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Ms. Marvel (2nd series) #20
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X-23 is named due to her being the 23rd attempt to clone Wolverine and the intact X chromosome that was duplicated to replace the damaged Y one, which resulted in her being female. She is the only successful cloning attempt of Wolverine. [X-23#1] - Submitted by Liam Johnson
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| | Author : Peter Luzifer, Monolith, Binaryan and Ruth | Last Modified : Sep 20, 2007 |
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Biography Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4
Page 5 - Page 6 - Page 7 - Page 8
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Costume Gallery
Alternate Versions
Hex-Planations
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BIOGRAPHY - Page 1
Having met in the Nazi concentration camps and escaped together, Magnus and Magda tried to build themselves a new life. In the years that followed, they married and had a daughter named Anya. On the same day Magnus fully manifested his electromagnetic abilities, after which he would later rename himself Magneto, Anya was trapped in a fire. Magnus had been falsely accused of a crime and was physically restrained at the scene by bigoted villagers. By the time he got loose, violently using his newfound abilities, it was too late to save his daughter who had perished in the flames. This event led to his legendary hatred of humanity. Terrified by Magnus's power and how he used them to avenge their daughter, Magda ran away from him, neither of them knowing that she was pregnant with twins at the time. [Classic X-Men #12]
 She went into labor in the wilderness, months later, and was able to make her way to a strange fortress on the top of Wundagore Mountain, Transia, home of the High Evolutionary and his New Men. A cow-woman named Bova was the midwife, and delivered the twins, who were named Pietro and Wanda. That night, a strange glow illuminated the skies over Wundagore and Wanda momentarily mirrored the mysterious light. Unbeknownst to anyone, it was the doing of the Elder Demon, Chthon, who, imprisoned in the mountain, was preparing himself a vessel with a great potential for magic for a future escape. Originally she would have become another generic energy-wielding mutant like her father, though Chthon’s actions saw to it that the energy Wanda would wield and manipulate was magik.
Only two days after giving birth, Magda secretly left the fortress, never to be seen again, leaving a note for Bova to find the kids a good family. She feared that her husband might one day track her down and she wanted to  spare the twins from falling under his influence. By bizarre coincidence, another woman in labor showed up at Mount Wundagore around the same time, Madelyne Joyce-Frank - the former Liberty Legionnaire named Miss America - and her husband Robert, the Whizzer. When both Madelyne and the child died during delivery, Bova attempted to ease Frank's pain by offering the recently abandoned twins to him as his own. Grief-stricken, the Whizzer fled Wundagore alone, not claiming the children nor learning they weren't his.
The High Evolutionary and Bova finally arranged for a gypsy couple, Django and Marya Maximoff, to take the children as their own. The Maximoff’s had recently lost their biological children, Ana and Mateo, and so were overjoyed when what they thought to be an angel blessed them with new children to take care of. Pietro and Wanda led a peaceful life with their gypsy parents, their father often carving them marionettes to play with.
At a young age, Wanda's vast potential for wielding magic was detected by those skilled in the art, and she was approached by the most powerful coven in her Eastern European homeland: Margali Szardos, Maria Russoff, and Lilia Calderu. In her guise as the Gypsy Queen, Lilia sent out a summons for Marya Maximoff to bring Wanda to her caravan, and then the witch brought the young girl to Castle Russoff to meet her fellow sorceresses. Her initiation would not go uncontested, however - a servant of Chthon known as Taboo learned of the coven's attempt to indoctrine Wanda and, more importantly, that Lilia was in possession of the Serpent Crown of Set. His master Chthon had gone to great lengths to prepare the girl Wanda for his own future uses, and he would lose the child to his brother Elder Demon, Set, if the witches brought her into the coven under the influence of the Crown. Therefore, Taboo and his associate Damballah interrupted the coven's ceremony with Wanda. The conflict only ended when Wanda manifested her hex power for the first time, inadvertantly giving Chthon himself a chance to reach out to the material plane. He non-chalantly disposed of the Serpent Crown and decreed that Wanda would join no coven, under penalty of his wrath. The witches ascented, and returned Wanda to her family to grow without tutelage in magic. [Mystic Arcana - Scarlet Witch]
 As the Maximoff’s were well accepted within the gypsy community, nothing seemed to change when the twins began to develop mutant abilities as teenagers. However, the need to feed his family forced Django to steal, which led to some angry villagers chasing him and burning down the entire gypsy camp. While their mother perished within the flames, Pietro and Wanda would flee. The shock of seeing everything they held dear go down in flames was too much and it would be years before either of them could fully recall those days. [all from Avengers (1st series) #185-186, 234, Giant Size Avengers #1, Uncanny X-Men Annual #12, Web of Spiderman Annual #4]
Pietro only remembered that his father had told him always to watch over his sister and he did as best he could.  Over the next few years, they took whatever shelter they could and Pietro used his speed to catch them some rabbits as food. At one point, they were sought out by Charles Xavier, who offered them special training at his school in America, but Pietro refused, thinking that they could master their powers on their own. One fateful day, Wanda strolled into a nearby village and, by accident, she caused a barn to catch fire with one of her unpredictable hexes. She was thought to be a witch and would have been burned at the stake had it not been for the Magneto, who rescued her from the mob. Ironically, he was their birth father, though neither he nor the twins knew this. [Professor Xavier and the X-Men #4, Avengers (1st series) #234, X-Men (1st series) #4]
Magneto brought Pietro and Wanda to live with him on Asteroid M, his orbital base, and began training the young mutants as part of his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, christening them Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.  The twins only stayed because they were indebted to him, as Magneto had saved Wanda's life, and were forced into performing many terrorist actions they despised taking part in. Both Mastermind and the Toad took an unhealthy interest in Wanda, but time and again Pietro protected her from them. Several times, the Brotherhood opposed the X-Men when both groups tried to recruit some thus-far unknown mutants. Wanda and her brother were finally freed when Magneto was carried off to another world by the enigmatic Stranger. Although they were once more offered the chance to join the X-Men, the siblings decided to take some time for themselves and returned to Transia. [X-Men (1st series) #4-7, 11]
Shortly thereafter, Pietro saw a newspaper article proclaiming the Avengers were looking for new members and he convinced Wanda they should audition for the group. They succeeded and were inducted into the Avengers as replacements for Giant Man and the Wasp.  Pietro and Wanda happened to be the first mutants to join the group and, along with Hawkeye, the first reformed villains to be accepted into it. Led by Captain America, this incarnation of the Avengers was referred to as "Cap's Kooky Quartet" and was the first major upheaval of the Avengers roster in history. [Avengers (1st series) #16] The early days of the group were filled with in-fighting, especially with clashing hot-heads Quicksilver and Hawkeye, but they soon evolved into one of the most tight-knit teams of Avengers to date. What they lacked in power, they made up for with teamwork.
At one point in their membership, Wanda and Pietro took a leave of absence to return to Wundagore, as they both felt their powers fading. Apparently, some strange element in their native area revitalized their powers, though the diathermic treatments of a local scientist too had some influence in their recovery. [Avengers (1st series) #32] Almost back at full strength, Wanda and Pietro once more were contacted by the X-Men, who needed more firepower against the imminent threat of Factor Three. However, like before, the twins refused, reasoning that, if they returned to the States, it would be as Avengers. [X-Men (1st series) #27]
Just when they were about to return to America, an alien craft landed in Transia and the aliens captured the two mutants. Ixar, a shapeshifter, then journeyed to Avengers mansion, posing as Wanda, and lured the heroes into the craft as well. Despite Captain America suspecting a trap, the Avengers were nearly overpowered but, in the end, they managed to drive the aliens away from Earth. [Avengers (1st series) #36-37] Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch officially rejoined the ever-changing roster of Avengers, including new and returning allies, like Goliath, the Wasp and Hercules.
 Pietro, however, was slowly developing a resentment towards humanity, like his biological father. This gnawing doubt sprang up full force when Magneto returned from space, captured the twins and asked them to accompany him to the United Nations, where he instigated an assualt on the Scarlet Witch by one of the security guards. Enraged at his sister's injury, the culprit being a “mere human”, Quicksilver rejoined Magneto's Brotherhood and brought the unconscious Wanda along with him. [Avengers (1st series) #46, 48-49]
Her forehead being scratched by a bullet, Wanda again temporarily lost the use of her powers and could do nothing to intervene with Magneto’s schemes to capture the X-Men and force them into his service, save argue with her brother. After calming down, Pietro soon realized how rash his actions were and, with the help of the Avengers, the X-Men and Magneto's flunky, Toad, the master of magnetism was apparently killed in a landslide. Instead of returning to the Avengers, Wanda, Pietro and Toad became traveling companions, looking for a peaceful existence somewhere in the world. [X-Men (1st series) #45, Avengers (1st series) #53]
It didn't work. Soon, they were captured by the Sentinels, like most other known mutants at the time, and again they had to rely on the X-Men to bail them out. After being freed from the Sentinel base, the Toad once more opted to travel with the twins, still having his crush on Wanda. [X-Men (1st series) #59-60]
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