By and large, I think it was more as accessories than any sort of active villainny. Yes, they were part of the Brotherhood,but outside of fighting the X-Men (who I doubt pressed charges) and the Avengers (ditto) and Thor, I think their participation was pretty minimal.
I don't have chapter and verse, but I think that prior to joining the Avengers, they only showed up in X-Men and Avengers and Journey Into Mystery as antagonists. Sadly, the GCD is proving terribly unhelpful in determining this, as a character search sorted by date for either Quicksilver or the Scarlet Witch is turning up lots of not very useful results.
Q&SW's first foray into villainy wasn't very illegal, and didn't last very long.
The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants first appeared in The X-Men #4 (Mar 64), and that issue is perhaps the peak of Q&SW's criminal career. In that issue, Magneto and the gang take over the Latin American nation of San Marco. But in the process, it is Magneto who does the worst terrorism (he shells the coast with a magnetically captured and operated gunboat), and Mastermind casts an illusion showing invading troops. I don't know if taking over a country is illegal, but surely some people died in the process, which makes Q&SW accessories to murder. If anyone has jurisdiction! The Hague might, if San Marco is a U.N. member nation, but who knows? Magneto did try to blow up the whole country, which is attempted mass murder, which Q&SW did not try to stop, so they are again accessories.
In The X-Men #5 (May 64), Magneto tries to capture and kill the X-Men. Again, Q&SW don't do any heavy lifting, but they remain accessories to attempted murder. (Although, as Randy said, The X-Men would be unlikely to press charges.)
In The X-Men #6 Jul 64), Magneto attempts to recruit Sub-Mariner. I don't think any laws were broken.
In The X-Men #7 (Sep 64), the Brotherhood uses The Blob to attack the X-Men. Once again, Q&SW are largely spectators and what I said about issue #5 applies again.
In Journey into Mystery #107 (Oct 64), Thor investigates some magnetic phenomena, and battles Magneto and the Brotherhood. Again, not sure any specific laws are broken.
In The X-Men #11 (May 65), Magneto attempts to recruit The Stranger. The Stranger whisks both Magneto and Toad off-planet, and turns Mastermind to stone. With no Brotherhood left, Q&SW bravely quit the team.
That same month, in Avengers #16 (May 65), Q&SW are shown in Switzerland, where Pietro reads in the newspaper that Tony Stark is looking for new Avengers. They are inducted into the Avengers in that very issue.
I hope I didn't miss any pre-Avengers appearances, but none spring to mind. Anyway, as you can see, Wanda and Pietro never kill anyone or rob anyone or commit any other felonies as Brotherhood members, although they are complicit in schemes to murder people, especially the X-Men.
Their second foray into villainy also seems a little harmless. In Avengers #47 (Dec 67), they are captured by Magneto, who has returned to earth. They are tortured a little, whereupon Wanda vows (in issue #48) "Whatever you may do to us, we'll remain Avengers -- until the end!" And Pietro says he can "never forget" his vows as an Avenger.
But all that promptly goes out the window in the next issue (#49), when Magneto arranges for Wanda to be injured by a human policeman while delivering some nonsensical demand at the United Nations, and Pietro gets so angry that he quits the Avengers and re-joins the Brotherhood. No, that doesn't make any sense. And Wanda just comes along because Pietro tells her to!
I don't recall much of what they did in this villainous turn; the Avengers are busy with other foes for the next couple of issues. They did appear as Magneto henchmen in The X-Men #43-45 (Apr-May 68), which then crosses over with Avengers #53 (Jun 68), where they fly off with The Toad at the end when it appears Magneto has died.
Hank Pym opines "They seem to want no more of either the X-Men ... or the Avengers!" Hawkeye's "I wonder if we'll ever see them again" indicated to me as a lad that they were being written out, and so they were. I don't recall either making a re-appearance (except for a pointless Quicksilver guest spot in a late '60s issue of Amazing Spider-Man) until they rejoined the team in Avengers #75 (Apr 70).
Yep. But, strangely, when they revealed that Magneto was the father of Q&SW (in Vision & Scarlet Witch #4, Feb 83), it made a whole lot of sense:
1) The parentage of Pietro and Wanda had always been in flux. At one point they were the children of the Golden Age Whizzer and Miss America, at another the children of two Eastern European gypsies. Neither explanation was very satisfying.
2) The first time we saw Magneto without his helmet (The X-Men #62, Nov 69), he unexpectedly had white hair with cowlicks ... like a certain green-clad speedster.
3) Pietro and Wanda switching allegiance from Avengers to Magneto (one issue after swearing they be "Avengers -- until the end!") made no sense at the time or in retrospect ... unless, somewhere in the back of his head, Pietro felt some sort of filial duty to Magneto.
4) Which also answers the questions we had at the time the first time these two were in the Brotherhood. They didn't share Magneto's aims, they didn't like their fellow Brotherhood members (they absolutely despised Mastermind and Toad), the X-Men frequently remarked that they didn't seem as bad as the others, and they never really acted except in defense of each other. So why where they in the Brotherhood? It doesn't make much sense, unless we re-read those stories knowing what we know now. THEN they make sense -- because the Magneto/Pietro vibe was very much father/son.
Ok. We found out Maggy was the dad - and 'Magda' who died in childbirth was the mom, yes.?
So who thinks it won't be very long before a ressurected 'Dark Magda' maxi-crossover series.?.?.!
Dave Elyea said:
It always did seem odd that Miss America, of all people, would name her children Wanda & Pietro, instead of say, Sally & Jim.
Ok. We found out Maggy was the dad - and 'Magda' who died in childbirth was the mom, yes.? So who thinks it won't be very long before a ressurected 'Dark Magda' maxi-crossover series.?.?.!
Cap, you forgot Strange Tales 128 (Jan '65), where Pietro and Wanda plan to run away from Magneto and think that the very public Fantastic Four are their easiest escape route to safe refuge. Of course, moments before they arrive at the Baxter Building, Ben and Johnny see a news bulletin about the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants - so instead of asylum, the twins get a battle royale! It ends in a stalemate (neither FFer wants to hit Wanda and they can barely touch Pietro); sadly, the mutants leave more convinced that humans can't be trusted.
Cap, you forgot Strange Tales 128 (Jan '65), where Pietro and Wanda plan to run away from Magneto and think that the very public Fantastic Four are their easiest escape route to safe refuge. Of course, moments before they arrive at the Baxter Building, Ben and Johnny see a news bulletin about the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants - so instead of asylum, the twins get a battle royale! It ends in a stalemate (neither FFer wants to hit Wanda and they can barely touch Pietro); sadly, the mutants leave more convinced that humans can't be trusted.
Oh, right! Thanks, John!
And that story was another stroke in the overall portrait of Q&SW as reluctant members of the Brotherhood, whose continual presence in that gang was inexplicable ... unless you know that Mags is the dad. Then it makes sense. (Retroactively!)
Replies
By and large, I think it was more as accessories than any sort of active villainny. Yes, they were part of the Brotherhood,but outside of fighting the X-Men (who I doubt pressed charges) and the Avengers (ditto) and Thor, I think their participation was pretty minimal.
I don't have chapter and verse, but I think that prior to joining the Avengers, they only showed up in X-Men and Avengers and Journey Into Mystery as antagonists. Sadly, the GCD is proving terribly unhelpful in determining this, as a character search sorted by date for either Quicksilver or the Scarlet Witch is turning up lots of not very useful results.
Randy Jackson Johnson is right!
Q&SW's first foray into villainy wasn't very illegal, and didn't last very long.
The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants first appeared in The X-Men #4 (Mar 64), and that issue is perhaps the peak of Q&SW's criminal career. In that issue, Magneto and the gang take over the Latin American nation of San Marco. But in the process, it is Magneto who does the worst terrorism (he shells the coast with a magnetically captured and operated gunboat), and Mastermind casts an illusion showing invading troops. I don't know if taking over a country is illegal, but surely some people died in the process, which makes Q&SW accessories to murder. If anyone has jurisdiction! The Hague might, if San Marco is a U.N. member nation, but who knows? Magneto did try to blow up the whole country, which is attempted mass murder, which Q&SW did not try to stop, so they are again accessories.
In The X-Men #5 (May 64), Magneto tries to capture and kill the X-Men. Again, Q&SW don't do any heavy lifting, but they remain accessories to attempted murder. (Although, as Randy said, The X-Men would be unlikely to press charges.)
In The X-Men #6 Jul 64), Magneto attempts to recruit Sub-Mariner. I don't think any laws were broken.
In The X-Men #7 (Sep 64), the Brotherhood uses The Blob to attack the X-Men. Once again, Q&SW are largely spectators and what I said about issue #5 applies again.
In Journey into Mystery #107 (Oct 64), Thor investigates some magnetic phenomena, and battles Magneto and the Brotherhood. Again, not sure any specific laws are broken.
In The X-Men #11 (May 65), Magneto attempts to recruit The Stranger. The Stranger whisks both Magneto and Toad off-planet, and turns Mastermind to stone. With no Brotherhood left, Q&SW bravely quit the team.
That same month, in Avengers #16 (May 65), Q&SW are shown in Switzerland, where Pietro reads in the newspaper that Tony Stark is looking for new Avengers. They are inducted into the Avengers in that very issue.
I hope I didn't miss any pre-Avengers appearances, but none spring to mind. Anyway, as you can see, Wanda and Pietro never kill anyone or rob anyone or commit any other felonies as Brotherhood members, although they are complicit in schemes to murder people, especially the X-Men.
Their second foray into villainy also seems a little harmless. In Avengers #47 (Dec 67), they are captured by Magneto, who has returned to earth. They are tortured a little, whereupon Wanda vows (in issue #48) "Whatever you may do to us, we'll remain Avengers -- until the end!" And Pietro says he can "never forget" his vows as an Avenger.
But all that promptly goes out the window in the next issue (#49), when Magneto arranges for Wanda to be injured by a human policeman while delivering some nonsensical demand at the United Nations, and Pietro gets so angry that he quits the Avengers and re-joins the Brotherhood. No, that doesn't make any sense. And Wanda just comes along because Pietro tells her to!
I don't recall much of what they did in this villainous turn; the Avengers are busy with other foes for the next couple of issues. They did appear as Magneto henchmen in The X-Men #43-45 (Apr-May 68), which then crosses over with Avengers #53 (Jun 68), where they fly off with The Toad at the end when it appears Magneto has died.
Hank Pym opines "They seem to want no more of either the X-Men ... or the Avengers!" Hawkeye's "I wonder if we'll ever see them again" indicated to me as a lad that they were being written out, and so they were. I don't recall either making a re-appearance (except for a pointless Quicksilver guest spot in a late '60s issue of Amazing Spider-Man) until they rejoined the team in Avengers #75 (Apr 70).
Anybody else got anything I forgot?
And this was all before Magneto was retconned into being their father.
Yep. But, strangely, when they revealed that Magneto was the father of Q&SW (in Vision & Scarlet Witch #4, Feb 83), it made a whole lot of sense:
1) The parentage of Pietro and Wanda had always been in flux. At one point they were the children of the Golden Age Whizzer and Miss America, at another the children of two Eastern European gypsies. Neither explanation was very satisfying.
2) The first time we saw Magneto without his helmet (The X-Men #62, Nov 69), he unexpectedly had white hair with cowlicks ... like a certain green-clad speedster.
3) Pietro and Wanda switching allegiance from Avengers to Magneto (one issue after swearing they be "Avengers -- until the end!") made no sense at the time or in retrospect ... unless, somewhere in the back of his head, Pietro felt some sort of filial duty to Magneto.
4) Which also answers the questions we had at the time the first time these two were in the Brotherhood. They didn't share Magneto's aims, they didn't like their fellow Brotherhood members (they absolutely despised Mastermind and Toad), the X-Men frequently remarked that they didn't seem as bad as the others, and they never really acted except in defense of each other. So why where they in the Brotherhood? It doesn't make much sense, unless we re-read those stories knowing what we know now. THEN they make sense -- because the Magneto/Pietro vibe was very much father/son.
It did make sense in retropsect, but I always felt that the golden age Whizzer and Miss America deserved something better.
It always did seem odd that Miss America, of all people, would name her children Wanda & Pietro, instead of say, Sally & Jim.
So who thinks it won't be very long before a ressurected 'Dark Magda' maxi-crossover series.?.?.!
Dave Elyea said:
Shhh...you'll give them ideas.
Richard Mantle said:
Cap, you forgot Strange Tales 128 (Jan '65), where Pietro and Wanda plan to run away from Magneto and think that the very public Fantastic Four are their easiest escape route to safe refuge. Of course, moments before they arrive at the Baxter Building, Ben and Johnny see a news bulletin about the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants - so instead of asylum, the twins get a battle royale! It ends in a stalemate (neither FFer wants to hit Wanda and they can barely touch Pietro); sadly, the mutants leave more convinced that humans can't be trusted.
John Dunbar (the mod of maple) said:
Oh, right! Thanks, John!
And that story was another stroke in the overall portrait of Q&SW as reluctant members of the Brotherhood, whose continual presence in that gang was inexplicable ... unless you know that Mags is the dad. Then it makes sense. (Retroactively!)
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