Spider-Man and Scarlet Witch Are Siblings in a New Marvel Novel

What if Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker were sister and brother? That’s the question in What If… Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings?: A Scarlet Witch & Spider-Man Story, a new novel set in an alternate reality where S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Mary and Richard Parker adopted an infant Wanda while on a mission to Latveria for Nick Fury. The book, which is on sale now, also reimagines Wanda’s twin brother — Pietro Maximoff, a.k.a. Quicksilver — as Pietro von Doom, the white-haired speedster son of Doctor Doom.

Written by Seanan McGuire, the story — which kicks off with the murder of Captain America in Avengers Manor — is part of the multiversal series of novels What If… Loki Was Worthy? (featuring Loki and Valkyrie) and What If… Marc Spector Was Host to Venom? (featuring Moon Knight and Venom).

According to the official synopsis, “All Wanda has ever known is her friendlylittle neighborhood in Queens. As an infant, after her parents died, shewas adopted into a family where her doting Aunt May and Uncle Ben wouldalways be at the breakfast table. One that includes her idiot brother,Peter Parker, who thinks hiding a spider bite, joining a secret fightclub, and becoming a super hero are somehow good ideas. WhenWanda’s own powers emerge, blood, chaos, and suspicion follow in theirwake. But as she learns to harness her power under the guidance ofDoctor Strange, Peter is standing beside her in the Sanctum Sanctorum.And as they try to protect New York City, the Parker siblings learn thatwith great powers, there must also come great responsibilities — andgreater losses.”

“Reeling from tragedy, Wanda finds herself trulyalone for the first time in her life. Peter is lost to his own grief,and so she must forge ahead on her own. But on her first solo outing,she runs into a mysterious speedster—a man named Pietro. And everythingshe has ever known shatters like glass,” the synopsis continues. “Faced with unbelievable truths, Wanda is forced to choose between the life she knows and the life she could have.”

In an excerpt from the superhero murder mystery (via Marvel.com), Wanda Parker meets her long-lost twin brother for the first time: Pietro von Doom.

According to the pattern she’s uncovered, the next likely target is asmall single-family house in Forest Hills. There’s no one there whenWanda arrives, dropping out of the sky like a falling leaf. She landslightly in the yard, noting the lack of cars in the driveway and thelack of light in the windows. The curtains are closed. It’s possible theresidents are at work; it’s barely past noon, after all. But as shemakes her way up the walk, she notices the piled-up newspapers by thedoor, and the small drift of missed delivery notices on the doorframe.The people who live here haven’t been home in at least a week.

That may explain why it’s an appealing enough target to attract thistheoretical criminal. She leaves the porch and circles around the house,well aware of how exposed she is until she’s safely in the backyard.They have an apple tree. It’s clearly been cared for; these people areon vacation, not gone. The house is not abandoned. That makes her feel alittle better, although still self-conscious as she moves to check theback door.

It’s locked. But the city already thinks she’s a villain, and theprobability of a lock failing to hold when someone tries the knob isnever zero; a little chaos forced into the tumblers and it clicks openwithout any sign that it’s been interfered with or manipulated.

She goes inside. She finds the living room. She settles on the couch towait, sitting in deep shadow where anyone who comes through the frontdoor won’t see her straightaway. If the owners return home unexpectedly,she can find out just how well that teleportation practice has reallybeen going. Hopefully well enough that her master won’t need to come andbail her out of the local precinct when she’s already a villain in allthe papers.

She reviews her charms and little memorized spells as she waits, takingthis as an opportunity to go over the material she’s supposed to bestudying today. She’ll have to go back to real classes soon, or she’snever going to catch up, and her financial aid won’t look kindly on herfailing an entire semester, no matter what excuses Aunt May makes. Butit’s harder and harder to think of a college degree as something worthpursuing when she’s working toward becoming a Mistress of the MysticArts, something that will leave her without the need for an ordinaryjob.

She mostly stays in school for the sake of Aunt May, and because hermaster encourages it. He was a surgeon before he became SorcererSupreme: He’d had what he insists on referring to as an “ordinary life,”something that would make sense on a résumé. He believes thatexperience was a valuable one, and says it helped to prepare him forsome of the stranger aspects of the life he leads now. He wants Wanda tohave the same chance.

Wanda wants to make them both happy, and so she stays, but she’s notsure she’ll stay all the way to the end. The diploma just doesn’t seemto matter the way it used to, and her priorities are shifting. Peterwill stay. She has no question of that. Aunt May will get her collegegraduation, even if she doesn’t get two of them, and Wanda thinks she’llbe content with that.

One constant across the crimes she’s flagged as potentially associatedwith this mystery speedster: They happen in broad daylight. That’s partof what makes her believe there must be super-powers involved with theincidents—there are never any witnesses. Surely there would be witnessesto some of the crimes if they were happening at a normal speed.

She’s pondering that when the front doorknob rattles. Just for a moment,but the door doesn’t open, and she’s still sitting in the corner,waiting for the potential intruder to try again when the jinxed backdoor slams open and a breeze rushes through the room, a runaway windblowing out of nowhere. It spins circles around the living room, andwith every pass, another small element of the room is gone—a silvercandlestick, an antique-looking little clock.

“Stop!” shouts Wanda, rising. The wind doesn’t stop, and she hears thebuzzing, barely audible but absolutely present. She doesn’t have a lotof time. She knew this would happen fast, because that’s what speedstersdo, but she was anticipating slightly more time than this.

In an act of desperation, she resorts to the first trick she learnedwith her powers: She flicks her fingers out, like she’s shaking off acobweb, and a gleaming red shield springs up all around the outside ofthe room. The wind continues to circle, and she knows she’s trapped hertarget: Now it’s just a matter of time.

“You can’t get out, not even if you knock me down,” she says. “The shield stays until I intentionally release it.”

The wind stops, becoming a man. He’s about her age, and his skin is thesame shade as hers, pale enough to be believably a tan Caucasian, darkenough for some people to ask questions about how he got so much sun.His hair, in contrast, is whiter than she’s ever seen on someone soyoung. He and Storm could go to the same salon. He’s wearing goggles,and he blinks as he moves them out of the way, pushing them back on hisforehead in order to stare at her.

“Wanda?” he asks, and she recognizes her name, and she recognizes hisaccent—Latverian—but she doesn’t recognize anything else about him, noteven as he moves toward her, dropping his stolen trinkets as he spreadshis arms, not like he’s preparing to grapple her, but like he’sexpecting a loving welcome.

“I should have known you’d be the one to find me,” he says, and althoughshe doesn’t move, he keeps advancing, interpreting her shock forinvitation as he wraps his arms around her. “I should have known you’dbe looking for me just the way I’ve been looking for you. I thought thatwas you with the strange man with the sword, but you didn’t sayanything, and I didn’t want to risk your secret identity. That’s whatyou call it here, isn’t it? A secret identity? Such a charmingeuphemism.”

Wanda stares at him, struck briefly silent by his ramblings—and by hisuninvited embrace, which isn’t tight enough to be painful, but is a lottighter than she expects from a stranger. He lets her go and steps back,puzzlement overtaking his features. “Are you angry that I didn’t speakup in the moment? I thought the gift of my intervention would be enoughto prove my good intentions.”

“I’m sorry,” says Wanda, tongue feeling thick and clumsy. “I have no idea who you are.”

The stranger rears back like he’s been struck, shock and hurt washingacross his face, only to be replaced by a sullen anger that looks fartoo comfortable there: It fits the lines of his features like he wasmade to scowl at the world, not smile. “Of course you don’t know me,” hesays, voice gone sharp and cold. “Of course they denied you even that.”

“They?” she asks. “They who?”

“The imperialist bastards who stole you from your rightful place besideme!” he replies. “We were meant to grow up together, two halves of thesame whole, cleaving to each other and never to be parted! ThoseAmerican swine ripped you from our poor weeping mother’s arms! Theystole you from your family, from your country, from me!” His voicebreaks on the last word, anguish clearly unfeigned.

Wanda takes a half step toward him, seized by the urge to offer comfort.She has no idea who this stranger is, although she’s forming thebeginnings of an understanding—one that’s sour and bitter in her heart,but still, makes sense of the situation. “I’m sorry, I really don’t knowwho you are,” she says. “Can you tell me your name, please?”

“Pietro,” he says. “Pietro von Doom.”

What If… Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings?: A Scarlet Witch & Spider-Man Story is now available as a hardcover edition or audio and Ebook here on Amazon.