Quicksilver Character Comparison: Peter Maximov & Pietro Maximoff (X-Men and The Avengers)

Back when Days of Future Past came out and I flailed nerdishly over X-Men’s Quicksilver, I talked about the franchise overlap with the character being fair game for both X-Men and The Avengers.  This was before Age of Ultron, so I had yet to see Marvel’s Quicksilver, but I was already looking forward to comparing the two version of the speedster.  (Note:  to avoid confusion, this is the last time I’ll use the name Quicksilver.  Since X-Men Americanized his name, I’ll be referring to the X-Men version as Peter and the Avengers version as Pietro.)

Both iterations of the character are awesome, but in fairly different ways.  Everything about Peter says “larger than life”:  the silver hair and goggles, which weirdly kind of work even though they shouldn’t, his ridiculously huge stash of pilfered loot in his room, the quick cuts and comic beats, Evan Peters’s snappy line delivery, and his show-stopping speed scenes in Days of Future Past and Apocalypse.  He’s fast, funny, and fun, whipping through Days of Future Past like a whirlwind, and it’s not just his powers.  Temperament-wise, he’s like a ping pong ball, always eager to leap ahead to the next thing; you get the sense that he’d go well and truly crazy if forced to wait around.

Pietro shares a number of Peter’s traits besides the speed, enough to recognize them as the same character.  Like Peter, he can be cocky (more than a bit of showoff,) a smart-aleck, and easily distracted.  Pietro is different less in character than in the tone of the portrayal itself.  While Peter is a definite “character,” Pietro feels more like a person, like (powers aside) I could easily meet someone like him in real life.  This is partly through the more low-key expression of his humor and partly through his more well-rounded depiction.  Pietro is a young guy with superpowers and can act like it, but he’s also known serious loss.  When he tells Ultron about the deaths of his parents and the days he and Wanda spent trapped in the wreckage of their home waiting to die, you can see the angry and pain driving him.  The different sides of him coexist in a way that feels consistent.  (By contrast, when Peter gets a more serious side plot in Apocalypse, it makes him feel… not like Peter.  The different sides of him are too jarring for me, and his subdued scenes just make me wonder when entertaining Peter is coming back.)

So that’s the major difference in tone.  The biggest difference in terms of character is probably where their focus lies.  Peter is pretty self-absorbed, though not in a particularly bad way.  It’s just that he’s all about instant gratification.  When Charles, Wolverine, and Hank ask him to help them with their mission, his first question is, “What’s in it for me?”  Like I said, this isn’t a condemnation of him – for a teenager a.k.a. walking id (running, in his case,) it’s perfectly believable.  By contrast, Pietro is always, always a package deal with Wanda.  He usually defers to his twin and looks out for her above all else.  Of course, much of this is down to the blindingly obvious fact that Wanda is in Age of Ultron but not the X-Men films; Peter can’t be expected to consider the needs of someone who isn’t there.  However, plot-driven or not, it still changes the character in a big way.  Pietro sees things outside of himself that Peter really doesn’t.

In the end, both versions of the character have plenty of merit.  For me, I’d say Peter is the most entertaining, while Pietro is the most engaging.  Peter probably gets the biggest showcase moments, but Pietro (IMO) makes an overall greater impact.

Favorite Characters: Pietro Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver (The Avengers)

Okay, so I’ve already talked about Pietro in conjunction with his twin sister, but I wanted to talk about him on his own as well.  For a relatively small character within the larger scope of the Avengersverse, he makes a strong impact (spoilers for Age of Ultron.)

For me, Pietro (and Wanda, of course!) had me from my first glimpse of him at the end of The Winter Soldier.  Both twins are so compelling in that scene, and I remember being pulled in by how distressed Pietro seems compared to Wanda’s eerie calm; whether it’s a struggle to get a handle on his new powers or a combo of having super-speed while being trapped in a confined space, he is not okay.  Right off the bat, it tells you the Maximoffs aren’t equal partners with von Strucker and his Hydra buddies – no matter how willing Pietro and Wanda were in the experiments that gave them their powers, they’re guinea pigs/assets, and no one else there cares about them in any meaningful way.

But I’m getting into the Maximoffs in general, and today is about Pietro; it’s hard to talk about him without bringing in Wanda, so forgive me if I digress from time to time.  When we next see Pietro in Age of Ultron, he’s far more in control of himself and his powers, and it’s clear that, rather than explicitly working with Hydra, he (and Wanda – see, there I go again!) is in this fight strictly to see through his version of justice against Tony and the rest of the system that’s brought so much harm to him, his family, and his country.  Because this is his ultimate goal, not any philosophy or ideal, he operates as much more of a free agent, aligning himself with various people/AIs throughout the movie – and within any temporary alliances, he usually sets his own agenda.  He teams up with anyone who offers him an outlet for his anger and need for restitution, and his only unwavering loyalty is to Wanda.

I like that he’s impulsive and angry, and I like that he can be a cocky smartass (not sure if the arrogance came with his superpowers or if it was a preexisting condition.)  With these traits, he’s often not a nice character – although he knows how to come through in a pinch, and he will do anything for his sister – but he remains a fairly relatable and hugely watchable one.  He’s fully believable as someone who’s been through the ringer, made some rash decisions, and now has these incredible powers that he doesn’t always use responsibly.  I like his distrust, the brittleness of his anger, and the way he can’t help rubbing it in when he leaves someone in the dust.

In part, these more unsympathetic traits work so well because they’re balanced out by his better qualities; he’s not just one thing.  Even when he’s one of the “bad guys,” his attentiveness toward and care for Wanda is so absolute.  Not in a patronizing way – I’m sure he would admit she’s way more powerful than he is – but in an “I’m your twin, and I’ve always got your back” way.  And because he doesn’t do much of anything by half measures, when he and Wanda do decide to follow Team Avengers, he throws himself into it completely:  openly defying Ultron, rescuing civilians left and right, and ultimately giving his life to save one of his teammates.  Finally, in a nice bit of power/personality synchonicity, I love how easily distracted (making an ill-advised grab for Thor’s hammer as he sees it leisurely floating past him mid-run) and impatient (racing around to put the temporary kibosh on Vision with an “eff that noise” attitude when he gets bored of the Avengers’ arguing over what to do) he can be.  He may have been a very short-lived character, but he definitely makes the most of his time in the franchise.

Relationship Spotlight: Pietro & Wanda Maximoff (The Avengers)

The addition of the Maximoff twins was one of my favorite parts of Avengers:  Age of Ultron.  There’s their cool powers – amazing mental abilities including mind manipulation and telekinesis for Wanda (the Scarlet Witch) and super-speed for Pietro (Quicksilver) – and both are compelling characters who make a big impact despite limited screentime.  Best of all, though, I think is the relationship they have with one another.  The MCU has brought some really stellar relationships to life, and these two are a particularly prime example (big Maximoff-related spoilers for Age of Ultron.)

The first thing you notice about Pietro and Wanda is how closely they’re entwined.  They come by it honestly, having lost their parents at a young age in brutal, tragic circumstances; they’ve survived the same traumas together, and each is the other’s only family.  They cling to one another, look to one another in making decisions, and protect one another before all else.  Now, their bond has grown deeper, as both have undergone the same experiments to give them their respective enhanced abilities.

Their shared loss (courtesy of a Stark Industries bomb) has placed both of them on a path toward revenge, although their anger manifests in different ways.  We see this in the twins’ demeanor as well as how they operate in the field.  Pietro has a quick temper, and he attacks his enemies (or perceived enemies) head-on, relying on his speed to get him out of danger if he finds himself in over his head.  Wanda, meanwhile, tends to be a lot subtler.  Her anger simmers beneath the surface, and she similarly attacks from the shadows, getting into the heads of her opponents when they’re not looking.

But while they come at things in different ways, both move toward the same goals.  It’s interesting to watch them as they decide where they stand at various points of the film.  Whether it’s making the choice to enter the field, join Ultron, or ally with the Avengers, they rarely discuss anything.  Instead, they more often seem to silently confer and one can announce the decision for both of them with few words exchanged.  Sure, there are little things – Wanda chiding Pietro to be more cautious, Pietro teasing Wanda about being the younger twin – but on everything that matters, they’re perfectly aligned from the get-go.  (In general, I feel like Wanda runs the show a little bit, but not in the sense that Pietro goes along with her even if he doesn’t want do.  I don’t know; it’s kind of hard to articulate.  Maybe it’s that he just implicitly trusts that what Wanda wants is what he wants?)

Their protectiveness of one another is so central to both characters.  This is both in a physical sense – Pietro appears at Wanda’s side out of nowhere, always ready to bring her to safety – and an emotional one – the two orphans seem to parent one another.  For me, the absolute heart of the entire film can be found in Wanda’s reaction to Pietro’s death during the final battle.  They’re separated from one another, halfway across the city, but Wanda knows immediately, and her powers explode out as her grief overwhelms her.  Then, when Ultron warns Wanda that she’ll die if she doesn’t leave the city, she tells him that she’s already died and offers to show him how it felt, tearing his metal “heart” out of his chest.  I mean, holy crap.  This franchise has done sharp work with numerous romances, friendships, and familial relationships, but I don’t think anything compares to the rawness and love of that moment.