So, Quicksilver has a complicated history in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Originally, the popular X-Men character was introduced in X-Men: Days of Future Past, when Wolverine travels back to 1973, him, Charles, and Hank go search for Peter Maximoff’s house for help. The purpose of Quicksilver’s introduction was to help break him into prison. X-Men: Days of Future Past is lauded as one of the best features in the X-Men canon, and Quicksilver’s introduction was one of the reasons behind the praise. Though the mutant doesn’t have much screen time, the writers found a unique way to make him stand out and that kitchen scene is legendary. In a world fully of fun mutants, X-Men found a way to make him special and extremely cool.
However, the world of X-Men got a bit more complicated when Marvel introduced their version of Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Granted, both universes weren’t tied together during this time so Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing Pietro Maximoff wasn’t a stretch and the filmmakers actually covered themselves by giving Evan Peters’ version a different name. Johnson’s version in the MCU doesn’t last long as he dies during the huge battle in the same film. Taylor-Johnson’s Quicksilver doesn’t exactly stand out in the way that Peters’ version in X-Men does, though that doesn’t mean the character was a flop. However, the MCU was back to one Quicksilver and Peters continued to play the character in both Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. To the surprise of many, Peters character made his way into the MCU through WandaVision. This felt like a moment that finally broke the X-Men/Avengers barrier by introducing the first mutant into the MCU. Plenty of theories were explored in the minds of fans, who thought this was a multi-universe situation and Maximoff made his way into the Marvel universe. Unfortunately, none of that happened. Instead, it came to light that Peters was actually being controlled by Agatha, who had the ability to give him speed powers. The purpose of his character was to mess with Wanda’s head, and it turns out that Maximoff was actually some random dude named Ralph Bohner, effectively putting an end to Evan’s ties to the Quicksilver for good.
Here’s the thing, if Kevin Feige didn’t particularly want Peters to be in the Marvel world as Quicksilver, then they would’ve been better off just pretending the character never happened in the first place. However, Marvel actually had a solid way to keep Peters Quicksilver in the MCU, while still retaining Taylor-Johnson’s character in this universe as well. Peters’ Quicksilver was named Peter Maximoff. Taylor-Johnson was Pietro Maximoff. Why not just make them brothers who happened to share the same power? One of the focal points in the X-Men saga was that Peter was searching for his father, with the confirmation that Magneto was indeed the man. Why not twist it to say that he had fraternal twins with the same mutant ability? Marvel had an easy way of explaining both characters in the universe, but the company got too cute and decided to axe one of the best incarnations of the live-action character. Peter should’ve gotten a stronger ending than this joke of a storyline. If Kevin Feige just had no interest in incorporating him into the MCU world then it’s obviously his choice, but why not give him a proper ending. Perhaps something heroic like Pietro’s death in Age of Ultron? Or perhaps he ends up being a primary villain in WandaVision? There were plenty of avenues to explore and it’s a shame that Marvel opted to discard him as he was nothing.
Quicksilver was never going to get his own feature film. Is it possible for him to be a great solo act? Definitely, as there’s more layers to the character than just being fast and Magneto’s father, and to the credit of the X-Men movies, they’ve done a nice job of giving the Evan Peters version some nice depth that could’ve been easily transferred into the MCU. He didn’t need to be in WandaVision, it was just Marvel’s way of trying to incorporate and get rid of the popular character entirely. More often than not, Marvel usually crafts their stories well, so it was disappointing that they thought this was the best route to take Peter and the first X-Men to make an official crossover. Let’s hope the remaining X-Men are treated with better respect, if Kevin Feige decides to bring any more of the mutants into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.Aaron Taylor-Johnson
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