The Inhuman Race

After believed she had been dead for months, Quicksilver has been happily reunited with his wife Crystal. As it turns out she didn’t actually die but spent this entire time trapped in another dimension until she was recently freed.[1] Upon her return home, Crystal has insisted that she and Pietro return to New Attilan[2] to celebrate her return. All Quicksilver wanted was a moment alone with his wife, but reluctantly accompanies her even though the Inhuman royal family doesn’t approve of him. When Crystal bows before Black Bolt, Quicksilver refuses to do so himself since he doesn’t view the Inhuman kind as his sovereign. Black Bolt allows this and after formality is out of the way the rest of the royal family breaks decorum to celebrate Crystal’s return. All but stoic Black Bolt who remains seated on his throne observing.

Crystal’s return also happens to coincide on the Gene-Fest celebrations, the annual festival where the latest generation of young Inhumans are exposed to the Terrigen Mists and given powers. This brings up troubling memories of Pietro’s past when he was adamant about exposing his daughter Luna to the Terrigenesis process.[3] Pietro isn’t the only person miserable during these festivities. Up in a jail tower, Black Bolt’s insane brother Maximus the Mad watches the proceedings from his windows. He curses his brother and vows that one day he will be free to reclaim the royal throne. That’s when the voice of Exodus begins speaking in his head. The mutant leader of the Magneto’s Acolytes offers Maximus the opportunity to seize the throne if his bidding is done. Willing to do anything to regain his powers, Maximus agrees. Exodus then teleports Fabian Cortez into the cell and he uses his mutant abilities to restore and increase Maximus’ mental powers.

Elsewhere, Crystal is getting ready for a royal banquet and Quicksilver is openly miserable about this who ordeal. That’s when his sister the Scarlet Witch returns after a day out with their daughter Luna. Part of the reason why Quicksilver dislikes this event so much is that he is forced to slow down for everyone else and the moments of waiting for others to act are excruciatingly long for him. When sitting down to dinner he tries to slow down as much as possible for his meal, but quickly discovers that he has finished long before anyone else. He sits and waits for the others to finish for what feels like an eternity. All he can think about is how he wanted to remain at Haven and train with the Knights of Wundagore. However, after he brought Crystal back to celebrate her return and learned of Pietro’s new responsibilities she was disappointed because she had hoped they could live alone for a while.[4] When dinner is over, Pietro wants to leave, but Black Bolt insists on making a speech first. Unwilling to sit through a bunch of hand gestures interpreted by Medusa, Quicksilver says he needs to use the bathroom as an excuse to leave.[5]

Pietro then radios back to Haven to see how the Knights of Wundagore are doing. Only Bova is there to answer the call and she says the Knights are on an evening out in New York City. This horrifies Quicksilver as he believes they need his guidance out in the world of men. When he tries to race back, he is tripped up by one of the Scarlet Witch’s hexes. Wanda tells her brother to let the Knights have fun, confident they’ll be fine. She insists that Pietro has to be present with Crystal during the Terrigenesis ceremony. It’s during this ceremony, that Maximus strikes. Using his mental powers, he amplifies Quicksilvers feelings when he tried to expose Luna to the Terrigen Mists years earlier and his feelings of inadequacy around the Inhuman royal family. This is ramped up to full paranoia and Pietro soon finds himself stealing the canister of Terrigen Mists and trying to flee Attilan with it. Pietro doesn’t get very far before the Inhuman royals stop him hard. As he has created a grievous crime, Pietro is tossed in a jail cell as punishment.

As Quicksilver tires to make sense of his irrational acts, elsewhere Maximus laughs manically.

Recurring Characters

Quicksilver, Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton), Maximus, Scarlet Witch, Exodus (voice only), Fabian Cortez, Luna, Bova, Lockjaw

Continuity Notes

1. At the time of this story, Pietro’s wife Crystal and his sister the Scarlet Witch were believed to have died along side members of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1. They were actually transported to a pocket dimension where they have been living reimagined versions of their past lives. They have just been found and returned to their proper reality in Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4. Pietro was reunited with them last issue and in a flashback show in Quicksilver #7.

2. Attilan is referred to as “New Attilan” here. This is in reference to the fact that the kingdom had been recently returned to Earth. See, Earth pollution forced the Inhumans to relocate their hidden city to the Blue Area of the Moon in Fantastic Four #240. However, it was returned to Earth recently due to the machinations of Morgan le Fay during the Atlantis Rising event. See Namor the Sub-Mariner #60-62, Fantastic Four: Atlantis Rising #1-2, Fantastic Force #8-9, Fantastic Four #401-402, and Warlock and the Infinity Watch #41-42. It now resides on an island that was once the site of ancient Atlantis. It will remain here until it is transported back to the Himalayan Mountains in Inhumans (vol. 2) #12.

3. This story glosses over what exactly went down. See when Luna was born in Fantastic Four #240, she was a human. Wanting her to have powers, Pietro attempted to expose her to the Terrigen Mists in Thing #3. However, he was convinced not to go through with it when Lockjaw suddenly started talking, making it appear as though the teleporting dog had once been humanoid and its current appearance a curse of sorts. However, X-Factor #71 reveals that this was a deception on the part of Gorgon and Karnak.

4. Quicksilver had been put in charge of the Knights of Wundagore by the High Evolutionary after his Citadel of Science was invaded by the Acolytes. The Evolutionary went into hiding to protect his latest creation, Isotope E. See Quicksilver #1.

5. In this story, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are referred to as mutants. However, years later, both of these facts are revealed to have been lies. In Uncanny Avengers #4-5, it is revealed that Pietro was kidnapped as an infant by the High Evolutionary. In order to cover up his experiments he made it so Pietro would register as a mutant.

Topical References

• When lamenting about the Gene-Fest celebrations Quicksilver quips “There’s enough forced cheerfulness around here to appall a Spice Girl.” The Spice Girls are a UK pop-band that first formed 1994. This comic was published at the height of their popularity. While the group has broken up and gotten back together 3 different occasions they aren’t as popular as they once were. References to the group here should be considered topical.