Meet Wiccan, the Scarlet Witch's Reality-Warping Son

When Billy Kaplan debuted as a Young Avenger known as the Asgardian, he seemed set to carry on the heroic legacy of Thor. However, the young reality-warping hero actually embodied the legacy of another Avengers icon: the Scarlet Witch.

As the lost son of Wanda Maximoff, Wiccan eclipsed the plans that destiny laid out for him and proved himself to be one of his generation's brightest heroes. On his many adventures with multiple Avengers teams, Wiccan gradually fell in love with his teammate Hulkling, a romance that still echoes throughout the far reaches of the cosmos today.

Now, let’s take a closer look at Wiccan and break down his connection to the Scarlet Witch. We'll also retrace his journey to becoming one of the most important Avengers of the next generation.

WHO IS WICCAN?

In VISION AND THE SCARLET WITCH (1985) #12 by Steve Englehart and Richard Howell, the Scarlet Witch used her immense reality-warping powers to give herself two sons: Billy and Tommy. Due to their father Vision being an android, Wanda created these children using two lost souls, which turned out to be small parts of Mephisto's essence.

When Mephisto realized this, he sent Master Pandemonium to reabsorb these fragments, seemingly wiping both children them from existence. But these souls—changed by the Scarlet Witch's magic—escaped Mephisto's grasp and reincarnated in the bodies of Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd (Speed), who were born to different sets of parents.

Prior to his debut in YOUNG AVENGERS (2005) #1 by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung, Billy had a memorable encounter with the Scarlet Witch that helped him discover his powers. Wiccan wields innate magical abilities with reality-warping potential that he seemingly inherited from Wanda.

When he operated as the Asgardian, Billy used his powers to wield lightning, which he channeled through a staff. Since embracing his mystical heritage as Wiccan, Billy honed his skills in chaos magic and even established himself as a potential candidate to replace Doctor Strange as Sorcerer Supreme.

It is foretold that Wiccan is destined to become the Demiurge, a godlike cosmic entity whose limitless power both lures and strikes fear in ancient beings like Dormammu and Moridun.

THE YOUNG AVENGERS BEGIN

Billy joined the Young Avengers as the Asgardian and served alongside Hulking (Teddy Altman), his super-strong, shape-shifting alien boyfriend. Unbeknownst to them at the time, Teddy was a descendant of both the Kree hero Mar-Vell and the Skrull royal family, making him an heir to two warring cosmic empires.

After bonding over their love of heroes, Billy and Teddy were recruited into the Young Avengers by Iron Lad, a teenage version of Kang the Conqueror who wanted to outrun his villainous destiny. Along with Patriot (Eli Bradley), Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), and Stature (Cassie Lang), Billy fought Kang in a battle where he called upon his full magical capabilities. At the suggestion of his teammates, Billy changed his codename to Wiccan to more closely reflect his power set.

Over the course of their early adventures, the Young Avengers met and recruited the super-fast Tommy Shepherd, who they quickly realized was Billy's reincarnated twin. The team also battled the Super-Skrull, who revealed Hulking's royal heritage and its implications for the Kree and Skrull Empires. During this time, the Young Avengers operated out of the old Avengers Mansion, which the Avengers abandoned after the Scarlet Witch's breakdown in AVENGERS (1998) #500 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch.

When the Avengers went to war over the government's efforts to register heroes in CIVIL WAR (2006), Wiccan and his teammates joined Captain America's anti-registration side. They evaded imprisonment alongside the Runaways, another band of outlaw teen heroes. S.H.I.E.L.D. sent the mind-controlled Marvel Boy (Noh Varr) to capture them, only for him to later help the teenage heroes escape after breaking free from his conditioning.

When the Vision confirmed their connection to the Scarlet Witch, Billy and Tommy tried to find the missing Wanda in YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS (2008) #3 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Alina Urusov. Although that initial search proved unsuccessful, the team soon embarked on a globe-trotting crusade to find the Scarlet Witch.

THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE

Wiccan's connection to the Scarlet Witch really came to the fore in AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE (2010) #1 by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung. During a battle with several Sons of the Serpent members, Wiccan's powers briefly overloaded and knocked out 20 armed attackers.

The Avengers, still reeling from Scarlet Witch's reality-rewriting instability events in AVENGERS: DISASSEMBLED and HOUSE OF M (2005), took Wiccan into custody to observe him. The Young Avengers broke him out and then teamed up with Quicksilver and Magneto to find the Scarlet Witch. The group tracked the Scarlet Witch to Latveria, where they found an amnesiac and depowered Wanda engaged to none other than Doctor Doom.

Thanks to the time-traveling intervention of Iron Lad, Wanda regained her memories and embraced Billy and Tommy as her long-lost sons. Despite that victory and Doom's subsequent defeat, the Young Avengers disbanded in the wake of Stature's death and Iron Lad's devolution into Kang.

Feeling guilty for the chain of events that led to his team's disbandment, Billy hung up his cloak and retired from superheroics. During this period, Teddy casually proposed to him and Captain America officially recognized the Young Avengers as Avengers in AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE (2010) #9 by Heinberg and Cheung.

BILLY KAPLAN, THE DEMIURGE

In an attempt to reunite Teddy with his late mother, Billy accidentally summoned a Multiversal parasite called Mother. A new iteration of the Young Avengers banded together to deal with the universal threat that Wiccan unwittingly unleashed in YOUNG AVENGERS (2013) #1 by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie.

This new team consisted of Hulkling, Wiccan, Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), America Chavez, Marvel Boy, Prodigy, and a teenage version of Loki. Loki sneakily orchestrated Mother's arrival in the Marvel Universe to try and convince Wiccan to give him his powers.

Both Loki and Mother targeted Wiccan due to his destiny to become an omnipotent cosmic being called the Demiurge. Despite his initial intentions, Loki ultimately decided to help the team and trained Wiccan for several months to prepare him for his final battle with Mother.

To sow uncertainty on the team, Mother's allies made Hulkling doubt his love for Billy, insinuating that Wiccan could be manipulating reality for his own desires. As Wiccan tried to access some of his future Demiurge powers, Teddy overcame his doubts and kissed him, which gave Billy the boost he needed to defeat Mother once and for all.

WICCAN AND THE NEW AVENGERS

When the heroes of the Marvel Universe reorganized following the Multiverse's destruction and rebirth in SECRET WARS (2015), Wiccan and Hulkling both joined Avengers Idea Mechanics in NEW AVENGERS (2015) #1 by Al Ewing and Gerardo Sandoval. Under the direction of Roberto Da Costa, this heroic incarnation of A.I.M. brought together veteran heroes like Hawkeye (Clint Barton) and Songbird, as well as young heroes such as Squirrel Girl, White Tiger, and Power Man (Victor Alvarez).

After encountering several Kree/Skrull hybrids who wanted Hulkling to unite their rival cosmic empires, the spirit of Moridun—an evil Sorcerer Supreme from the distant past—possessed Wiccan. Although the wizard's influence briefly corrupted Wiccan to take advantage of his Demiurge powers, Hulkling and a time-traveling group of future Avengers helped Billy overcome the dark spirit.

During the lead-up to CIVIL WAR II (2016), Wiccan took over as the leader of a smaller team of New Avengers with Hulkling, Squirrel Girl, and Hawkeye in NEW AVENGERS (2015) #11 by Ewing and Sandoval. This group went their separate ways after a few missions that saw them take on threats like the Maker and his New Revengers.

Following a reunion with Kate Bishop, Wiccan joined a short-lived group of Avengers, spies, and other mystical heroes called Strikeforce before stepping back to focus on his civilian life and maturing romance with Teddy.

WICCAN AND EMPEROR HULKLING

When Hulkling was finally called upon to unite the Kree and the Skrull Empires as the Kree-Skrull Alliance, Wiccan followed his partner into deep space—but only after they secretly tied the knot. Hulkling stepped up to be Emperor of the newly merged alliance in EMPYRE (2020) as the plantlike Cotati aliens launched an attack on the Kree, the Skrulls, and Earth.

Despite some cosmic grumbling over his human origins, Billy affirmed his marriage to Teddy with a grand ceremony in EMPYRE: AFTERMATH AVENGERS (2020) #1 by Al Ewing and Valerio Schiti. Together, Wiccan and Hulkling stand side by side as one of the most influential couples in the Marvel Universe.

As the Prince Consort and official Court Wizard of the Kree-Skrull Alliance, Wiccan works with Hulkling to fend off attacks from the likes of Knull and Dormammu. The power couple teamed up with the Guardians of the Galaxy (and even Doctor Doom) to protect the cosmos from these dark threats.

To prepare Billy for what's to come, Agatha Harkness once put Wiccan and Hulkling's romance to the test. In HULKLING & WICCAN INFINITY COMIC (2021) #1 by Josh Trujillo and Jodi Nishijima, Agatha's magical interference cast Billy and Teddy into different lives where they never met. Wiccan ultimately broke that spell, reuniting the devout lovers.

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