Sooo…which do you prefer???
While I can appreciate when comics address stuff that happened in the past, this post shows the good and bad side. When you tear one character down to bring another up, it’s insulting to both characters. Not least because it demonstrates that the writer doesn’t have enough faith in the characters to let them stand up on their own merits.
It’s like when you meet someone that’s constantly critical of everyone else; the problem is usually their own insecurity, and by tearing others down, they might seem better themselves.
Is it necessarily tearing either character down?
Wanda and Pietro had a major fight triggered by issues that I am not sure they have ever addressed in the comic books. What has Pietro ever done for Wanda specifically to make up for his manipulation of her into creating the House of M? Has he even apologized for this?
Does Pietro behave badly? Yes. Does he behave badly in a way that is unprecedented? I don’t think so. Pietro does not respond well to people who hold him to account, particularly over the House of M. It is only very recently that he even admitted to the world that it was him, not a Skrull double, who was responsible for the messiness culminating in his post-House of M X-Factor appearance. Then, his behaviour was not presented as something admirable or defensible, at most as something understandable. Why should this have changed?
I do not think that Robinson is intending this to be the final word on the Maximoffs and their relationship. She still loves her brother, and we are given no reason to think he does not return the love. I do think that Robinson is intending this to be Wanda’s perception of the outstanding issues in their relationship, and that we the readers are supposed to think that she has some points. Pietro has done some bad things to her, and has persisted in some negative behaviours up to the present day. Why not deal with them in her book?
Do I like this fight? No. Theirs is one of the most prominent and long-standing family relationships in Marvel and I like these characters. I want them to be able to settle their issues. I would bet that is what future issues, of Scarlet Witch and perhaps of other books, too, will be about.
You addressed another post of mine, and I’ll reply to both of them here. 🙂
I’m not at all against the idea of having Wanda and Pietro discuss–or fight, for that matter–the problems of their past. It’s an unmitigated truth that Pietro causes a lot more problems for Wanda than vice versa. I think this issue did bring up some things that were worthy of being addressed, like what Wanda feels about Pietro’s role in House of M.
However, my issue with this fight is: yes, I feel like it tears Pietro down unfairly, and makes Wanda look bad by association.
Let me put it this way: what if they chose to address the fact Wanda nearly killed Chamber when she depowered mutants, by her retorting that mutants are just freaks that should be wiped out anyway. It’s not unprecedented for her to be hateful of mutants, considering M-Day and some things in Uncanny Avengers.
You, like me, would probably feel it was extremely unfair to her character, and flagrantly ignores the characterization that Wanda normally has. Yes, it might be a catalyst for Chamber to address demons in his past, but it throws another character under the bus to do so.
It is the same with Scarlet Witch #9. Yes, some of it is a worthy thing to be brought up. It’s not unprecedented for Pietro to be controlling or mean. But it’s been a long time since that’s been the case, and often when it did happen, it was for the same reasons as here–lionizing Pietro for Wanda’s character (just as Wanda’s history and personality was disregarded so she could whisper “No more mutants”).
Pietro doesn’t want his sister to be a meek wallflower. He doesn’t think of Vision as a microwave oven. He doesn’t attempt to command everything she does. He certainly doesn’t try to choke her out because he’s mad. This issue, like much of the preceding ones, is just another example of Robinson’s clumsy character building in Scarlet Witch.
Those Celestial Bodies 