In every installment of Abandoned Love we will be examining comic book stories, plots and ideas that were abandoned by a later writer without actively retconnng away the previous story. Feel free to e-mail me at brianc@cbr.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.
Today, based on a suggestion from reader Steve S., we see how Marvel erased Quicksilver’s prejudice towards his sister’s husband, Vision…and how it eventually came back!
Now, do note that Quicksilver being overprotective of his sister has been something that has gone on for the entire existence of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, back to their time together in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants before they reformed and joined the Avengers.
However, Quicksilver was never anything but cordial to his teammate, The VIsion, even as the Vision and the Scarlet Witch slowly worked towards a love for each other. To wit, when Scarlet Witch stormed off in Avengers #102 after being irked at the Vision, Quicksilver even tells Vision to talk to her…
The Scarlet Witch would then be captured by Sentinels while by herself. The Avengers tried to save her, while Quicksilver ran his own investigation. He ended up almost dying while on his solo mission to save her (meanwhile, the Avengers were saving her without him).
While he was missing, Scarlet Witch and Vision finally declared their love for each other. In Avengers #110 (by which time Steve Englehart had taken over writing duties on the title from Roy Thomas), the Avengers learn that Quicksilver is alive, but he is not happy about his sister’s new relationship…
Even at his wedding, he continues to be a jerk about it…
Vision and Scarlet Witch just ignore him and get married anyways. He continues to be a jerk.
Well, finally, in Avengers #176, Jim Shooter decided to move past this plot point, so he just abandoned it by having Moondragon literally wipe the prejudice from his brain (David Michelinie scripted it)…
And sure enough, a few years later, when Quicksilver and Crystal had a child, Quicksilver was super nice to the Vision…
So how did things change? Well, simply put, Englehart returned to the character. In the followup series to the first Vision and Scarlet Witch series, Crystal cheats on Quicksilver with a neighbor of the Vision and Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver can’t forgive her…
And soon, in West Coast Avengers Annual #1, we see that the betrayal caused him to snap…
As you can see, the prejudiced views have returned!
He went even further later on in West Coast Avengers #34…
Then the marriage between Vision and Scarlet Witch fell apart after the Vision was taken apart by the world’s governments (who were afraid that he would try to take over the world again – he had tried to do so in an earlier storyline when he was infected by the Eternals’ computer, Isaac), so there wasn’t much chance for Quicksilver to be prejudice about the issue since.
Thanks to Steve for the suggestion! If anyone else has a suggestion of an interesting abandoned comic book plot, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!