Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #6
No Strings Attached!
It’s Thanksgiving and the Vision and the Scarlet Witch are having a dinner celebration with their family and friends at their new home in Leonia, New Jersey.[1] The final arrivals are Quicksilver, his wife Crystal, and their daughter Luna, who have flew in from the Inhumans city on the moon. There they are introduced to the other guests: Captain America, the Wasp and the Sub-Mariner, the only Avengers who could make it; Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme;[2] stage magicians Glamor and Illusion, Wanda and Vision’s new neighbors; Norm Webster, the real estate agent who sold the happy couple their home; and Martha Williams, son of Simon Williams — aka Wonder Man — whose brain patterns were the basis of the Vision’s personality.[3]
That’s when there is a knock at the door from an uninvited guest. It turns out to be none other than Magneto. There is a brief moment where the gathered heroes brace for some kind of attack, but it turns out that the so-called Master of Magnetism has only come to spend thanks giving with his family.[4] Quicksilver asks to speak to his sister privately in the kitchen, and expresses his displeasure that she invited their father without telling them given their bad blood over the years.[5] Wanda apologizes, as it was a last minute invitation and she begins to cry due to her hormones. Pietro is uncomfortable hearing about this and goes back out to mingle with the other guests.
While talking with the Vision and the Sub-Mariner, Captain America suddenly remembers that the Vision’s body was created from the Human Torch, one of Cap and Namor’s allies during World War II. He asks the Vision if he has any memories from that time. Unfortunately, the Vision explains that his creation destroyed the Torch’s personality. While his body fought in World War II, his personality did not. However, the concept gives him an interesting idea.[6]
Not far away, Martha Williams talks to the Wasp and learns about her divorce,[7] while Norm Webster gets to know Crystal, who tells him how her husband Quicksilver has little time for her family while he focuses on the Inhuman militia.[8] Glamor and Illusion try to strike up a conversation with Magneto, but all they can think to talk about is the weather. Magneto only came because his students, the New Mutants, were off enjoying Thanksgiving with the Power Pack and he didn’t want to be alone.[9] Unfortunately, attending this party has only made him feel more like an outsider than ever before. Dinner turns out to be even more awkward for everyone, as the gathered heroes all think about the different times Magneto tried to destroy them.[10]
As the party begins winding down, Magneto gets annoyed and asks to speak to Wanda in the kitchen. There he expresses his frustration over the fact that, despite being invited over, she and Pietro still haven’t forgiven him for his past. He tries to explain that many of his actions in the past were due to the treatment he received surviving the Nazi concentration camps during World War II.[11] Wanda doesn’t accept this excuse, reminding her father how he treated her and Pietro as pawns to be exploited and that if he wants their trust and respect he is going to have to earn it. Their argument is interrupted by Holly LaDonna, a neighborhood girl who recently helped Wanda and the Vision battle the demonic Samhain.[12] Wanda invites her in, prompting Magneto to storm out of the house. However, as he flies away, something catches his attention, prompting him to turn around and head back.
Returning to the house, he asks to speak with Vision and Quicksilver outside in private. They reluctantly agree and Magneto shows them that they are about to be attacked by what appear to be the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants: Magneto, Toad, Mastermind, and Quicksilver. Although at least two of the Brotherhood are clearly impostors of some kind, they all have the same powers as the group Magneto originally formed. However, the battle is a hard one thanks to Mastermind’s illusions messing with the perceptions of the real Magneto and Quicksilver. However, the Vision is not effected by this power and helps his friends defeat the Brotherhood. They all turn out to be android duplicates led by the Toad. The Vision recalls how the Toad has come after him in the past because of his unrequited love for the Scarlet Witch and that the last time they fought, Toad utilized technology he stole from the Stranger’s home world.[13]
When the Toad tries to make his escape, he doesn’t expect that Pietro swapped clothes with his android duplicate and knocks out the Toad for a second time. In the aftermath of the battle, Magneto asks that neither Vision or Quicksilver tell Wanda what happened here as he wants to win his daughter’s respects on his own merits, not the impromptu battle that they were just involved in. The pair agree and after Toad is dealt with, Vision and Pietro return to the house. There, Wanda introduces them to Holly LaDonna, and tells them that she will be training Holly in witchcraft on top of honing her own skills, since they have no idea what might come at them while they wait for the baby to be born. Thinking about the battle from a moment ago, the pair agree with her in total bemusement.
Recurring Characters
Vision, Scarlet Witch, Toad, Quicksilver, Crystal, Luna, Magneto, Captain America, Wasp, Sub-Mariner, Doctor Strange, Illusion, Glamor, Norm Webster, Martha Williams, Holly LaDonna
Continuity Notes
This story states that a month has passed between issues. This measurement of time puts it at odds with the general principals of the Sliding Timescale. It’s my theory that Wanda used her hex powers to create a bubble of “real time” around Leonia during her pregnancy. Click here for more details.
Here, Doctor Strange explains that he is Wanda’s physician during her pregnancy. Wanda caught pregnant through magic in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3 and will give birth in issue #12.
Crystal asks Martha Williams to explain why and how she considers the Vision to be her son. It’s a complex story:
When Simon Williams was first transformed into Wonder Man back in Avengers #9, he was told that the process that gave him his powers was slowly killing him. He enlisted the aid of the Avengers to help him fine a cure. They failed, but not before they made a recording of Simon’s brain pattern.
When Ultron created the Vision, he used Simon William’s brain patterns to created his personality. See Avengers #57-58.
Simon Williams later came back to life in Avengers #151. In the years that followed the pair tried unsuccessfully to reconcile the fact that their minds were the same. Ultimately, when Vision first met Martha Williams and explained the situation she accepted him as part of the family. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #2.
At the time of this story, everyone believes that Wanda and Pietro are Magneto’s children. This is way more complicated than it appears:
Magneto was convinced that the twins were his children in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. Nobody contested the story at the time.
However, it’s later revealed that they are actually the children of Natalya Maximoff and an unidentified Scarlet Warlock. They were kidnapped by the High Evolutionary for experimentation. Ultimately, to cover up his work, he made it so future genetic tests would have the pair register as mutants. See Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4 and 11 as well as Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5.
Quicksilver mentions how Magneto treated them poorly during their time with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Pietro and Wanda had two stints with the group. The first was from X-Men #4-11, unaware of their alleged “familial relation” Magneto forced them to obey him after he saved their lives. They quit after repaying their debt to him and joined the Avengers in Avengers #16. Their second stint on the team was from Avengers #46, 48-49, X-Men #45 and Avengers #53. Magneto emotionally manipulated them into rejoining the team by using anti-mutant bigotry to get them back on his side.
The Vision’s ties to the Human Torch of World War II are also quite complicated (isn’t everything?) the facts:
The android Human Torch was built in 1939 by Professor Phineas T. Horton, as seen in Marvel Comics #1. He fought alongside Cap and Namor in the Invaders, as seen in Giant-Size Invaders #1.
In 1955, the Torch’s body went nova and deactivated. It was recovered decades later in the Modern Age by the Mad Thinker who attempted to use him against the his foes in Fanastic Four Annual #4. That battle ended with the Torch being deactivated again.
Unknown to everyone at the time of this story, following the Torch’s defeat his inert body was visited by the time traveler Immortus. He created a chronal duplicate of the Human Torch as part of a larger scheme to manipulate the Avengers destiny. As seen in Avengers Forever #8.
One Human Torch was given a funeral and buried in Sub-Mariner #14. It will be reactivated in Avengers West Coast #50.
The other was recovered by Ultron and his body was used to create the Vision. See Avengers #134-135. The use of Simon Williams’ brain pattern was used to overwrite the Human Torch’s personality so that Ultron could more easily control his creation.
The Vision’s idea is to learn more about the Human Torch’s past, which he will do next issue. This will later inspire the Vision to name one of his twin children Thomas in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol 2) #12. Thomas being Phineas Horton’s middle name.
The Wasp mentions her relatively recent divorce. She married her long time boyfriend Hank Pym back in Avengers #60. However, their marriage eventually started becoming strained and Janet later divorced him after he struck her in Avengers #213. She mentions that while they didn’t have children, Hank made a “son” for himself. She is referring to the robot Ultron, whom Hank created in Avengers #54-55. A footnote notes that Ultron can be see again in then recent issues of West Coast Avengers (vol. 2). they are referring to issues #4 to 7 of that series.
Crystal tells Norm Webster about her life as an Inhuman:
She states that she now lives on the moon and before that the hidden city of Attilan was located in the Himalayan Mountains. Attilan was actually located in the Atlantic Ocean for centuries until fear of discovery in the 1950s prompted them to relocate to the mountains, as seen in What If? #29-30. Due to humanity’s pollution becoming a threat to their health, the Inhumans then relocated to the Blue Area of the Moon in Fantastic Four #240.
Crystal began her relationship with Pietro after she saved his life in Avengers #103/Fantastic Four #131. They later got married in Fantastic Four #150. Luna was born in issue #240, just after the Inhumans relocated to the Moon. As per Fantastic Four #248, Luna is named after the her birth place.
As we’ll see next issue, Norm’s interest in Crystal will turn into a full-blown extra-marital affair. It will be exposed in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #10, spelling the end of her marriage to Quicksilver.
At the time of this story, Magneto has been trying to reform his past ways. In Uncanny X-Men #200, Charles Xavier had to leave Earth to be treated for life threatening injuries that only advanced Shi’ar medicine could cure. His final wish was for Magnus to change his ways. He took over teaching the New Mutants in New Mutants #35. Here, he states that the Mutants are celebrating Thanksgiving with the Power Pack, a group of children who are also superheroes. The two teams first met back in Power Pack #20.
The heroes who are at the table all recall various grievances they have with Magneto over his past transgressions:
Namor recalls the time that Magneto tricked him into battling the X-Men. That was way back in X-Men #6.
The Wasp recounts the time that Magneto pitted the Avengers against the X-Men. This was in the aforementioned X-Men #45 and Avengers #53.
Doctor Strange recounts how Magneto had one almost destroyed the Defenders. This happened in Defenders #15-16.
Despite the Sliding Timescale, Magneto’s past is firmly tied to World War II. References to him surviving Auschwitz should be considered factual. For more on Magneto’s time in Nazi Germany see New Mutants #49, Excalibur (vol. 3) #7, Classic X-Men #12, and X-Men: Magneto Testament #1-5.
Wanda recognizes Holly LaDonna from their past encounters. She was a trick-or-treater who was used by Samhain to attack Wanda and Vision in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1. Now grown up, she was working at the local library in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4 and helped the couple defeat Samhain a second time last issue.
The Toad got access to the Stranger’s home world when he and Magneto were first captured by the enigmatic cosmic being back in X-Men #11. His last attack on the Vision and Scarlet Witch was back in Avengers #138.
