Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1
Trick or Treat!
The Vision and the Scarlet Witch have retired from the Avengers to try and start a private life for themselves in the sleepy town of Leonia, New Jersey.[1] They arrive at their new home on Halloween eve and greet some trick or treaters that are excited to have famous superheroes living in the neighborhood.
Entering their new home, the couple are delighted to see that Edwin Jarvis, the Avengers butler, has come to help them unpack their things and settle into their new home. He also comes with a gift from Captain America, a druidic spell book that he recently obtained during one of his solo missions.[2] This makes the couple think about all the adventures they had alongside the Avengers over the years. When Jarvis leaves the room, Wanda and Vision have a brief moment of romance, not noticing that the book of spells has suddenly opened and its pages are turning on their own.
When the Vision decides to head upstairs to do some unpacking, Wanda is left in the living room with her thoughts. She thinks of how he life she started as a member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and fought against the X-Men until she reformed and joined the Avengers. Believing herself to be a mutant, Wanda also recounts how she was taught in the ways of witchcraft by Agatha Harkness.[3] That’s when she notices that the book is now open and is quite sure it was closed when she set it down, but dismisses it by reminding herself she was distracted by her husband. Upstairs, the Vision is also reflecting on his life, how he was once the original android Human Torch from World War II until he was rebuilt by Ultron into the form he was today. He doesn’t remember much of his time as the Torch as he was reprogrammed with the brain patterns of Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man. He eventually betrayed his creator and joined up with the Avengers and there he fell in love with the Scarlet Witch.
Outside, the three trick or treaters decide to knock on the Vision and Scarlet Witch’s door. At that moment, a ball of light emerges from the druid spell book and zips outside before it can be seen. It then transforms the three children into monsters based on their costumes — a goblin, a jack o’lanturn, and a ghost — and they begin attacking Jarvis and the Vision. The android is able to hold off the goblin and the jack o’lantern, but the child transformed into a ghost proves to be a more of a challenge because it too can become immaterial.
While this battle is going on, the Scarlet Witch is confronted by Samhain, the living embodiment of All Hallow’s Eve. Bound to the spell book, Samhain intends to steal the Witch’s power so that he can finally cross over into Earth forever. As a show of power, Samhain transports Wanda through history to show that he has been worshiped by humanity since prehistory being worshiped by everyone from the Egytpians to the Druids of England.
Out in the hall, the Vision — with an assist from Jarvis — is able to defeat both the goblin and the jack o’lantern, causing them to revert back to normal. The ghost, however, flees into the room where Wanda is being attacked by Samhain. When the Vision goes in after the apparition, their intangible scuffle sends them battling high above the house.
Meanwhile, Wanda realizes that Samhain has not stepped off the book of druidic spells and realizes that this is his weakness. Using a hex bolt, she knocks the book into the fire place where it is burned to ash, banishing Samhain from the earthly plane.[5]
Above the house, the ghost reverts back to her true form and the Vision carries the young girl safely to the ground. As the children begin waking up, the Vision and Jarvis are relieved to see that they have no memory of their demonic possession. The android then rushes into the den to check on his wife and is relieved that she is safe. After sending the children home, the trio begin cleaning up when suddenly there is another knock at the door. When Wanda answers it, she is surprised to see the visitor is Robert Frank, aka the Whizzer, who has come to see the woman he believes is his daughter.[6]
Recurring Characters
Vision, Scarlet Witch, Samhain, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
At the time of this story, Vision and Scarlet Witch had just retired from the Avengers after a lengthy tenure on the team. This happened in Avengers #211.
Captain America recovered this spell book from Greymoore Castle in Captain America #256.
Wanda goes over some milestones in her life:
That she started her costumed career as the member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. This was from X-Men #4 through 11. Wanda and her brother Pietro, aka Quicksilver, joined the group to repay Magneto for saving their lives from an angry mob and left after they believed that debt had been repaid.
Here, Wanda a refers to herself and her brother as mutants. In reality, they are not. As revealed in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5, the pair were experimented upon by the High Evolutionary as children. In order to cover up his work, he made it so future DNA analysis had the twins register as mutants.
After leaving the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Wanda and Pietro joined the Avengers in Avengers #16.
Agatha Harkness trained Wanda in the use of witchcraft from Avengers #128-134. It’s later revealed in Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #1-15 reveals that Wanda actually comes from a long line of witches and warlocks. Something Harkness withheld from her at the time of her training but appears to have been aware of for some time.
The Vision also deep dives into his past here, the facts:
The Vision was indeed original the android Human Torch of World War II, created by Dr. Phineas Horton in 1939, as seen in Marvel Comics #1.
The Torch was more-or-less active until 1955 when a build up of radiation in his body caused him to burned out. His body was later recovered by the Mad Thinker and used to attack the Fantastic Four, ending in the Torch’s deactivation for a second time. See Fantastic Four Annual #4.
During this period, Simon Williams was transformed into Wonder Man by Baron Zemo to try in a plot to destroy the Avengers. An apparent side-effect was that his powers would eventually kill him. Williams later turned on Zemo and sought a cure from the Avengers. During this time a copy of his brain pattern was made, but despite their efforts Williams seemingly died. See Avengers #9.
Sometime later, the Torch’s body was then recovered by Ultron who forced Horton (or perhaps someone posing as him, see below) to help him rebuild the Torch into the Vision. He was given a new appearance, new powers, and a new personality based on the mind of Simon Williams, as explained in Avengers #133.
Ultron then sent the Vision to attack the Avengers, however the synthezoid overcame his masters programming and joined their ranks instead, as seen in Avengers #57-58.
At the time of this story, nobody knows that — during the time that the Torch was deactivated — the time traveler known as Immortus created a chronal duplicate of him. One copy of the Torch was buried (as seen in Sub-Mariner #14) while the other was turned into the Vision. This was all part of a complex scheme to manipulate the destiny of the Avengers, as seen in Avengers Forever #8. Immortus was later revealed to employ Space Phantoms to pose as Phineas Horton to sell various deceptions about the Human Torch/Vision and the man whom Ultron had rebuild the Torch in to the Vision may have been a Space Phantom.
During his time on the Avengers, the Vision first met the Scarlet Witch in Avengers #76. The two began falling in love and began to open up about their feelings in issue #91 and eventually began dating following issue #108. They got married in Giant-Size Avengers #4.
Although seemingly destroyed here, Samhain will return again in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #5.
Robert Frank has believed that Wanda and her brother are his children since Giant-Size Avengers #1. TL;DR: Frank and his wife Madeline Joyce (aka Miss America) went to the High Evolutionary’s Citadel of Science for help giving birth to their children. In reality, Maddy and her baby during childbirth. At the time, the High Evolutionary was caring for the Maximoff twins and had Bova try to pawn them off on the Whizzer as his own. The revelation that they are not related to the Whizzer was revealed in Avengers #185-187. Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4 and 12 reveal that Wanda’s true parents were Natalya Maximoff and an unidentified Scarlet Warlock.
