Monday, October 11, 2010

I'm Hoping Cancerverse Scarlet Witch Is Nice

I had this idea while reading Thanos Imperative #3. The last page of #4 may have killed it, but I think there's still a chance it could happen.

In the third issue, the Scarlet Witch of the Cancerverse reports to Mar-Vell that one of their teams of heroes picked up a signal, went to investigate, and hadn't been heard from since (that would be the Cancerverse Defenders, who were destroyed by Thanos in the previous issue). Wanda requests leading a team to investigate, which Mar-Vell approves. She even throws a little dig at Cancerverse Iron Man about not doing his work properly.

The idea I had was that the Witch was going to be the one organic being in the Cancerverse somewhat resistant to the influence of the Many-Angled Ones and their Avatar, Lord Mar-Vell. In the Realm of Kings one-shot from last year, she's the one who releases the Marvel Universe's Quasar after he'd been captured by her teammates.

The way I figured it, Wanda has used magic in the past, and seemed to be invoking the names of beings like Ch'thon, which sounds like the sort of thing that might be related to these Many-Angled Ones. So that history of interactions with them would give her a certain level of immunity. Not enough that she turns down the immortality they offer, but maybe enough she maintains her own mind, isn't so slavishly devoted to Mar-Vell as the others are. She can play at it well enough; that time she spent in the Brotherhood under Magneto probably taught what bossy savior-types like to see in their subordinates. The whole time, though, she'd be looking for an opportunity to turn the tables. She might be working with the Artificial Intelligence Resistance, or she might be operating solo.

Either way, she'd have to be patient, because until someone or something came along that could kill Mar-Vell, there was no way to turn things around. But with Thanos, an honest to goodness Avatar of Death on the scene again (albeit one from a different universe) there'd be a chance. She couldn't just slip off on her own, so she makes it seem she's being the dutiful solider, even takes the time to make it look like one of the truly loyal (Iron Man) isn't doing his due diligence.

The whole thing is sporting a major leak after the end of the fourth issue, since she and her squad have shown up and War Machine's already shot the Vision in half. There's still hope, though. For one, Wanda's hanging back near the hole her team just burst through, as the rest of the "Revengers" charge in. She could be staying out of the line of fire, or preparing to shoot her former allies in the back while they're preoccupied with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Second, she didn't bring along anyone who is actually a threat to Thanos. The most powerful member of her squad is War Machine, and enhanced by Lovecraftian horrors or not, he's not beating the Mad Titan*. So bringing a group ultimately too weak to do the job could be her way of appearing loyal to Mar-Vell, while actually working to undermine him.

I think it'd be kind of nice for the Scarlet Witch, who hasn't had the best go of it in the Marvel Universe the last six years or so, to be the only one who didn't let the power corrupt them. To be risking her neck working amongst her former friends to find a way to set things right. We'll see, though I'll have to wait a couple of weeks.

* We know they can't beat Thanos because he can't be killed now, but in theory Wanda wouldn't know that, so she couldn't work it into a plan.

1 comment:

iwasherefirst said...

Called it!