Although Magneto was believed for years to be the father of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, it was revealed that they are not really related.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for X-Factor #10 by Leah Williams, David Baldeón, David Messina, Lucas Werneck, Israel Silva, VC’s Joe Caramagna, and Tom Muller, available now.
Magneto is about to go through the latest tragedy in a life full of them. At the end of the X-Men’s Hellfire Gala event in X-Factor #10, his surrogate daughter Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, was found dead. Suspiciously, Magneto was nowhere to be found, which will lead into the upcoming Trial of Magneto storyline. While the two of them just shared a tender moment that reflected how much they still meant to each other earlier during the Hellfire Gala, we’re taking a look back at how the precise relationship between the two changed over the years.
During his time as a supervillain, Magneto found the orphaned Wanda and her brother Pietro, believing their unexplained superpowers to be the result of mutant heritage. He recruited them into the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants where they served as reluctant villains when they debuted in 1964’s X-Men #4, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. For a brief time, they worked alongside Magneto before departing and redeeming themselves as members of the Avengers.
Throughout their history, changes were frequently made to the identities of their birth parents, but the status quo eventually settled on the idea that they were the children of Magneto and his wife Magda. This remained the status quo, with minor alterations and retcons, for decades. Both twins’ relationships with Erik were usually strained due to his cruelty and the chaotic nature of Wanda’s immense powers. Famously, the relationship between Wanda and Magneto took center stage in Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel’s House of M event in 2005, when a mentally unstable Wanda created a world ruled by her father before depowering most of the world’s mutants.
More recently, the dynamic between the twins and Magneto was altered once again to remove their biological connection entirely. During Rick Remender, Adam Kubert, Leinil Yu, Terry Dodson and Jim Cheung’s 2014 crossover event Axis, Wanda, whose personality had been briefly inverted to make her a villain, unleashed a spell meant to harm her family members. When only Pietro reacted, it was implied that the twins were not in fact biologically related to Magneto. It was subsequently confirmed that they were not Erik and Magda’s children and that they were also not mutants, with their powers being attributed to experiments the High Evolutionary performed on them. Their birth parents were identified as Django and Marya Maximoff as they originally believed, and this explanation is still currently considered canon.
Altering Wanda and Pietro’s backstory made them more similar to their Marvel Cinematic Universe counterparts, who were introduced a few months after Axis in Avengers: Age of Ultron and could not be portrayed as mutants or relatives of Magneto’s in the MCU, due to rights issues that were resolved by Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox.
Despite all their ups and downs, Erik made it clear to Wanda that he views her as his child and cares for her in S.W.O.R.D. #6, making her subsequent death all the more tragic. Although Magneto promised Wanda that he would repair her reputation in the eyes of Marvel’s mutants. there are strict laws against killing non-mutants. Even for someone who was a pariah on the island nation, Magneto could face exile if he is found to have been involved in her death.
While Krakoa has been able to resurrect mutants from the dead, that option doesn’t appear to be on the table for a non-mutant like the Scarlet Witch. Her onetime status as a mutant and Magneto’s daughter would’ve made the Scarlet Witch Krakoan royalty. And since Magneto’s feelings towards her may not have changed, the whole Marvel Universe may feel his wrath when her true killer is revealed.
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