Quicksilver #5
Mad City
At Haven, the castle home of the Knights of Wundagore, Bova sits alone worrying about her charges. She hopes that Quicksilver and his daughter Luna are having a good time in New Attilan, celebrating the return of Crystal who was long believed to have died.[1][2] She is also concerned about the Knights themselves, who haven’t yet returned from a evening out in New York City. She decides to get some comfort food out of the pantry. When she opens the door, she is startled to find Lockjaw — the Inhumans’ teleporting dog — on the other side. He has brough the Scarlet Witch over to surprise her.[3][4]
Bova is delighted to have Wanda back because she was also considered among the dead as well. However, this isn’t a happy visit at all as Wanda has come to tell Bova that Pietro has been arrested by the Inhumans.
There, Quicksilver is rotting in a cell trying to figure out why he uncharacteristically interfered with the Terrigenesis ceremony by stealing a canister of Terrigen Mists.[5] When Crystal comes to visit him, he insists that he is was somehow being mentally controlled by some outside force.
Pietro’s correct, as he was being used as a pawn by Maximus the Mad, who recently had his mental powers restored. As he revels in his deception, Maximus is visited by his brother Black Bolt, king of the Inhumans, who gives him an accusatory look. Maximus insists to his brother that he had no part in Quicksilver’s crime. That’s when the voice of Exodus speaks up in his mind and tells him to be ready. That’s when the Acolyte known as Fabian Cortez is teleported back into the room and he gives Maximus another power boost. With his mental powers at their fullest potential, Maximus uses them to mentally dominate his brother. Cortez has to return to Wundagore, but reminds Maximus that he promised to destroy the Terrigen Mists.
By this time, Bova is heading off to bed and insists that Wanda go back to New Attilan to see what she can do to get her brother out of his current jam.
While in New York City, the rest of the Knights of Wundagore — Sir Ram, Lords Anon, Gator, Tyger, and Ladies Ursula and Vermin — have just finished having dinner and are off to see a live theater performance. On their way to the theater, Lord Anon expresses his displeasure that Quicksilver left them to their own devices and suggests they select a new leader. Sir Ram disagrees, reminding him that Pietro was selected by the High Evolutionary themselves.[6] Meanwhile, Lord Tyger is about to get tickets to see a performance of “Don Giovani” when another patron tells him that “Catss” is playing across the street. Although Lord Tyger had never heard of it, he is instantly interested in seeing a play about felines instead.
Back at New Attilan, Crystal admits that she her family has a hard time believing that he was mind controlled given the past problems he has created for the Inhumans.[7] Pietro insists to his wife that what he is saying is true. That’s when Maximus begins extending his mental powers outside his cell, causing them both to feel a strange tingling in their minds. That’s when they notice the citizens celebrating Gene-Fest are now brawling in the streets. This is more than enough to prove to Crystal that her husband is telling the truth. Breaking out of his cell, Quicksilver speeds off to find their daughter so he can get her to safety.
In New York, the Knights got themselves kicked out of the theater after Lord Churchill attacked some of the performers dressed as cats. With Sir Ram and Lord Anon going off on their own, the others decide to call it a night, they hail a cab. Once they get inside, the driver suddenly puts the pedal to the metal. The Knights find themselves sealed in the passenger section which is then filled with gas. The taxi cab then enters a flight mode and takes off into the sky.
Meanwhile, Quicksilver and Crystal reach the royal palace and find the other members of the royal family trying to trash the building. Quicksilver quickly speeds by Gorgon, Triton, and Karnak to get to Luna. Inside, he finds Medusa terrorizing their daughter thinking that she is her son Ahura.[8] Luckily, the Scarlet Witch arrives with Lockjaw and knocks out Medusa so they can get Luna to safety. Outside, they are confronted by Maximus who is being carried about by a mentally enslaved Black Bolt. Maximus tells them all that there is something that his brother wants to say to them and forces Black Bolt to whisper the word “die.”
Recurring Characters
Quicksilver, Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton), Scarlet Witch, Maximus, Exodus (voice only), Fabian Cortez, Knights of Wundagore (Sir Ram, Lord Anon, Lord Churchill, Lord Gator, Lord Tyger, Lady Ursula, Lady Vermin), Luna, Bova
Continuity Notes
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.
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.
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.
It is stated here that Bova cared for the Maximoff twins when they were left in her care as babies. This is part of a narrative that suggested that they are the children of Magneto, per Classic X-Men #12, Avengers #186, and Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. In those tales, Magneto’s wife Magda fled him out of fear of his powers while pregnant with the twins and gave birth to them at the Citadel of Science, with Bova acting as midwife. Magda then fled into the mountains where she apparently died. This is later revealed to be false in the aforementioned Uncanny Avengers #4-5. Pietro and Wanda’s real mother is revealed to be Natalya Maximoff in Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3, while their biological father (as of this writing in December, 2022) has yet to be revealed. What part Bova has to play in this deception remains to be revealed. It’s possible she is a victim of the deception as well.
Pietro recalls the time that he once tried to illegally expose Luna to the Terrigen Mists. 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.
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.
It's weird that Crystal and her family find it hard to believe that Quicksilver is being mind controlled, as this happened to him in the past. Pietro was briefly driven mad by Maximus in X-Factor Annual #1 and it made him a villain for a while, particularly in West Coast Avengers Annual #1 and Fantastic Four #304. The Inhumans knew this. I guess they all have selective memory? Or maybe Maximus is making them forget about that in this story.
Ahura was the son of Black Bolt and Medusa, birthed without permission from the genetics council in Marvel Graphic Novel #39. The royal couple were forced to hide Ahura with an adopted family as seen in Daredevil #279-283. More recently, they recovered their son in Fantastic Four Unlimited #2. However, he is strangely absent in this story. This is because the boy will be forced into imprisonment for years, as we’ll learn in Silent War #4-5.
Topical References
Technically the use of Catss in this story is not topical because it adds an extra S making it “legally distinct” to the real world play of Cats.
Errors
Medusa refers to her son by the name Ahuna. It’s actually Ahura. Since she was being mind controlled by Maximus, perhaps it made her misspeak his name.