Halloween gives the cast an excuse to dress in approximations of their comic costumes, as if real people were sewing them from scratch (the Vision and Quicksilver’s costumes look very homemade, but Wanda looks the closest to her classic Scarlet Witch costume—like, she could wear it into battle whereas the men would look goofy). I realize the costumes that look fine in print may look weird in live action, and I think it’s a shame that we’ve lost some of the more colorful costumes as superheroes move to movies and TV. I hate when live action adaptations seem almost embarrassed of their four-color origins. They should be celebrating them.
Costumes serve an important function in comics: they allow readers to identify characters easily. No two artists will draw the Scarlet Witch the same but once she wears that iconic red headpiece, she’s immediately identifiable. The red bathing suit with a cape and evening gloves has endured for over 50 years for a reason. The very few times she has had costume redesigns without the headpiece, she just hasn’t looked right. A lot of characters have had design elements that they must include. Plus, I’ve heard superheroes explain that their colorful costumes allow kids to trust them if they’re in a situation where they need rescuing.
Wanda knows something isn’t right with Pietro. He looks different and he’s dropped his Sokovian accent (then again, he points out, so has she). When he goes trick-or-treating, doesn’t his blown-out hairstyle look reminiscent of Mephisto’s? Pietro also seems to approve of his sister’s amped-up powers, in a nod to House of M, when he was the one manipulating Wanda to warp reality (everybody assumed it was Magneto pulling the strings—force of habit).
In the latest episode of WandaVision, Billy and Tommy have grown to the edge of adolescence, old enough to start manifesting their powers and cracking wise to the camera in a nod to Malcolm in the Middle. I’m not as well-versed on these two as I am older Marvel so here’s what I know about the characters in the comics.
Both are members of the Young Avengers, sort of the junior team where each member has an analogue on the adult team. After Mephisto reabsorbed their souls into themselves, the children ceased to exist but were later reborn to separate families. This makes the Scarlet Witch and Vision their birth parents in a weird Marvel way (I can tell you from experience that this was not a typical adoption process).
Tommy Shepherd is known as Speed and inherited his uncle Quicksilver’s superspeed. He also has prematurely gray hair, which is apparently a trait of many of the men in the Maximoff/Eisenhardt/Lehnsherr family. Billy Kaplan-Altman is known as Wiccan and has vaguely defined magical powers. I don’t believe he actually has anything to do with Wicca but they changed his codename from Asgardian to avoid any puns on his sexuality (he also doesn’t have any relation to the Asgardians). Billy recently married Teddy Altman, known as Hulkling. Teddy is the son of the Kree Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) and a Skrull princess (the Kree and Skrulls are longtime mortal enemies) and he recently inherited the Skrull throne.
Yeah, Monica is totally on the verge of getting her Captain Marvel/Photon/Spectrum energy powers. Her cells are all messed up from interacting with Wanda’s energies.
At the edges of Westview, things are fraying. Those at the town limit are stuck in stasis. This includes Agnes, dressed as a witch in a reference to Agatha Harkness (she was a witch but didn’t wear a black hat or anything). The Vision decides to see what is on the other side of the barrier. Free from Wanda’s influence, he starts to fray and fall apart. This would be alarming but I’ve read enough comics to know the Vision is the last superhero to worry about. They’ll just repair him.
Wanda retrenches and expands her sphere of influence. A little more of the world is hers to command.
No comments:
Post a Comment