Honor Thy Father

Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch have entered death-like states. After an examination by Doctor Donald Blake, it is concluded that while the pair no longer have any life signs their bodies have also not begun to decay. As such, Blake suggests that it is almost as though their souls have been stolen from their bodies. The Vision thanks the doctor for his assistance in his usual clinical fashion. The Avengers then get to work trying to find out what happened. Beast takes the opportunity to needle their NSA handler, Henry Gyrich, for reducing their team down to seven since it also meant letting go of Avengers who have mental abilities that could have aided them in finding out what happened to their twin teammates.

That’s when Jacosta, the former Bride of Ultron, enters the room and informs them that her cybernetic senses picked up a strange energy pattern leaving the mansion and heading into the Bowery at the time Pietro and Wanda were studdenly struck down. The Avengers decide to elicit the robot’s help, leading to protests from Gyrich who says Jacosta doesn’t have security clearance. When Jacosta points out that she is merely a machine she suggests how he would get her security cleared. The NSA agent has no clear answer and tells the Avengers that he will check with his superiors in order to get one.

With their handler busy, Iron Man suggests they all take advantage of the situation. While Hawkeye looks forward to going into battle with the Avengers one more time, Wonder Man opts to go stay behind to hold the fort.

Meanwhile, at a rooming house in the Bowery, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch have found their essances transferred into small wooden dolls their captor has locked away in cages. This man, Django Maximoff, has convinced himself that the twins are his lost children Mateo and Ana. Wanda tries to correct him, by saying that they are the children of the Whizzer and Miss America.[1] He ignores this, reminding “Mateo and Ana” how they were one part of a Romani tribe and how the children used their unique powers to help and entertain the others. However, when the tribe was hit with hard times Django was forced to steal a cow for them to survive. Caught in the act, Django angered the local villagers who attacked them. Django watched in horror as they set fire to their wagon, killing his wife. He then observed his children falling into a nearby river.

For years, Django thought his children were dead and after some wandering he settled in the town of Vladivostok where he made a living carving wooden puppets to bring joy into the lives of other children. However, he did not care anymore, even when he taught his skills to a man who used them for evil.[2] That was until the day he read a newspaper article about the American superheroes called the Avengers. Seeing a photo of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch convinced Django that these were his long lost children. As such, he travelled to America and used wooden dolls he carved of the pair to trap their souls to make sure they would never run away again. That’s when Maximoff’s mystical senses warn him that the Avengers are coming and he begins preparing a reception for them.

Not far away, the Avengers arrive in the Bowery and as they approach the rooming house, Django uses his mystical abilities to animate mannequins in a nearby costume shop. These animated mannequins then start attacking the Avengers. Although they are caught off guard, the Avengers easily smash the mannequins to bits. When the Avengers enter his room, Django uses his magical Nivashi Stone to make himself look younger and his room look like a sprawling star field. He then summons the triad of Romany totems: the toad, the snake, and the bird. They appear in the forms of the Toad, Princess Python, and Nighthawk. The Avengers are quickly caught off guard and discover that these are more than just foes they have faced in the past as they have additional powers.

When the neighbor downstairs begins banging on his ceiling for them to keep it down, the Beast realizes that they are in one big illusion. Sharing this information with his comrades causes Django’s illusion to fall apart. Quickly, the old man grabs the cages containing Pietro and Wanda and tries to make a run for it. Luckily, the Vision blocks his way. Wanda informs her husband that the Nivashi Stone is the source of Django’s power and the android uses his heat vision to destroy it. This frees Wanda and Pietro’s souls, which immediately return to their bodies. The Avengers then take Django back to their home. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch feel sorry for the confused old man, but he also has raised some questions about their past as they dimly remember experiencing the incidents that Django described earlier. The Scarlet Witch then asks for a leave of absence from the Avengers so she and her brother can go back to their native Transia to investigate this further.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Beast, Wonder Man, Jacosta), Django Maximoff, Henry Gyrich, Marya Maximoff (flashback)

Continuity Notes

1. Wanda and Pietro are were led to believe that the Whizzer and Miss America were their parents in Giant-Size Avengers #1, but this proves to be incorrect. Eventually, it is revealed that they are the children of Natalya Maximoff and an unidentified father. Django is actually their uncle who later went on to adopt the pair after his own children died. See Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5 and Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4.

2. This man with Nathan Dolly, as explained in Spider-Woman #12, the skills Dolly learned led to his becoming Mister Doll circa Tales of Suspense #48 and later the original Brothers Grimm in Spider-Woman #3.

Topical References

• This story refers to Django Maximoff’s people as gypsies. This is considered a dated term and, to some, is considered offensive or considered a racial slur. By today’s standard, the correct term is Romani. As such I have used the proper term in the summary above.