See this is why Marvel and Fox just need to make out and get over themselves already! Both Marvel Studios "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and 20th Century Fox's "X-Men: Days of Future Past" use the character of Quicksilver, but to much different degrees. Some people even find it frustrating these characters aren't one-in-the-same and movie audiences are already expected to except the comic book trope of "different universes, different versions". For this special rendition of What's The Difference, we'll be looking at two cinematic versions of Quicksilver.
For a full bio on Quicksilver look up a post I did titled "The Quickening", but for now we'll talk about Fox's version of the character. In "X-Men: Days of Future Past" Evan Peters plays Peter Maximoff, a mutant who lives with his single mom and little sister. Peter never knew his father and-after his powers got him disqualified, stripped of his medals, and established a mutation test for sporting events like track and field-mostly used his powers in secrecy and for luxury. Playing arcades games, ping-pong, and eating all at the same time. We call that multitasking in the real world. Peter suits up as Quicksilver to help Wolverine and Professor X rescue Magneto from maximum security, creating one of the most memorable scenes in superhero movie history. By speeding up the frame rate on everything except Evan Peters, Brian Singer created a beautiful scene of Quicksilver dismantling security officers at super speed. Peter Maximoff would reappear in "X-Men: Apocalypse" where he'd have a more prominent role. Though he does not admit it to him, Peter is aware that Magneto is his father and feels that he should join The X-Men so he can make a difference instead of living in mom's basement. Yet again Quicksilver has an amazing scene where he saves every student in the X-Mansion as it explodes, even saving their pet fish and pet dog in fast-motion, comedic effect. The shooting for that scene took thirty days just to shoot and Evan Peters was confirmed to have done the most shooting out of any actor in the film. In addition to all that Peter's Quicksilver was also used for marketing in advertisements for Carl Jr's. The reception for the character was very critical in early promotion, but after seeing how the character was portrayed in both films movie goers developed a fandom for this version of Quicksilver. And by the looks of "X-Men: Apocalypse" it seems like he's sticking around.
Now in Marvel's Cinematic Universe we meet Pietro Maximoff, an orphan in the fictional European country of Sakovia who grew up on the streets alongside his twin sister Wanda Maximoff. Pietro and Wanda's parents died when a Stark Industries missile was launched into their apartment complex. The siblings were brought into Hydra to be test subjects for the effects of The Mind Gem which was hidden inside of Loki's Spear. The effects of the Mind Gem expanded Wanda's mental abilities, while for Pietro it expanded his physical abilities. Now with super-speed, he took the name Quicksilver and worked alongside his sister Wanda/Scarlet Witch to battle The Avengers (more specifically Tony Stark). Pietro and Wanda aid Ultron in fighting The Avengers, but the twins turn against him and become heroes. Well, Wanda becomes a hero. In a shocking move, Quicksilver dies protecting Hawkeye and a civilian. His death motivates Wanda to become a true Avenger. Oddly his name is not brought up in "Captain America: Civil War". This version of Quicksilver was played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson who apparently had no interest in playing the role until Elizabeth Olson was cast as Wanda, Aaron even got a multi-movie contract despite director Joss Whedon killing the character off and claiming to have no further plans with him. For his performance, Aaron focused on the European roots of the character, the impatience, the over-protectiveness for his sister, and the style of running Quicksilver does. The style of which was shot outside to make the run feel more real. Due to confusion from audiences (as The X-Men version premiered one year before The Avengers version) Quicksilver was most likely killed off so that focus could be on Scarlet Witch and Fox could continue focusing on Quicksilver.
Funny enough Evan Peters and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were co-stars on "Kick-Ass". Small world. It is interesting to see a predicament like this, only a few characters like Quicksilver fall in the gray area of movie rights. I do find it interesting how elements of the character are divided between both versions. Fox's Quicksilver gets to be a mutant and he gets to be Magneto's kid, but Marvel's Quicksilver gets to be Scarlet Witch's brother and have strong European roots and even have a closer characterization. The reason Quicksilver is such a jerk in the comics is because the world is always moving slow to him. That's why he's impatient and easily bored. Which comes off pretty well in the Marvel version. That being said Fox still did a good job with their Quicksilver's development. In a clear business move, at the end of a comic event called "Axis" it was established that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver aren't Magneto's kids and aren't mutants. And they are NOT Inhumans either! They're just humans who were given powers via experimentation from a dumb villain named The High Evolutionary. Clearly it was a move made by editorial to make them more similar to the Marvel movie version and divorce them from the Fox version. Again, I find it fascinating that out of any character to have this thematic split its Quicksilver. To put it in perspective imagine if there was a Flash movie out at the same time as a Flash TV show, movie Flash would have this and TV Flash would have that and neither would be a complete adaption of the comic book ver-wait. Hold on. That's happening. Good Roa, that's happening!
Thanks for reading.
Go check out The Panel Biter on Youtube!
Now in Marvel's Cinematic Universe we meet Pietro Maximoff, an orphan in the fictional European country of Sakovia who grew up on the streets alongside his twin sister Wanda Maximoff. Pietro and Wanda's parents died when a Stark Industries missile was launched into their apartment complex. The siblings were brought into Hydra to be test subjects for the effects of The Mind Gem which was hidden inside of Loki's Spear. The effects of the Mind Gem expanded Wanda's mental abilities, while for Pietro it expanded his physical abilities. Now with super-speed, he took the name Quicksilver and worked alongside his sister Wanda/Scarlet Witch to battle The Avengers (more specifically Tony Stark). Pietro and Wanda aid Ultron in fighting The Avengers, but the twins turn against him and become heroes. Well, Wanda becomes a hero. In a shocking move, Quicksilver dies protecting Hawkeye and a civilian. His death motivates Wanda to become a true Avenger. Oddly his name is not brought up in "Captain America: Civil War". This version of Quicksilver was played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson who apparently had no interest in playing the role until Elizabeth Olson was cast as Wanda, Aaron even got a multi-movie contract despite director Joss Whedon killing the character off and claiming to have no further plans with him. For his performance, Aaron focused on the European roots of the character, the impatience, the over-protectiveness for his sister, and the style of running Quicksilver does. The style of which was shot outside to make the run feel more real. Due to confusion from audiences (as The X-Men version premiered one year before The Avengers version) Quicksilver was most likely killed off so that focus could be on Scarlet Witch and Fox could continue focusing on Quicksilver.
Funny enough Evan Peters and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were co-stars on "Kick-Ass". Small world. It is interesting to see a predicament like this, only a few characters like Quicksilver fall in the gray area of movie rights. I do find it interesting how elements of the character are divided between both versions. Fox's Quicksilver gets to be a mutant and he gets to be Magneto's kid, but Marvel's Quicksilver gets to be Scarlet Witch's brother and have strong European roots and even have a closer characterization. The reason Quicksilver is such a jerk in the comics is because the world is always moving slow to him. That's why he's impatient and easily bored. Which comes off pretty well in the Marvel version. That being said Fox still did a good job with their Quicksilver's development. In a clear business move, at the end of a comic event called "Axis" it was established that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver aren't Magneto's kids and aren't mutants. And they are NOT Inhumans either! They're just humans who were given powers via experimentation from a dumb villain named The High Evolutionary. Clearly it was a move made by editorial to make them more similar to the Marvel movie version and divorce them from the Fox version. Again, I find it fascinating that out of any character to have this thematic split its Quicksilver. To put it in perspective imagine if there was a Flash movie out at the same time as a Flash TV show, movie Flash would have this and TV Flash would have that and neither would be a complete adaption of the comic book ver-wait. Hold on. That's happening. Good Roa, that's happening!
Thanks for reading.
Go check out The Panel Biter on Youtube!
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