The Evan Peters Quicksilver performance was one of the highlights Fox’s X-Men movie franchise, and now he officially became part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in WandaVision (sort of). Peters was “recast” in the role of Pietro Maximoff, the late twin brother of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). The MCU’s Quicksilver was played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and he died in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The fact that there was a Quicksilver in the X-Men movies and in the MCU is due to the strange distribution of Marvel’s character rights. Marvel’s X-Men and mutant characters, were owned by Fox, not Disney, for years. This included Quicksilver, a mutant and the son of Magneto in the comics. However, he was also an Avenger, and Marvel Studios retained the rights to the Avengers’ lineup of characters when they started the MCU, and Quicksilver was no exception.
As Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige explained in 2012: “There are only a handful of characters that occupy that middle ground… a few gray points even after many years of negotiations … and that only happens with a character like Quicksilver, who has been a part of the X-Men, the son of Magneto in those comics, but also a primary Avenger.” This is why Marvel Studios were able to include Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, despite Fox beating Marvel to the punch by debuting their own version of Quicksilver a year earlier in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Yet the two Quicksilvers had no relation to each other besides their power – super speed – and the fact that they had white hair. The MCU’s Pietro Maximoff was given his powers by the Mind Stone but the X-Men’s Evan Peters Quicksilver – named Peter Maximoff – was a mutant whose father was Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and he was decades older than the MCU’s speedster in the X-Men movies’ revised timeline. However, the rights issues between Marvel and Fox became moot after Disney, Marvel Studios’ parent company, purchased Fox in 2019, which now allows Fox-owned characters like the X-Men to be integrated into the MCU.
The X-Men movies actually had a further leg up on Marvel and teased Quicksilver 11 years before he made his movie debut in Days of Future Past; the name Maximoff followed by the number (2) was on a list of known mutants seen on a computer screen in 2003’s X2: X-Men United. This meant Scarlet Witch was also part of the Easter egg, although the X-Men franchise never tried to create their own version of Wanda. Regardless, once Evan Peters debuted as Quicksilver, he instantly became one of the most popular characters in the X-Men movies, and Peter Maximoff was liked far more than Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Pietro. Here’s every appearance Evan Peters’ Quicksilver has made in the X-Men movies and also in WandaVision.
Quicksilver In X-Men: Days of Future Past
Peter Maximoff’s first appearance was in the section of X-Men: Days of Future Past set in 1973. Peter was recommended by Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who had time-traveled from a post-apocalyptic future where a mutant genocide was being carried out by the Sentinels. Logan, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), and Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) recruited Peter and his superspeed to break into a secure plastic cell beneath the Pentagon in order to free Magneto, who was imprisoned for assassinating President John F. Kennedy (although Magneto claims he tried to save JFK, who was secretly a mutant).
X-Men: Days of Future Past hinted Magneto was Quicksilver’s father, a result of an affair with Peter’s mother, although Peter only suspected and wasn’t sure Erik Lensherr was his dad. Quicksilver is best remembered for the incredible scene where he used his speed to save his mutant friends from security guards shooting at them in the Pentagon kitchen, which was set to “Time in a Bottle” by Jim Croce. However, Peter remained behind as the X-Men and Magneto resumed the rest of their mission and he wouldn’t interact with the X-Men again for another decade.
Quicksilver In X-Men: Apocalypse
Quicksilver returned in X-Men: Apocalypse, which was set in 1983, where Peter Maximoff was still a self-described “loser” living in his mother’s basement. But 10 years after meeting him, Peter was sure Magneto was his father. After Magneto resurfaced in Poland, murdered police officers who caused the death of his daughter, and joined forces with Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), Quicksilver ran to Poland to help but was too late, so he rocketed to the Xavier School to find the X-Men.
Maximoff arrived at the X-Mansion in the nick of time as it was about to explode thanks to Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen. In another amazing scene set to Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”, Quicksilver single-handedly saved all of the students in the school and rocketed each mutant to safety before the X-Mansion blew up. Quicksilver was among the X-Men captured by Colonel William Stryker (Josh Helman) and imprisoned in Alkali Lake’s Weapon X facility, where he confessed to Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) that Magneto was his father. Quicksilver then joined the X-Men as they broke out of Alkali Lake and traveled to Egypt, where they defeated Apocalypse and saved the world. Peter still didn’t tell Magneto he was his father, but he officially joined the X-Men.
Quicksilver in Dark Phoenix
Quicksilver was still one of the X-Men during the events of Dark Phoenix in 1992. Peter joined the team during a space shuttle rescue mission that saw Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) bonded with a cosmic force that changed her into the Dark Phoenix. Quicksilver was happy to take credit for the mission’s success to the young students at Xavier’s School.
However, as Jean became the Dark Phoenix and grew more unstable she traveled to her hometown in order to confront her estranged father, Quicksilver joined the X-Men when they went they went to retrieve Jean. The conflict proved devastating and resulted in the death of Mystique. Quicksilver’s legs were injured by Jean during the melee and he sat out the rest of the film, but he remained a teacher at the Xavier School after Professor X quit and Beast took over as Headmaster.
Quicksilver in Deadpool 2
Although Deadpool 2 is set in 2o18, 26 years after Dark Phoenix, Quicksilver made a hilarious cameo along with several of the X-Men. As Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) complained about how empty the X-Mansion was, he didn’t see Quicksilver along with Beast, Professor X, Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) in a room behind him and they shut the door to keep Deadpool out.
Quicksilver in WandaVision
WandaVision episode 5, “On a Very Special Episode…”, ended with the shocking surprise of Evan Peters’ Quicksilver arriving at Wanda Maximoff and Vision’s door – with Peters recast in the role of Wanda’s twin Pietro, taking the place of Aaron Taylor Johnson’s MCU Quicksilver. How this happened was one of the Disney+ show’s many mysteries, and there was intense hype that Evan Peter’s Quicksilver had actually come from the X-Men movies’ timeline to breach Westview via the Multiverse. However, in the end, it turned out that Evan Peters was actually playing Ralph Bohner, an actor whose body Agatha Harkness had hijacked as part of her wider scheming to mess with Wanda. It’s not explained why the Quicksilver created by Agatha looks like Evan Peters, and not the Quicksilver Wanda would remember, but it might have something to do with Variants and the wider Multiverse explored since Wandavision in the MCU’s phase 4.
Now Mutants Are MCU Canon, Will Evan Peters’ Quicksilver Return For Real?
The Evan Peters Quicksilver/Ralph Bohner bait-and-switch was one of the most controversial moments in the MCU and meant Wandavision was received less-than-favorably by some fans (although it should be noted the majority still loved the show). The X-Men entering the MCU has been one of the most widely anticipated changes to the MCU since the cinematic universe was conceived. For Marvel and Disney to play with their emotions using Evan Peters in Wandavision was felt by some to be a cynical, fan-baiting exercise to drive views between episodes.
However, since then two Phase 4 projects have introduced Mutants into the MCU in a way that opens the door for a real Evan Peters Quicksilver MCU appearance. As revealed in episode six of Ms. Marvel, the Kamala Khan of the MCU isn’t an Inhuman like her comic book counterpart but is, in fact, the MCU’s first confirmed Earth-616 mutant. Not only have mutants been officially canonized on-screen, but they also canonically share likenesses with their Fox X-Men movie counterparts. Patrick Stewart reprises his role as Professor Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, albeit on Earth-838.
Now that mutants are part of the MCU and Disney/Marvel have shown zero restraint about carrying over fan-favorite castings from Fox’s X-Men stewardship, there’s never been a stronger chance that the Evan Peters Quicksilver will return to the MCU, for real this time. As the response to his cameo in Wandavision shows, there’s clearly a demand for the American Horror Story actor to continue playing Marvel’s token speedster. A return would also help explain why Agatha knew to choose Ralph Bohner of all people for her Quicksilver stand-in. If most Quicksilver variants look like Peters, rather than Aaron Taylor-Johnson, it would explain why Agatha’s magic used his face when creating a Quicksilver to torment Wanda with. When the X-Men do return to the MCU, there’s now no reason the lineup can’t include Evan Peters as Quicksilver once again.
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