Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1

This is an extra-large edition at $1.25.

This issue depends on lots of history, and I like it.

The WWII Human Torch was created in Marvel Comics #1 in 1939. He gained sidekick Toro in HT Comics #2 and joined the All-Winners Squad in All-Winners Comics #19. The Invaders were a Marvel Age retcon starring in their own series. HT's adventures continued with a gap into the 50's. His nova-'death' was related by Toro in Sub-Mariner #14, after Mad Thinker temporarily revived HT in Fantastic Four Annual #4.

Vision's origin in Avengers #58 didn't mention Human Torch. Ultron created him and gave him Simon Williams' brain pattern, but he supposedly used an earlier synthezoid created by his 'father' Henry Pym. The part about Ultron getting hold of HT's body and forcing Horton to convert him into Vision was revealed in Av#135.

This whole idea will be scuppered when Human Torch himself is revived again in Av West Coast #50. But Av Forever #8 will explain that Immortus had managed to split HT into 2 lives in the same timeline.

The Human Torch aspect is irrelevant for the Vision/Wonder Man/Grim Reaper triangle. Reaper is Simon Williams' brother Eric. He blamed the Avengers for Simon's death as Wonder Man in Av#9, and began attacking them in Av#52. But when he learned in Av#79 that Vision had Simon's brain pattern he got the idea of reuniting Vision's mind with WM's preserved body culminating in Av#108. Later he got Black Talon to revive WM as a zombie in Av#151. But by the time of #3 of the 1st V&SW mini-series he hated both versions of his brother equally.

Scarlet Witch's origin was revealed in even more layers. Magneto rescuing Wanda and Pietro from angry villagers was shown in their 1st appearance in the introduction of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in X-Men #4. Whizzer claimed to be their father and told his side of the Wundagore story in Giant-Size Av #1. Django Maximoff turned up in Av#182 claiming *he* was their father. Then in Av#185-186 they went to Wundagore and learned that their real mother was mystery woman Magda. It wasn't until V&SW vol 1 #4 that they discovered Magneto was their father.

Scarlet Witch refers to her name as Magneto's daughter as Wanda Magnus. I believe Magneto's name Magnus was 1st revealed in a flashback in Uncanny XM #161, but it was used more like a 1st name there, so the name Wanda Magnus is a bit suspect. Later in XM Unlimited he will be named Erik Magnus Lehnsherr which ruins the idea of Magnus as a surname. But even later this will be deemed an assumed alias anyway. And later still the twins will turn out not to be Magneto's children after all.

V&SW helped the Av and the FF against Annihilus in Av#233 but V was incapacitated. SW stayed with the Av to look after him. In #238 Titanian Starfox linked V to ISAAC to allow him to use a holographic avatar while his body healed. In #242 he was fully functional, and in #243 he became chairman while most of the team were away in Secret Wars I. Wasp stepped down in his favour when she returned. There were various oddities about V in this period until #251 where we learned ISAAC wanted him to take over the world and create a utopia. In #252 an anti-mutant protester burned down V&SW's house in Leonia - this convinced V to go along with ISAAC's plan. In #253 he took over the world's computers, but the Avengers stopped him in #254 - and he removed a control crystal implanted in his head by Ultron that had warped his reason. In #255 he resigned the chair (Wasp resumed her role in #256) and handed himself over to the NSC - SW went with him. Which brings us here.

The opening part of this issue obviously follows directly from Av#255. But the Marvel Chronology Project needs to fit Marvel GN #27: Emperor Doom between Av#255 and the crossover with West Coast Avengers. So I proposed to them a large gap in this issue between the interrogation and the couple's successful house search in Leonia. In fact it is of course unbelievable that they would find the right house straight away! (Superpowers yes. Easy house search, no way.)
Also I suggest that they stayed in Avengers Mansion as guests while they were house-hunting. This explains why Emperor Doom has them there.

Henry Gyrich used to be the government's heavy-handed liaison with the Avengers, but he was forced to step away in Av#191 and just oversee lightly as seen in #231 and #243. (In the meantime he's expanded his overall remit to include mutant affairs.) Ray Sikorski came on board as the Av's more friendly direct liaison in #235.

The Guardsman is Michael O'Brien who wears armour designed by Tony Stark and once worn by his brother Kevin. Since leaving the Iron Man title in #109 he joined the crowd in Contest of Champions and then became head of security for Project Pegasus where we saw him in Av#236-237, Power Man & Iron Fist #113, Thing #24 and now here.

This is Black Talon (Samuel Barone)'s 1st app since he revived Wonder Man as a zombie in Av#151-152. He was working for Grim Reaper then.

Nekra was the partner of Mandrill (with a pheromonal power over women) whose plots were defeated by Shanna the She-Devil in her #5, and by Shanna, Daredevil, Black Widow and Thing in DD#109-112 & Marvel Two-In-One #3. Abandoned by Mandrill she faced Spider-Woman in her #15-16. After being 1 of the many prisoners of Locksmith in SpW#50 she's now transferred her affections to Grim Reaper here.