The Frustrating Case of the Maximoff Twins This may come as a surprise to some people, but I dont generally keep up with the actual comics going on in Marvel. This is a mix of there just being too many comics out there for me to care about (seriously, I know there are fans of comics like The Superior Foes of Spider-Man and Secret Avengers but do they really need to exist?) and a general distaste for Marvels storytelling, which is often way too fast and never gives the reader a chance to properly digest things. As a result, there can be important news bits that come out that fall under my radar. Sure, obviously I knew about the Death of Wolverine, but things like Rogue being killed off didnt reach my ear until months after the fact. So today I want to address something that occurred in AXIS #7 that you may not have heard about, but probably ought to know about. In this comic, Marvel has done a retcon that has made Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch no longer the children of Magneto. The idea behind this is to disassociate them from X-Men and mutants and anything else to do with it so that they can be part of the Inhumans. So I now live in a world where Polaris is Magnetos biological daughter and Pietro and Wanda arent even actually related. So they are no longer half-Jewish (yay) and the defining aspect of their characters is well, no longer part of their characters. Wanda and Pietro have always been compelling simply because they are the children of a terrorist and struggle between living up to that legacy or choosing a more heroic path. And while Wanda may be glad that shes not Eriks daughter, Im disappointed that Marvel has chosen to spit in the face of everyone who has worked to give these characters a unique identity and the readers who connect with it. And all for the sake of being petty towards Fox. When Marvel first tried to make their presence known in movie theaters, they didnt have their own studio and sold the rights of their most popular characters to various studios. Fox got the rights to the X-Men and have produced some very good movies with the franchise and some really sad movies with the franchise. And while Marvel struck out on their own with Marvel Studios, Fox still had the film rights to the X-Men (as well as the Fantastic Four) and there was no chance that Wolverine and friends would be interacting with Iron Man, Captain America and the like. While this was more of an unfortunate politics situation than a real mess, things started to get ugly when Marvel decided they were going to bring Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver into their universe. While the Maximoffs had been introduced as part of the Brotherhood of Mutants, most of their heroic adventures were as part of the Avengers. Things got really messy when Fox and Bryan Singer decided they wanted to use Pietro in Days of Future Past, and the studios eventually settled their differences so that both studios could use a version of the character, though Marvels version could not be called mutants or have any connection to Magneto. I want to say that I am personally excited to see the Maximoffs in Marvels Cinematic Universe; Marvel wouldnt have gone to such a hassle to get the rights to use them if they didnt have something great planned for them. I have to believe that. And I understand that because of the situation that aspects of the characters have to be changed; I can live with them not being Magnetos kids. Honestly, the fact that they are twins who are revolutionaries in Eastern Europe sounds a lot closer to the characters I know than the Pietro from Days of Future Past (who was awesome but really doesnt capture the characters history). I have always been willing to accept changes in adaptations as long as the end result is still a quality product, and I have no doubt that Marvel will deliver a great product with these two. That said, this comic book universe retcon is a totally different situation. There are no film rights, the X-Men and the Avengers are all part of the same universe and interact constantly. Yet Marvel seems determined to sabotage the characters that they dont own the film rights to. Spider-Man sold his marriage in a deal with the devil, Cyclops was turned into a super villain, Wolverine was killed, the Fantastic Four are being discontinued. And now Pietro and Wanda have no meaningful connection to the X-Men universe; they are Inhumans, not mutants. They are still Romani, but their Jewish heritage is gone. This fundamentally invalidates everything that has made Pietro and Wanda who they are. Its a case of Marvel cutting off their nose to spite Foxs face, and not realizing or not caring that they are only hurting themselves in the process. Its honestly sad.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 00:59:46 +0000
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