: AXIS reconstituted Wanda and Pietro’s origin story – and his family history – decades later.
This reversal, taking place at a time when Disney Studios, owned by Disney, did not have the X-Men, severed Wanda and Pietro’s ties to Magneto and reconstructed their history as mutants. Like their MCU counterparts, the twins’ powers are the result of genetic experimentation.
Last week, Feige confirmed that there had been “long and continuous” internal discussions about bringing X-Men characters on the MCU since Disney acquired 21st Century Fox in March 2019. Filming on WandaVision started later that year.
Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Kat Dennings and Randall Park, new Marvel episodes WandaVision debuts on Fridays at Disney +.
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