“Strike my family down!” With those four words, Marvel enforced one of its most controversial retcons, revoking Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver’s status as Magneto’s biological children, and changing the Avengers heroes’ trajectories over the next decade. Like most of Marvel’s most divisive lore changes, it continues to leave fans asking “who benefits from this?”
Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #7 was written by Rick Remender, with art by Andy Kubert. It was released in 2014. At the time, many readers were critical of the issue’s big reveal: that Pietro and Wanda Maximoff are not Magneto’s biological children.
In retrospect, it has become even more suspect, given that the retcon hasn’t added anything valuable to the heroes’ respective arcs.
“Strike My Family Down”: Marvel’s Controversial Magneto Family Retcon Hasn’t Aged Well In 10+ Years
Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #7, Written By Rick Remender; Art By Andy Kubert; Published In 2014
Avengers & X-Men: AXIS was among the biggest crossovers of its era, and not all of its contributions to Marvel lore are looked back on poorly. Unfortunately, the series’ reputation is marred its use to enact the almost-universally disliked retcon of Magneto’s relationship with his children, the twin Avengers Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.
At the dramatic apex of AXIS #7, Wanda uttered the infamous mystical command, “strike down my family,” and while her brother immediately pitched forward, subdued by her magic, Magneto was left standing. This served as confirmation that he was not, in fact, their bio-father. This creative decision rubbed fans the wrong way for several reasons.
There are the implications for all three characters, of course, which are easier to chart now, over a decade after AXIS was released. Even at the time, though, it bothered readers as a clear example of storytelling by editorial fiat. This wasn’t something the story organically built to, but rather was imposed on the story from above.
Marvel Didn’t Have A Good Reason For Changing Magneto’s Relationship With Quicksilver And Scarlet Witch
Over A Decade Later, It’s Clear There Was No Greater Plan
Marvel’s editors like to maintain that they don’t impose retcons and plots on their authors, but there is a great deal of evidence to say otherwise from throughout Marvel Comics’ history. The erasure of Spider-Man and Mary Jane’s marriage from canon is perhaps the most notorious example, but the Magneto family debacle is almost equally reviled by readers.
The commonly held belief among fans is that Marvel retconned Magneto’s biological relationship to Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver because of a dispute with Fox, which still owned the rights to the X-Men franchise at the time. AXIS was published while Avengers: Age of Ultron, which introduced Wanda and Pietro to the MCU, was in production.
However, even this seems nebulous, and so many years later, it is effectively a moot point. If there was a larger gameplan for the characters that the decision is part of, it never fully materialized. Instead, what the reveal did was recontextualize Magneto’s parentage of Wanda and Quicksilver in a way that wasn’t narratively satisfying for any of them.
Marvel Has Never Fully Followed Through On The Potential Of Its Magneto/Scarlet Witch/Quicksilver Retcon
Too Much Drama Left Untapped
Magneto being Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver’s father was, in itself, a retcon. This piece of Marvel canon was a product of the early 1980s; at that point, Wanda and Pietro had already long since made the transition to heroes as members of the Avengers, but Magneto was still a clear villain, adding a dramatic complication to their existing dynamic.
So, the retcon of the retcon in AXIS #7 changed how readers interpreted the previous thirty years of the characters’ family history, but didn’t erase it. Magneto remained the twins’ adoptive father, for better or worse. If Marvel had subsequently made the most of this change in the characters’ perception of each other, this retcon might not be held in such low regard.
That is, Marvel has never reaped the full story potential of the change. It has tried, at times, certainly, but a lot of drama that could have been derived from this gamechanging moment in AXIS #7 has been left on the table for over ten years. Which has led fans to question whether the change was necessary, or if it can be undone.
Scarlet Witch And Magneto Weren’t Negatively Impacted By Their Worst Retcon, But Quicksilver Is A Different Story
Quicksilver Has Faded Down The Stretch Since 2014
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are a curious pair when it comes to their Marvel history. They were introduced as villains early in X-Men history, but quickly made the jump to the Avengers, and have mostly been stalwart heroes since. However, once Magneto’s paternal connection to the twins was established, it arguably became their defining trait.
In 2015, their introduction in Avengers: Age of Ultron elevated Scarlet Witch to renewed A-list status, while Quicksilver’s death in the film seemingly prefigured his fall from prominence in Marvel Comics lore. Meaning that of the three, Quicksilver has suffered the most negative effects from losing his biological relationship to Magneto.
Again, the discourse around this issue tends to put an overdue emphasis on biological parenthood, but the real point of concern is the idea of Marvel making arbitrary creative decisions that don’t serve the interests of its characters. Magneto and the twins could, in theory, absolutely have a meaningful non-biological parental dynamic.
And Marvel has proven it can deliver this when it makes the effort, but the lack of consistent effort over the years is what makes the retcon most troubling to fans. It is as though, in seeking to renegotiate the ties that bind Magneto, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch, Marvel inadvertantly cut them, resulting in one of the worst retcons in Avengers and X-Men history.
- Alias
-
Magnus, Max Eisenhardt, Erik Lehnsherr
- Race
-
Human mutant
