With Ian McKellen Confirmed To Be In Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel Has The Perfect Opportunity To Retcon Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver's MCU Origin To Be More Comics Accurate

By Kai Young

Published Mar 31, 2025

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Ian McKellen's return as Magneto in Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver their history from Marvel Comics (which was also changed on the page), but this can now be rectified.

In the MCU, Wanda Maximoff was born as a witch, while her powers were enhanced by exposure to the Mind Stone as part of HYDRA's experiments. X-Men character in Avengers: Doomsday means now is the perfect time to reverse this controversial change for two of Marvel's most popular heroes.

Ian McKellen’s Magneto Is Returning In 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday

Ian McKellen Starred As Magneto In Five 20th Century Fox Movies

Ian McKellen as Magneto in X-Men Days of Future Past

The official cast announcement for Avengers: Doomsday saw Marvel Studios reveal the first 27 signed on to return in the Russo brothers' crossover movie. This included seven X-Men actors, including Patrick Stewart, Kelsey Grammer, James Marsden, Channing Tatum, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming and, crucially, Ian McKellen. McKellen made his live-action debut as Erik Lehnsherr, the iconic Marvel villain known as Magneto, in 2000's X-Men, and appeared in four further movies in Fox's X-Men franchise before his last appearance in 2014's Days of Future Past.

Ian McKellen's Magneto Project	Year	Role
X-Men	2000	Main Cast
X2: X-Men United	2003	Main Cast
X-Men: The Last Stand	2006	Main Cast
The Wolverine	2013	Cameo
X-Men: Days of Future Past	2014	Main Cast
Avengers: Doomsday	2026	TBD

Michael Fassbender took over the role of Magneto from Ian McKellen in Fox's revised timeline, but it will be fantastic to see the legendary English actor reprise the role over a decade after his last appearance. The return of these classic X-Men actors suggests Fox's universe of Earth-10005 will be revisited, but Marvel Studios can make some key changes to these well-known characters and the world they live in. One of these huge changes could make Magneto a much more prevalent presence in the lives of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

I Want The Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver To Be Magneto’s Children In Avengers: Doomsday

Wanda & Pietro Maximoff Could Be Magneto's Children In The MCU

Introduced in 1964, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were always depicted as mutants, though initially with unnamed parents, and they were later named as the children of Golden Age heroes, the Whizzer and Miss America, and later of human parents, Django and Marya Maximoff. They were given to the High Evolutionary for experimentation at an early age, leaving their true parentage in question. In 1982, however, Magneto surmises that the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are in fact his children, which was the established story for over 30 years.

This was retconned in 2015, revealing them not to be mutants at all, but instead the product of the High Evolutionary's experiments. Since their mutanthood was such a huge part of their story for so long, however, it would be great to see this get paid homage in Avengers: Doomsday, so we would love to see Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson return and be revealed to be the children of Ian McKellen's Magneto. This was briefly explored with Evan Peters' Quicksilver in Fox's X-Men franchise, but never followed through, so Marvel Studios can finally do this story justice.

Avengers: Doomsday’s Storyline Is The Perfect Way To Work Around Marvel’s Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver Retcon

Elizabeth Olsen & Aaron Taylor-Johnson Can Return To The MCU As Variants

Scarlet Witch fighting America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

The retcon of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff's origins in Marvel Comics suggests that Marvel Studios will be unlikely to reveal them to be mutants in the MCU's main timeline. We've already seen their human parents, and they've had their origin story explored throughout their many appearances. However, the Multiverse Saga presents the perfect opportunity for them to both not be mutants on Earth-616 and be mutants in another universe, perhaps one where they are the superpowered children of Ian McKellen's Master of Magnetism himself.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine with Marvel's X-Men behind him

Kevin Feige Confirms The Start Of The "Mutant Era" In The MCU

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige gives a big and crucial update on the beginning of the mutant era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise.

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We've already explored three alternate realities where a variant of Magneto could have had two mutant children. Ian McKellen could be returning as his original version of Magneto from Fox's X-Men franchise, with its universe designated Earth-10005 in Deadpool & Wolverine. However, he could also debut as new Magneto variants from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' Earth-838 or The Marvels' X-Men-inhabited world. After years of toying with the idea in live-action, it would be fantastic to finally see Marvel use Avengers: Doomsday to connect Magneto to the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.