Barely a week after Joss Whedon confirmed the appearance of both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in ‘The Avengers 2‘, Bryan Singer has revealed on Twitter the casting of Quicksilver in his directorial return to the world of X-Men in: ‘Days of Future Past‘. He tweeted:
“Before he was an #Avenger, he was just a REALLY fast kid. Thrilled to say #EvanPeters is joining #XMen #DaysOfFuturePast as #Quicksilver.”
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are the mutant children of Magneto, first appearing in ‘Uncanny X-Men’ March 1964. They first joined the Avengers the following year. Singer’s choice of words here seems very deliberate in establishing the character’s origin and where he belongs.
It does seem peculiar that this news should appear so swiftly after Whedon’s confirmation of their appearance in ‘The Avengers 2’. That script is still in the draft stages- the film being due for release May 1, 2015, whereas ‘Days of Future Past’ is slated for July 18, 2014 and is well into production. The last casting news for the X-Men film came well over a month ago, adding fuel to the fire.
It remains to be seen whether this is a move by Fox to undercut Marvel Studios and beat them to the punch, or whether this announcement might be followed with news of Scarlet Witch’s inclusion as well. This development follows hot on the heels of renewed rumours of Irish actress Saoirse Ronan reportedly being marked for the role of Scarlet Witch in the Avengers sequel. The Mary Sue reports: that: ‘[she’d] love to be in it.’ The rumour states that Marvel Studios were viewing the actress as the “archetype” for their character.
Could it be that the two studios are making a deal and the characters will appear in both films, portrayed by the same actors? Whilst Singer even mentioning the Avengers may point to this, it seems unlikely. Last year Kevin Feige went on record stating that both studios have the rights to the characters, although Fox were unable to mention ‘The Avengers’ and Marvel Studios were unable to mention ‘mutants’ or the characters’ parentage in their respective films.
It certainly gives Whedon something to think about; he may be encouraged to redraft his script or remove the characters altogether, instead using any other of the legion of legally unrestricted avenging heroes, but I personally don’t see that as a necessary step. With ‘Iron Man Three‘s’ impressive run at the box office, the studio can afford to take the ‘competition’ and present their own versions of these characters.
With such a large cast with many new additions, ‘Days of Future Past’ will surely have a hard time lending any great amount of screen time to Quicksilver and potentially he could appear in only a cameo role; this is where Whedon should have the advantage.
Nevertheless, with the Days of Future Past storyline it will be interesting to see if and how Michael Fassbender’s and/or Sir Ian Mckellen’s Magneto(s) interact with Evan Peters‘ Quicksilver. Peters is best known for his role in tv series: American Horror Story, and is no stranger to comic book adaptations with a role in movie ‘Kick-Ass’ (as Todd).
