Now that it’s been confirmed that mutant twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, will be appearing in The Avengers 2, we here at AP2HYC thought we would weigh in on which actors and actresses we’d like to see play the avenging mutant twins.
For those who don’t know, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff are the twin children of Magneto, who start off as members of his Brotherhood of Evil before having a change of heart and joining the Avengers. Pietro/Quicksilver has super speed while Wanda/Scarlet Witch wields destructive, bad-luck inducing hex bolts. Both have been popular characters over the years, often changing sides depending on the needs of the story, but almost always returning to the Avengers fold.
Rob and I spent a long time trying to come up with actors that would do well in the roles and from there, which would work well together. We decided to present our final choices as pairs, picking out which Pietros would go best with which Wandas.
Now, it is probably worth mentioning that most of what I (David) know about Pietro and Wanda comes from watching the X-Men: Evolution animated show and that I haven’t read many comics featuring the twins. Because of that, I tend to think of the twins as being on the younger side, and so are the actors I’ve selected. Rob, meanwhile, chose slightly older and more established actors. Despite disagreeing on the age point, both Rob and I have approved all of the pairings below.
So, without further ado, here are our top choices to play Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch:
6. Stuart Townsend/Emily Deschanel
Townsend is mainly known as brooding immortal Dorian Gray in Stephen Norrington‘s disastrous The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a film so bad it retired Sean Connery and probably resulted in gypsy curses on half the board of 20th Century Fox courtesy of Alan Moore. On the other hand, he was the original choice for Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy before being replaced with Viggo Mortensen the day before filming after two months of rehearsals and training (and for which he received no monies – ouch). He has the cocky charm necessary for the Quicksilver character, but also the gravitas not to come across as insufferably smug.
The older Deschanel sister, meanwhile, has spent the last eight years playing brilliant but socially inept anthropologist Temperance Brennan on the Fox TV series Bones. Over the course of 166 episodes, she’s proven she can be devastatingly icy, but also desperately vulnerable. While Deschanel’s never been hugely tested in the action stakes, she could make for an interesting choice if Marvel choose to explore the more detached side of Scarlet Witch’s persona, though, given her salary of almost $200,000 for each episode on Bones — 22 a season! — she could prove deceptively expensive. Her pairing with Townsend may seem unexpected, but the chalk and cheese approach to the brother-sister duo could well pay off.
– Rob
5. Dave Franco/Sarah Hyland
Like I said before, I think that going young is the right decision for these characters, and I think these two would make an excellent pair. Dave Franco, younger brother of James Franco, has appeared in Scrubs and 21 Jump Street, among other roles. I think he would make an excellent impetuous Quicksilver, the kind that runs in without analyzing the situation. Sarah Hyland, known for her role as Haley Dunphy on Modern Family, would do well playing what I like to call the “cracked doll” version of Scarlet Witch. Hyland’s Wanda could be the one that’s just slightly off-kilter, the version whose powers have pushed her just over the edge into insanity, but not so far that she’s completely incoherent. And obviously still enough in control to be badass when she needs to be.
Their relationship could be built on Franco’s Pietro being overly protective of Hyland’s Wanda, and the friction resulting from Wanda not wanting Pietro to look after her. I feel like these two would make a really nice pair and that the roles would give both of them a chance to really show off their acting skills.
Plus, Franco’s totally got the eyebrows for Quicksilver.
– David
4. Jonathan Rhys Meyers/Eva Green
Another Irish actor, Meyers is probably best known for his starring role as Henry VIII on Showtime’s The Tudors, though he also won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Elvis in the miniseries of the same name. Soon to be appearing as the lead in Sky TV’s/NBC’s Dracula, Meyers could definitely bring some bad boy frisson to the role of Quicksilver, though not without an edge of smarm that might well fit with the oft-misguided super-speedster.
Similarly, Green smouldered her way through Casino Royale, and, with her analytical wit and wounded pride, she could make for a compellingly sharp Scarlet Witch. Green already has two comic book movies on her plate for this year – 300: Rise of an Empire and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For -, but there’s no reason she shouldn’t be up to taking on a major franchise, especially on in which she gets to play a hero (of sorts).
Together, we could well imagine a chemistry that would shed light on the darker aspects of the Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch relationship (ick).
– Rob
3. Jake Abel/Lily Cole
Another pair of rising stars, both Jake Abel and Lily Cole are still at the beginning of their careers. I first saw Abel as Adam, the “missing Winchester” in Supernatural, but I wasn’t convinced he had the chops for a superhero role until seeing him as the traitorous Luke in Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief. He’s got just the right amount of ham in his acting to pull off the spandex suit. Cole, on the other hand, was a stand out in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and I would love to see her really let off the leash.
These two are the wildest of my pairs, as well as the ones I think would fit better in the X-Men franchise than Avengers. They seem just on the wrong side of trustworthy and like they could shoot off at any minute. Cole would certainly make for a fiery Scarlet Witch, intimidating and completely in control of her immense powers. Abel, on the other hand, would do well as the more abrasive version of the character. In some ways, I feel like their relationship could mirror Thor and Loki’s (with Abel’s Pietro as Thor and Cole’s Wanda as Loki), but with both still remaining heroic.
2. Enver Gjokaj/Summer Glau
Both former Whedon alums, Gjokaj played “Active” Victor in Dollhouse while Glau had her breakout role as the impossibly brilliant but incredibly damaged River Tam on Firefly. Dollhouse showed off Gjokaj’s adeptness at taking on different personas, be it a teenage party girl or a Mafia hood, though since then his career has consisted of mostly TV guest spots (and a quick cameo in the first Avengers as an NYPD officer). Glau, meanwhile, has tended to be cast as either emotionless (see Cameron in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) or broken (Firefly, The 4400), though, as spinoff movie Serenity showed, she can also kick-ass.
Not only would they seem to be solid (and affordable) choices for their respective roles, there’s something about their pairing (not to mention their history with Joss Whedon) that seems such a natural fit. It would be a real shame for them not to at least get screen tested.
– Rob
1. Tom Felton/Jena Malone
Out of all of the pairs, I think these two look the most like how I envision Pietro and Wanda. Tom Felton has the white blonde hair and piercing eyes, not to mention that impatient air he perfected over 10 years as Draco Malfoy. Jena Malone, meanwhile, has surprised me ever since I first saw her in Saved. She’s grown into her dark features and gained a fierce stare that makes her a perfect fit as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’s Johanna Mason. And really, when you’re looking for young stars these days, where better to look than the ranks of Harry Potter and the Hunger Games?
Beyond the fact that these two have a bit more star pull than my other picks, I think that as a pair, they would be the most Avenger-y of the bunch. Where I see Franco and Hyland as more like the X-Men: Evolution versions and feel that Abel and Cole’s twins might fit better in the X-Men film series, these are the two I could see fitting in best in the MCU.
Aside from looking the part, both Felton and Malone have proven themselves as actors in various films and I think both would do well as superheroes. Felton especially feels like a great choice as Quicksilver, and I for one would love to see how he handles a hero role as opposed a villainous one. That said, depending on where the character goes, we could get to see Felton’s evil side once more…
– David
Do you think our pairs should be sped onto the big screen or would our choices bring more bad fortune to Avengers 2 than a hex bolt? Is there anyone else you would like to see take on the roles? Weigh in below!
