So, if you're anything like me, you were appalled by the recent potential revelation that Magneto may not be the father of the Maximoff twins. In Axis #7, we saw an "inverted" Wanda cast a spell, harnessing the chaos magicks once again, wherein she damned her bloodline. Magneto was not effected, thus making him not of her bloodline, not a relative. Supposedly.

But...hold on, look at that font in the speech bubbles. It's reminiscent of another character, one we've seen speak through the other half of the Maximoff twins....

This is Quicksilver under possession of Chthon, harnessing chaos in a fashion similar to Wanda. Chthon is a demonic elder god who is closely tied to the twins, having been present for their birth in the High Evolutionary's base on Mount Wundagore. We see their birth depicted in "Wundagore Nights", an Avengers arc from 1979. There's still at least one element of the birth we know to be true, Magda (Magneto's wife) did, in fact, mother the children no matter what....

Bova describes an phenomena that occurred at the birth of Wanda, she was apparently immersed in a mysterious energy that also appeared in the night sky above summit of Mount Wundagore. This was observed previously by the Whizzer, who claimed to be Wanda's father at one point given that he and his wife, Miss America (Madeline Joyce, not Chavez obviously), were present at Wundagore the very same night while she was with child and about to deliver. One thing worth noting- the High Evolutionary kept Wanda and Pietro in suspended animation for decades after which is why this story involves so many people from the early 20'th century. But, back to Whizzer, a clear sign he wasn't the father was his observation of Mount Wundagore....

So it's apparent that Whizzer was not, in fact, the father of those children because the event of their birth was already taking place when they arrived at Mount Wundagore. Bova described later that Miss America died during childbirth and that her child was stillborn so she merely gave Whizzer the Maximoff twins in the hopes that he would raise them. Too devastated by the loss of his wife, he left and never returned, believing that he had abandoned his own children in the process until his death. But, as it turns out, his wife may not have been so far off in her assumption that the light was "the devil's doing". Chthon's involvement in Wanda's birth would later be expanded upon....

Evidently, Chthon had a lot riding on Wanda, believing her to be the perfect vessel to his disembodied spirit. It's clear that his interference was first shown to take place after she was born rather than at conception. He isn't credited for Wanda's conception but it's noted that she has a "dual heritage" from then on, a marriage of "magic and science". Chthon expanded upon his connection to the Scarlet Witch in "Wundagore Nights"....

So, as it happens, Chthon had been manipulating Wanda without her knowing it for years, making her "science-rooted powers" weaker to make way for the sorcery that would eventually help to harbor him in her physical form. Against her will or even her awareness, she was always being manipulated by Chthon, since she was an infant, in order to become the perfect vessel for his power. Eventually, he got the chance to capitalize on all his hard work...

Of course he was thwarted by the Avengers and, once again disembodied, only to return through vessels. One of them being none other than Pietro....

So, my theory? Chthon has been shown to be capable of a few things 1) Possession (duh) 2) Manipulation of powers and, thus, manipulation of genetic coding possibly by way of magic. He can alter his hosts to suit his needs, take the template of a super-powered human being and tailor them to his specific needs. Since mutation is a matter of genetics and genetic coding, that would mean that he gradually can possibly alter the lineage of his hosts given that his magic changes their abilities. So does this mean Magneto is not their father? No. Scientifically, biologically Magneto remains their father but Wanda, in the practice of the chaos magicks and under possession at the time of the spell in Axis #7, was affecting her "magical" bloodline. Which works out well for Chthon, doesn't it? Because if Wanda and Pietro's parentage comes into question where will they go for answers? Mount Wundagore. And who happens to be tied to Mount Wundagore? Chthon. So this is a method of delivering Wanda to back to her mystical father, leaving her susceptible to possession, by forcing her to question the relation to her actual father.

BOOYA! The House of M remains intact and Marvel, once again, is just being provocative and attention-getting as usual and maybe piss off Fox while they're at it. Kinda worked, right? Betcha this all comes together around the time of Age of Ultron....

You're stretching to cover up a stupid change on Marvel's part. Nevertheless keep trying to come up with explanations. Anything is better than this retcon.

Covering Marvel is not anywhere close to my intentions at all, whatsoever. They're still lousy in that they're willing to piss us all off just for publicity instead of building anticipation and also as collateral to stickin' it to Fox. But I'm pretty confident in this theory, what's particularly "stretchy" about it anyways? It's well-substantiated.

Your theory makes sense to me.

I have no problem with Remender because he is REALLY A GOOD WRITER and he makes the Marvel Universe A LOT MORE INTERESTING.

the answer is the use of the dark arts known as corporate synergy... (mysterious side affect of this is that Rick Remender's writing skills devolve into that of a 6 year old)

I love how people always laugh at Bleeding cool when it posts these stories about how Disney are gonna do something pathetic because they cannot have the rights the x-men and then act shocked and annoyed when stuff like this happens.

also Fox are well aware that movies don't increase sales and the majority of people who go to the movies don't read these comics. the only people you annoy when you make these silly changes are the people that actually buy comic books, this print audience belongs to just disney/marvel, so really Disney is hurting its own audience. If anything fox is probably laughing at the stupid and desperate disney are.

Right now this change just seems weird and unnecessary.

I honestly think Marvel is trolling. They know that fans will get angry and they're counting on it because it creates the sense of urgency and doom that none of their events have been able to do, in spite of killing a whole lot of characters (Nightcrawler, Cable, Wasp, Xavier). It doesn't scare fans to say "This event will change everything" or "someone won't make it out alive!" because fans are wise to that, they know characters will come back and they'll be event after event making the same claim of massive change. So now they have a different strategy, they know people are wary of the MCU and that a lot of people are terrified they'll relaunch like DC did. So they're taunting their fans which gets them talking, which gets Marvel publicity, which gets fans overly concerned for their favorite characters and, almost unwillingly, more invested.

I'll bet you anything my theory is correct. Marvel is using Pietro and Wanda to promote the Inhumans by trolling, pretending like those two could actually be Inhumans. Obviously they aren't but people have never talked about the Inhumans more than they do now! Now Inhumans are in "Agents of SHIELD" too and tied to their heavily publicized Ms. Marvel title. It's a marketing ploy and everyone's outrage proves it's actually working. And it just so happens to coincide with talk of the Inhumans movie....

I doubt Marvel could be that clever haha, but wow, that was a great write-up.

I still don't know how to take in what's been revealed so far. I can't imagine Marvel daring to make the twins Inhuman. I really, really can't.

Everything you said makes sense. Hopefully this will be the backdoor used to get Wanda and Pietro back to their proper father once Marvel gets over its anti-Fox phase

Nah. While I prefer your theory to be true, I feel like Marvel are serious about it. Wanda even said "You were used. The great Magneto, a pawn in someone's game." like she already somewhat knows what is going on, like there's a plot already.

Interesting. Wow, this make ALOT more sense and anything is better than this stuped retcon. This can also be one of the reason. Thanks for sharing.

Words mean nothing, they are just words. Wanda was all posses and inverted with what ever the hell it is out there so we don't know what she mean or mean it. I think this had been done only to have people to buy their book because I read an article where there were saying Axis was a poor sale. Even with tie-in from almost everywhere it was still poor sale because not even people were interesting in buying it. I see why because I'm getting less interesting myself lately. I bet nothing would be as we expected to be. It's only to have us to buy. Nothing it's confirms that this is what it is and no one is giving any information just to have ourselves to buy and to find out about it which is going to be pointless because I doubt Remender is allow to freely rewrite a history that will affect Marvel and the fans, especially the characters. I'm sure it might be a scary surprise and that's all cause after that...........everything will be fine :)

I think Marvel has more of a vested interest in public displays of Fox-shade to get the message across that they are determined to muscle them out until the rights to the X-men characters are relinquished or negotiated (like with Spider-Man and Sony). I don't know that they are truly interested in destroying the dynamics between their intellectual property though, I think Marvel is more determined to intimidate Fox by publicizing their conflict with them in any which way they can, which they have. But at the end of the day, Marvel would cash in on the X-men like they would any other franchise.

They are just speculation. I wouldn't care unless marvel say so in panel. So far there haven't been one except the Axis which still mean a lot of things. At the end, it will ended up that Magneto was always their father.

Great theory you got here btw

I really like your theory and I hope this is what it is or close to it. I was really upset when I first read this but as I look at it, I also think Marvel is trolling a bit. If they were going to destroy their relationship to Magneto, you would think they would dedicate a bit more time and explanation to it. What I'm hoping this is, is just evil Wanda tormenting Magneto and that this whole thing will be cleared up quickly. Two things that caught my attention were that first Wanda jumps to the conclusion that the great Magneto has been lied to and manipulated. It seems like a strange thing to say at the moment, like she's purposefully just trying to aggravate him. Also, she then mentions he has no family, even though Wanda knows about Lorna. She says it again just to torment him and play at two of Magneto's biggest fears.

Marvel is definitely trolling no matter what happens with Magneto & the twins. They started by cutting off X-men merchandising for this year, killing Wolverine, insinuating the Inhumans into everything, and not dispelling any of the rumors they will replace the X-men and that the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver will become Inhumans. They're pissed that Fox won't relinquish the rights or at least work with them and, frankly, maybe Fox even deserves it.

But, no matter what, it doesn't mean Marvel gets to treat the fans as though they are collateral or leverage. House of M was so successful that it spawned several spinoff titles for years and sold well in paperback for a while and Children's Crusade was also quite successful. Otherwise, all over the years almost all of the major arcs Pietro and Wanda have had involved Magneto. One of their first arcs with the Avengers was one where they were kidnapped by Magneto, the Vision and Scarlet Witch title ended up with Magneto's revelation that they were related, Magneto was present for both Luna and Tommy and Billy's births, he was a big part of the "Darker than Scarlet" storyline, and during Onslaught their relationship is discussed quite a bit.

What's left? Stories with the Vision or Crystal? Not very compelling material considering those relationships have decayed.

Very interesting. Despite they are only speculation, I hope you're right and I rather stick with your theory than stick with the stupid retcon. Even though, I still believe Magneto is their father. I have no doubt whatsoever. So far we don't know what's in store for us, but I'm sure it will be a bombshell once we learn more. And it will ended up Magneto being their father.

The question is, do Fox really care? They have 50 years of material already, they can continue their way, even reboot it 3 times and still have a source to draw some fresh inspirations lol Marvel know that, I have only two reasons I can see trying to think "Marvel":

1. Just the blandest, they do incorporate this current movie vigor. Corporately, it makes sense. I don't think I need to explain how many reasons there MIGHT be, it sucks for us as fans and followers, but in a pretty lame way, it is logical when we're talking about a soulless money making machine that Marvel is right now lol

2. To mess with the fandom. I'm 90% sure they knew what kind of reaction it would have. And no matter how "disappointed", "frustrated", betrayed" or whatever fans feel, most of the time, they always come back. We're somewhat addicted to these characters, just look at the comic book forums! Real people develop a damn personal hostility over these silhouettes with speech bubbles, fandoms collide with one another over these plots and twisted fiction, sometimes we take them to literally and their creators KNOW that. They know that sometimes, it's frustration of one faction might attract another, it's the network noise that may be heard over the internet and might even draw some interested ones outside of continual readership. A free commercial, out of one hidden in a supposed "pure spirit of creativity" (not so) subtle concurrence.

Oh, I have another one! May be we're just overthinking this mess and read too much between the non-existent lines, may be it's just Remender's own plot and him messing up again like he's already accustomed to? lol that would be hilarious! But, not really...

Well, solicits for Uncanny Avengers have them in "Counter Earth" with the New Men. So we'll see the High Evolutionary, we'll see Bova probably, we may even see Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver go back to Wundagore, and I feel like the common denominator between all those things is Chthon. If Remender is taking it in that direction, I'll be glad. If not? I'm through with Marvel.

@hexthis:

Lol pretty radical but understandable of you ask me.

Oh how I wish for this to be the reason :(

Okay, so I've been thinking about this a lot (probably too much) but I keep coming back to this theory you have on Chthon. Obviously since #2 we have some other things going on here but I still think this does all have to do with Chthon. As far as this "new" sister of the twins, I have a theory on that as well. Before the twins were born, the Maximoffs had two twin children named Ana and Mateo. In the Marvel wiki, all it says about them is that they died in WW2. All I remember about them in the comics is that Django referred to them as being "lost", presumed dead. I believe this happened around their adolescence, since Django made a comparison between Mateo and Pietro's dancing, saying something like Pietro's energetic dancing was just like Mateo's. I think this new sister of theirs is Ana and the man who rescued the twins is Mateo.

When we first see him, I immediately noted he looked similar to Django but since Django is dead, it couldn't be him. When the High Evolutionary first delivered the twins to the Maximoffs, he said these were two babies to replace the ones they had lost. Since the High Evolutionary knew the Maximoffs had lost their twins, maybe he had something to do with it. Both Django and Marya were magic users so maybe that had something to do with the High Evolutionary being interested in their children. Ana is still under his control but Mateo is part of this little band of people who oppose him. However he clearly has other motives since their goal was to save people from the High Evolutionary, while he chose to only save Pietro and Wanda. He probably intends to use them against the High Evolutionary, possibly to save Ana, and he chose them specifically because of the link to Chthon.

To explain Magneto, your theory on Chthon genetically manipulating them still holds. Or, since Wanda was using magic, and it stands to reason that Mateo uses magic to some extent like his parents, maybe Wanda was manipulated by him. The only thing I can't reconcile is the High Evolutionary saying "They masquerade as mutants." But I think it was pretty obvious the man he was talking to was lying about there being no mutants there, because he has Rogue sitting right there.

This may be a bit of a stretch, but it's been in my mind. I really couldn't stand the idea of a bunch of new characters being created to change the twins' past. Ana and Mateo always stood out for me because they are only briefly mentioned and yet the writers bothered to give them names and then do nothing with them. Since they are pretty much blank slates, anything can be done with them. As I said, as soon as I saw the man, I thought it could be Mateo, and then as I got to the last page and saw this "sister", I really felt like it was a possibility. Since these are adopted siblings, this has nothing to do with the twins' connection to Magneto and it turns out saying he was no longer their father was just a stunt to get people to read this comic. If Magneto isn't their father, then we are left with it either being some random guy we have never heard of and who probably isn't nearly as interesting as Magneto is, or the High Evolutionary created a bunch of babies in his lab, which is an even more boring origin story.