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WandaVision: Evan Peters' Quicksilver Character Explained

Here's a breakdown in case that big 'WandaVision' reveal gave you whiplash.



Since the start of WandaVision, fans have had practically no idea what to expect from week to week. The truth about Wanda, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and Vision's, played by Paul Bettany, existence inside an ever-transforming sitcom has slowly emerged. By now, it's been confirmed that this ill-fated Marvel couple now exists inside a warped version of reality which is most likely created by Wanda and born out of her grief over the death of Vision.


Courtesy of Disney / Marvel Studios
Courtesy of Disney and Marvel Studios

We also know that this version of reality has manifested as a hexagon-shaped pocket universe that has swallowed an entire town in New Jersey and left many residents subjected to Wanda's magical influences in order to help her and Vision live out their suburban happily ever after.


Last weekend's episode, "On a Very Special Episode...," was perhaps the most jaw-dropping episode yet. After WandaVision reminded viewers numerous times that Wanda's brother, Pietro, was dead and that on some level she was still deeply hurt by his death (as you might expect), Pietro seemed to magically return from the dead at the end of the episode. After Wanda and Vision fight about the sitcom reality Wanda has created, the doorbell rings. Wanda, assuring Vision she has no idea who that is and that she's not responsible for making it happen, opens the door and stands there in shock. The camera cuts to reveal that it's her brother Pietro, (also known as, Quicksilver). But it's Evan Peters as Quicksilver, a completely different version of the character who has, until now, existed in a completely separate cinematic franchise.


Courtesy of Disney and Marvel Studios

Peters' cameo, and seemingly his recurring role, on WandaVision comes with a myriad of implications about what could happen in the MCU going forward. But, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it's probably best to pause refresh our memories on who Quicksilver is.


Quicksilver is the superhero nickname of Pietro Maximoff, twin brother of Wanda Maximoff. In Marvel Comics, Wanda and Pietro's origins are oddly complex for superheroes, with the origins tweaked and refined over the years. The basic gist is this: Wanda and Pietro are the children of Magneto and his wife, Magda. Magda gave birth to the twins in secret with the help of a sentient cow named Bova on Wundagore Mountain and left the twins in Bova's care. Eventually, Bova gave the twins to a different couple who had lost their own children, and Wanda and Pietro were raised as their own.


It's a good thing, too, because Magneto is an extremely terrible parent to his kids in the comics. As the twins grew older, they eventually met Bova and learned the truth of their parentage. Pietro's superpowers include super speed, speed physiology basically, having a body that doesn't wear out by going extremely fast, enhanced durability, flexibility, and strength, and all of the fun extras that come with being a superpowered human.



While Pietro has had a long and eventful life in the comics, his time in the MCU was shorter. Pietro appeared in one MCU movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and was played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson in that movie. The MCU took some liberties with Wanda and Pietro's backstory, in part because they had to exclude Magneto (that character belongs to 20th Century Studios' X-Men universe, which, because of the way Marvel's rights are divvied up, couldn't allow Marvel Studios to name the character at the time). So, in Age of Ultron, we learn Wanda and Pietro were twins from Sokovia who were orphaned at age 10 when a Stark Industries missile flew into their apartment building and detonated, killing their parents.


Radicalized as teens, the twins volunteered to HYDRA to be experimented on by Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann). The twins survived and, as a result, had their superpowers. Pietro and Wanda spend most of Age of Ultron's runtime helping Ultron (James Spader), but when they learn he wants to destroy humanity, defect to the Avengers to help destroy Ultron. Pietro is eventually killed in the final battle, dying from gunfire aimed at Hawkeye and a young Sokovian boy.


So, Evan Peters as Quicksilver. That's where things got interesting. Let's talk about it.



Peters has been playing Quicksilver for much longer than Taylor-Johnson, not just in terms of chronological time, but also in terms of the number of movies he's appeared in. Peters first appeared as Quicksilver in 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past. This version of Quicksilver was introduced as Peter Maximoff, a high school kid who liked to use his super-speed for delinquent purposes. Quicksilver was recruited by Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) because his unique skill set made him the perfect additional asset to help jailbreak Magneto (Michael Fassbender). There is more of a nod toward the possibility Quicksilver is Magneto's son in Days of Future Past than in any other Marvel movie, and that parentage is outright confirmed in later X-Men movies. Peters went on to play Quicksilver in two more X-Men franchise installments: 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse and 2019's X-Men: Dark Phoenix.


Courtesy of Marvel Studios

Like Magneto and his erasure from Wanda and Pietro's MCU backstory, Peters' Quicksilver is part of 20th Century Studios' X-Men franchise which means his version of the character doesn't exist in the MCU. As such, it has generally been accepted that this character would cross over into the MCU due to the various intricacies of rights. So, the character was recast with Taylor-Johnson for the MCU's Age of Ultron.


This is the primary reason Peters' appearance in "On a Very Special Episode..." is so shocking. It is a bold move for Marvel Studios to make. Granted, 20th Century Studios is now a sister company of Marvel's, but since the former studio was acquired by Disney and despite Marvel head Kevin Feige's confirmation that some 20th Century Marvel characters would be coming into the MCU (like the Fantastic Four), fans generally assumed this would be much further down the line. And even then, it was never confirmed that the actors who originated those 20th Century Marvel characters would reprise their roles in the MCU.



Because Peters' involvement in WandaVision has been kept under wraps for the entirety of the time leading up to this episode's release, we're still processing what this actually mind-blowing revelation might mean going forward.


 

Courtesy of Collider


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