Come May 2015 (Or April depending where you’re at) the Avengers roster will officially be expanding for the first time. Hailing from the Silver Age of Comics, the Maximoff twins and Vision have been chosen by Lord Joss Whedon to be inaugurated into the team and Whedon could not have picked a better lineup. This is classic Avengers at its finest.
POWERS
Now these guys being in the MCU may not seem that much of a big deal to some but to an over-analyzing geek like me, it’s a really big deal. This is one of the first depictions of a super-powered Earthling in the MCU (that doesn’t necessarily involve just being athletically superior or transforming into a monster) particularly for the films since we’ve already seen a few powers like Absorbing Man in Agents of SHIELD.
Now it’s no secret that these characters are incredibly powerful in the comic books and that in the MCU, their powers will most likely be watered down for very reasonable purposes. Regardless, I think we’re still in for a treat.
Scarlet Witch is the big one that comes to mind since she poses the biggest question regarding her powers. She is immensely and imbalanced in the comics and it would be terribly difficult to explain her hex/reality altering abilities. According to what’s being hinted right now, it would seem that her abilities are strictly based on telekinesis and telepathy. Obviously that still remains to be seen until the film comes out but I think that’s a good alternative from some reality altering powers.
As for Quicksilver, there’s really not much to talk about since its all a matter of limiting how fast the guy is. Ideally at his peak, Pietro has the capability of running at Mach 10 which is roughly 3K miles a second. And there’s a good chance that would be possibly limited to maybe Mach 5 or even lower. Comparisons to Days of Future Past will be inevitable once this film lands but by the looks of how the abilities are portrayed in the trailer, you can tell how contextually and visually different those two portrayals are.
The Days of Future Past version of Pietro is depicted as having powers that is (quite possibly) close to the comics. Now its a geek common knowledge that Quicksilver is not as fast as Flash but holy shit is he fast in this film. He just kinda blinks from point A to point B.
The Age of Ultron version – while seemingly not as fast as the DOFP version – has a more fluid/smoother kind of movement that when paired with those blue-ish silver streaks just makes it damn beautiful to stare at. Just look at that!
While it is indeed too early to tell which of those ends up being faster, the comparison of the two will be a fun thing to look at once we see Age of Ultron come out.
Among these characters, its the Vision that is potentially the most visually interesting to see and his abilities are also a handful which – again – could possibly be lessened in order to fit the MCU.
So what exactly is the Vision capable of doing? Well to start off, the Vision has cybernetic strength/speed/reflexes/stamina which we can assume is much more powerful compared to the average human. He can fire laser beams from his eyes and obviously has the power of flight.
His most popular power in my opinion has to be his ability to alter his density. He is capable of manipulating his density to allow himself to be sort of ghostly with the added ability of phasing through walls and he can also manipulate the weigh of his body. The denser and heavier Vision manipulates himself to be, the stronger his punches land so go figure how potentially destructive that could be. Also being the robotic AI that he is, he has incomprehensible calculative and analytical abilities which we all know has its use on the field.
Now while that all sounds really cool, its a mystery on which of those abilities make it in the movie and how strong would he end up being. This is purely speculation but since the MCU Vision is basically Jarvis and that his body would (presumably) come from some sort of Stark Technology, we can count in the lasers and such. We all know how strong Stark’s suits are and how highly intelligent Jarvis is so we got those elements down.
As for his density abilities, sadly I think that could be one to be not included. Contextually in the MCU, that sort of technology seems a bit too advanced for existing Stark Tech. How something technological manages to alter its physicality and density is beyond me and despite me wishing for that to happen, I think its highly unlikely and too much of an overkill. The idea that Ultron would create something that could be much more dangerous and stronger than himself is unlikely to me at least.
UPDATE: Someone has pointed that Paul Bettany has confirmed that Vision will indeed have his density manipulation abilities. Needless to say, we can all expect how dangerously powerful Vision is going to potentially be!
PRESENCE
So let’s talk about their place in the MCU and how their presence adds something new to the table. What do these guys bring to the table? Where do they fit in future franchises?
Right now, we can expect to see them appear in Civil War. You know how the Age of Ultron rumored ending goes; with Cap allegedly forming a new team. And who would be better than these guys? But beyond that, where could they go next? Do they have a spot for Phase 4? What could the future have in store for them? Lets speculate.
In terms of quantity, there aren’t that many stories which centers on these characters to begin with but there are lot of decent ones. For Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, their most iconic modern storyline would probably have to be House of M. But that storyline heavily involves the X-Men, Magneto and Mutants. Unless we have another Civil War situation – wherein there is a massive story overhaul – this is light years away from happening in the MCU. But you never know.
There is this major comic book event which precedes House of M called Avengers: Disassembled, wherein Scarlet Witch finally snaps and goes insane. Her powers go berserk and pretty much fucks up the Avengers. Some of them die and the team is left in ruins, leading the remaining heroes to debate on what’s left to do with Wanda, which then leads to House of M. Now is there any chance for this to happen? I say yes. Again this is purely speculation, but MCU Scarlet Witch seems just as disturbed as comic book Scarlet Witch; from their speculated history and background she seems just as tortured as her comic book counterpart and that’s amazingly faithful to the material. Avengers: Disassembled happening in the MCU could trigger a ripple of storytelling opportunities for these characters.
Same goes for Quicksilver, there aren’t much in terms of quantity but he’s a character that’s always been around. He has been a great foe to several Avengers countless of times and to his own sister as well. After the events of Avengers: Disassembled and House of M, Quicksilver is left powerless. Out of desperation, he steals the Inhumans’ Terrigen Mists and attempts to use it on himself. This obviously does not bode well with the Royal Family and shit goes down in retaliation. Again, this is something that is plausible for the films now that we’re getting the Inhumans soon. Plus it leads to the Inhumans story arc called Silent War!
For the Vision, another plausible scenario I can see happening in the MCU that is akin to the comic books is the origin of the Young Avengers. After the disastrous events of Disassembled, The Vision is revealed to have a failsafe program – that involves the meticulously planned recruitment for possible replacements for the Avengers – is activated once the Avengers are defeated.
So Scarlet Witch causes some shit which disbands the Avengers, Quicksilver loses his powers and becomes desperate and Vision is programmed to find the new replacements. It’s all connected folks! That is why I’m incredibly excited for their presence in the MCU. These are characters with such great backgrounds and storyarcs in the comics and one thing can lead to the other and you got the MCU expanding beautifully once more. All because Joss decided these guys were worth adding into the Avengers. Thank you Joss!
