This will come as little surprise to anyone who has followed recent casting news, saw Elizabeth Olsen on The Daily Show or listened to Samuel L. Jackson. Marvel, however, has clearly waited until all the contractual letters have been dotted and crossed to make the official announcement that the actress will be playing Scarlet Witch in **The Avengers: Age Of Ultron.
Her casting (well, confirmation) is accompanied by Marvel announcing Aaron Taylor-Johnson as her brother, Quicksilver, even though his participation has been official for a few weeks now. It’ll mark the second time the pair share the screen, after they briefly crop up as a husband and wife in Gareth Edwards’ new Godzilla.
In case you’re not sure who the characters are, they’re Pietro (Quicksilver) and Wanda (Scarlet Witch), the twin children of Magneto and his gypsy wife, Magda. She was a fellow Auschwitz survivor who the magnetic mutant married after World War II. On seeing an early and devastating example of Magneto’s power at work, Magda ran away and, heavily pregnant, took refuge on top of Mount Wundagore and gave birth to the twins. So far, so similar to Latona in Greek myth – but Magda, worried that Magneto would turn up to claim his children and force her to reveal them, vanished days later, apparently sacrificing herself for them.
And yes, while their Marvel comics history has them listed as Magneto’s children, don’t go expecting any X-Men crossovers. Thanks to a rights split, both Fox and Marvel Studios can use the characters, but the Avengers gang can’t mention anything about their mutant history and the X-Men movies (with Evan Peters popping up as Quicksilver in Days Of Future Past) can in no way reference Captain America and co. For more on this, hit our guide.
The Avengers: Age Of Ultron features the return of the regular gang and writer-director Joss Whedon, all facing off against James Spader’s rogue robot villain. It'll be out on May 1, 2015.