THOMAS
& WILLIAM
THOMAS
& WILLIAM
Real Names: Thomas and William (no last names)
Identity/Class: Magical/demonic hybrid constructs
Occupation: Infants
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Avengers (West Coast branch), Helen Bach, Doctor Strange, Glamor, "Agatha Harkness", Mrs. Elsa Hunter, Illusion, Jorge, Josie, Holly LaDonna, Magneto, Dr. Josefina Marino, Lauren Timm
Enemies: Immortus,
Master Pandemonium, Mephisto
Known Relatives: Wanda Maximoff
(Scarlet Witch, mother), Vision (father), Henry Pym ("great-grandfather"), Ultron ("grandfather"),
Eric Williams (Grim Reaper, "uncle"), Martha Williams
("grandmother"), Simon Williams (Wonder Man, "uncle"); extensive extended family
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Currently unrevealed;
First Appearance: (Conceived) Vision & the
Scarlet Witch II#3 (December, 1985);
Powers/Abilities: Aside from their
mystical/demonic hybrid forms, Thomas did not display any superhuman powers
while William was completely invisible to any sort of detection other than
physically seeing him. However -- at least towards the end -- when Wanda stopped
paying attention, they seemingly ceased to exist.
History:
(West Coast Avengers II#15 (fb)) - Mephisto mutated Martin Preston
into Master Pandemonium and told him that he had taken his soul and split it up amongst five demons
in different places, and that he must now use his powers to locate the soul
fragments.
(Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#3 - BTS / Avengers Forever#8 (fb)) - After marrying the Vision, the Scarlet Witch sought to live a normal
life by starting a family of her own. Knowing that she could not do so with
the synthozoid Vision, Wanda used her magical training and mutant reality-altering abilities
to tap into the magical energies unleashed by the Salem's Seven
to quicken life within her and infuse it
with the essence of both herself and her artificial husband. (or
so it seemed).
(Avengers West Coast#52 (fb) - BTS) - The magic
that the Scarlet Witch tapped into actually included portions of the recently dispersed Mephisto.
This served
as "souls" for the lifeforms that her hex powers had seemingly created. Thinking
that her hex powers had allowed her to conceive a child, Wanda suffered an
alleged imaginary pregnancy.
(Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#4 - BTS) - Dr. Strange examined the
Scarlet Witch, confirming her pregnancy and recommending a conventional OBGYN
for her, Dr. Josefina "Josie" Marino. Wanda asked him about her having used
magic to make the pregnancy happen, but he explained to her that magic was
nothing but directed energy. As Wanda had been the one to direct the energy, Dr.
Strange assured her that the baby would be fine. Wanda went home and told the
Vision that he was going to be a father.
(Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#5 - BTS) - Wanda informed her brother,
Pietro, of her pregnancy. Despite his previous opposition of her marriage to the
Vision, Pietro was pleased and offered his congratulations. They both agreed to
withhold the information from their father, Magneto.
(Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#6 (fb) - BTS) - The Vision and Wanda
shared the news of her pregnancy with several of their friends.
(Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#6 - BTS) - The Vision and Wanda had
numerous friends -- Captain America, Crystal, Dr. Strange, Glamor, Illusion,
Luna, Quicksilver, Wasp, and Norm Webster -- over for Thanksgiving. Magneto
showed up uninvited, and he was allowed to stay, though Wanda told him that
while she would not deny his rights as a grandfather, that he had a long
way to go to earn her acceptance.
(Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#7 - BTS) - Her pregnancy caused Wanda to
worry more about the Vision when he was late.
(Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#8 - BTS) - Wanda first felt her baby
moving within her.
(Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#9 - BTS) - The Vision assured Wanda that
he loved her as much as ever, even though she was becoming fairly large from her
pregnancy, though he soon after temporarily fell under the spell of the
Enchantress; he claimed that this made him only human.
(Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#10 - BTS) - While visiting Attilan to
check on Crystal, who had fallen ill from overdosing on the medication used to
protect her from Earth's pollution, Wanda had to sit down and rest due to her
increased size. She noted to the Inhuman doctor, Cuidador, how she was really
feeling the changes in her body. She noted the difficulty they were having in
picking names based on their family's names.
(Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#11 - BTS) - Wanda was again visited by Dr.
Strange, who assured her that everything was going fine with her pregnancy and
that despite her size she would not be having twins.
(Vision & Scarlet Witch II#12/West Coast Avengers#34 (fb)/West
Coast Avengers#43 (fb)) - Nine months later, Wanda had a premonition that her
son would be born that night, six days before the due date. Later that night,
she began to have contractions and was taken to the hospital to see Dr. Marino
(presumably Dr. Rosie Marino). Dr. Strange assisted Dr. Marino in delivering a
normal baby boy, after which -- despite all conventional and magical tests
showing no such evidence -- a second, healthy baby boy was born. She named the
twin boys Thomas and William (after Thomas Raye, an alias of Phineas Horton, the
creator the Vision's predecessor, the android Human Torch; and Simon Williams,
the man on whom the Vision's brain patterns were based).
(Avengers West
Coast#61 (fb) - BTS / Avengers Forever#8 (fb)) - Immortus watched as the Scarlet
Witch gave birth to her sons Thomas and William.
(Avengers Forever#8 (fb)) - Immortus
investigated the origins of the Scarlet Witch's children, learning not only that
the Scarlet Witch's spell had drawn to her shards of the hell-lord Mephisto's soul
into the creation process, but that Mephisto had already empowered an agent,
Master Pandemonium, to seek out and reclaim the shards. (Avengers West Coast#61 (fb) - BTS) -
Immortus allegedly knew that one day these magically created children would
cease to exist, with devastating effect upon their mother, which would make her
a more ideal puppet for him to manipulate.
(West Coast Avengers Annual#1) - When a traitorous former Avenger
had the Avengers arrested on false charges, many current Avengers visited
other former members to double-check their status. Wonder Man visited the
home of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch in New Jersey where he used the
double-checking as an excuse to see his newborn "nephews." When he arrived,
the twins were being fed. Wonder Man soon made his leave after speaking with
them about the traitor. After the Avengers discovered that Quicksilver was
the traitor, Hank Pym visited the Vision and the Scarlet Witch again and
explained what was going on. Scarlet Witch got into costume and told the
Vision that she had to go help Quicksilver, but the Vision went instead and
halted Quicksilver in mid-attack on the other Avengers. The Vision then showed
Quicksilver holograms of the newborn twins and explained that the twins needed
their uncle and reminded Quicksilver that his daughter needed him as well.
Quicksilver announced that he had enough and ran from the Avengers at
super-speed.
(West Coast Avengers II#30) - Wonder Man read Tommy and Billy a bedtime
story during one of his visits to the Vision and the Scarlet Witch.
(Solo Avengers#5/2) - Wanda noted that she had not
retained her girlish figure after having the babies. She was then visited by
Melinda Morrison, the former lover of Xandu, who was being pursued by John
Kowalski, an agent of Death. Kowalksi picked up William and taunted Wanda about
her inability to stop him, but he eventually set the baby down rather than fight
her. Ultimately Kowalski left them in peace.
(West Coast Avengers II#34 (fb)) - When the Vision and the Scarlet Witch
were summoned away, they left Tommy and Billy with Martha Williams while
they were gone.
(West Coast Avengers Annual#3) - Tommy and Billy happily enjoyed a
ride in their crib as the Scarlet Witch rearranged the furniture in their
room.
(West Coast Avengers II#39) - The Vision and the Scarlet Witch returned
to Martha's home to pick up the twins where they announced that they were
moving from New Jersey to Los Angeles in order to join the Avengers on the
West Coast. While the Vision accompanied Hawkeye, Mantis, and Wonder Man
back towards California, the Scarlet Witch stayed behind with her children
to visit with Martha Williams.
(West Coast Avengers II#40) - During an attack on the West Coast Avengers
Compound by the Night Shift, the Vision answered the summons from Hawkeye
while the Scarlet Witch remained behind to watch Tommy and Billy. Eventually,
the Scarlet Witch left the children with Jorge in order to help in the battle
herself.
(West Coast Avengers II#42) - Waking up without the Vision by her side,
the Scarlet Witch checked on Tommy and Billy before going outside to find
him.
(West Coast Avengers II#43) - While the Scarlet Witch was away with the
Avengers in search of the Vision, the recently-hired Miss Bach of the Avengers
Compound prepared the twins for a bath. After she put them in the tub, she
turned her back for a second and then turned around to find the twins
gone. (West Coast Avengers II#43
(fb) - BTS / Avengers West Coast#61 (fb) - BTS) - Immortus influenced Vigilance
(formed to deal with the potential threat of the Vision's re-taking control of
Earth's computers) to abduct and dismantle the Vision to further destabilize the
Scarlet Witch emotionally. (Avengers Forever#8 (fb) - BTS) -
Immortus dispatched one of his Space Phantoms, who took the form of Professor
Phineas Horton, creator of the android Human Torch, and sent him to destabilize the
Scarlet Witch's reality. (West Coast Avengers II#42-43 - BTS) -
Vigilance abducted and dismantled the Vision as intended.
(West Coast Avengers II#44) - The Scarlet Witch and the other Avengers
arrived to receive Miss Bach's distress call; running to discover what
was wrong with her children, the Scarlet Witch was the first to reach Miss Bach. Bach quickly explained how the twins had disappeared just after
she put them down into the tub and a shocked Scarlet Witch immediately opened
the bathroom door to find Tommy and Billy playing in the tub. Thinking that
Miss Bach was playing a cruel joke on her, Scarlet Witch fired her. Miss
Bach tried to explain to Wasp that the children had disappeared; the Wasp
explained that her firing was out of her hands but she would make sure Miss
Bach got the proper severance pay.
(West Coast Avengers II#44-45 / Avengers
West Coast#61 (fb) - BTS) - As Immortus had planned, the Vision was re-created
without his emotions for the Scarlet Witch, further destabilizing her. (West Coast Avengers II#44 - BTS/
Avengers Forever#8 (fb) - BTS) - "Phineas Horton" denied to Henry Pym that the
Vision contained any of his materials. (Avengers Forever#8 (fb) - BTS) -
Immortus influenced the Avengers so that they missed any of the contradictions
regarding the Vision and the Human Torch.
(West Coast Avengers II#45 - BTS) - Hiring a new governess to replace
Miss Bach, the Scarlet Witch hired Mrs. Hunter and explained that her twins
were far from ordinary. Happy to have the job, Mrs. Hunter went up to introduce
herself to the twins when the Witch was called down to the med-lab. When Mrs.
Hunter got upstairs, she also found that the twins were not there.
(Avengers West Coast#47 - BTS) - Newly-hired governess Lauren Timm found
that Tommy and Billy had seemingly disappeared.
(Avengers West Coast#48 - BTS) - Immortus
observed from Limbo as Hank Pym questioned "Phineas Horton" and learned that
some of the information regarding the Vision's origins as told by the Synchro-Staff
had been false. Immortus mused on his reasons for doing so, commenting that
everything was carefully calculated to bring the Scarlet Witch to a certain
point.
(Avengers West Coast#50 - BTS) - The twins disappeared a second time
on their new governess who was panic-stricken at their disappearance. In
the midst of their disappearance, the governess was shocked at the arrival
of "Agatha Harkness." (Avengers
Annual#18 - BTS / Avengers West Coast#61 (fb) - BTS) - While Immortus subtly
increased the Scarlet Witch's hex power, he made certain she was chosen to be
one of the Brides of Set to further undermine her confidence. (Avengers West Coast#61 (fb) - BTS) -
The Scarlet Witch was coincidentally captured and manipulated by That Which
Endures, further destabilizing her. (Avengers West Coast#61 (fb) - BTS) -
Immortus influenced Master Pandemonium, causing him to kidnap Tommy and William.
(Avengers West Coast#51) - As the Vision and the Scarlet Witch returned
from a walk where they discussed the newly non-emotional Vision, they too
were shocked to see "Agatha Harkness." "Agatha" motioned toward Tommy and
Billy and announced that she was there in concern for the twins. Wanda tried
to explain how "normal" the twins were, but "Agatha" explained that they
could not be normal as the children of a mutant and a synthozoid. She also
explained that the children's recent disappearances were due to the Scarlet
Witch not thinking of them at the time and that the children ceased to exist
whenever Wanda was not thinking of them.
(Avengers West Coast#52) - The Scarlet Witch tried to save her children,
but Wonder Man warned that her unpredictable hex powers might kill her children.
Pandemonium laughingly exclaimed that Wonder Man needn't worry about them now
that he had reclaimed the parts of his missing soul that made up the twins.
He then used one of the absorbed twins to fire a blast a demonfire at Wonder
Man. As the Avengers battled Master Pandemonium in his lair, "Agatha Harkness"
explained the twins' origins to the Human Torch and Ann Raymond. Following
Pandemonium's defeat, Mephisto appeared and announced that the twins had
been returned to their original form as part of himself (also announcing
that Master Pandemonium was never retrieving pieces of his soul, but the soul
of Mephisto instead). After "Agatha" mentally aided the Scarlet Witch in
momentarily distracting Mephisto and returning the Avengers back home, she
explained to the other Avengers that she had magically erased Wanda's knowledge
of the twins' existence. Following a brief argument between "Agatha" and
the Avengers, the Avengers agreed to let Wanda forget her children's existence
for her own well-being.
Comments: Created by Steve Englehart, Richard Howell,
and Frank Springer.
The Vision first brought up the idea of having
a baby in Vision and Scarlet Witch II#2 (November, 1985)
In Avengers I#280 (June, 1987), as Jarvis thought about the various
Avengers' current lives, Tommy and William appeared with the Scarlet Witch
as he thought of her but I don't think that counts as an actual
"appearance."
It was later apparently ret-conned/revealed that the "Agatha Harkness" in this story was
an illusion created by the Scarlet Witch. Further, it was ret-conned/revealed
that the Scarlet Witch had used her reality-altering powers to create the whole
pregnancy and everything associated with it, including Dr. Strange's presence
(which doesn't really make sense, as they have Strange called away from other
adventures, such as with
Colábrun.
Profile by Proto-Man and Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS: William has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Other Appearances:
Last updated:
01/12/07
Any Additions/Corrections? please
let
me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!
formerly Avengers Compound
in Los Angeles, California;
formerly Leonia, New Jersey
(born) Vision & the Scarlet
Witch II#12 (September, 1986)
While absorbed into Master Pandemonium's form, Thomas
and William could channel demonic hellfire through their forms.
(Fantastic Four I#277 - BTS/Avengers West Coast#52 (fb) - BTS) - When Mephisto was
temporarily destroyed by Franklin Richards, the demon lord found his soul split
into six fragments. Rather than exhaust his own energies seeking out the
fragments, he decided to dupe a pawn into seeking out the fragments for him.
Later, when some bigoted neighbors attempted to burn down their
new house in Leonia, New Jersey, Wanda stopped them. After she told them that
she was pregnant, it dispersed some of their anger and they agreed to leave her
and her family in peace.
Later, when members of Salem's Seven, having been destroyed
by the previous spell, chose to ambush the Witch on All Hallow's Eve, attempted
to tap into the new life within her to open a portal to allow them to return to
Earth. She escaped from the Seven's Thornn, but was then captured by Samhain.
The Vision destroyed the Druid Tome from which Samhain drew power, and the
spirit of Agatha Harkness dispersed Samhain's spirit, trapping separate portions
of it within each of the deceased members of Salem's Seven. With the danger at
an end, Wanda confirmed that the baby was alright.
Later, when she used her powers to reach the comatose
Crystal's mind, she verbally comforted her baby before taxing her own body.
Later, the Toad attempted to confront Wanda and convince her
that he was the one for her, but when he saw her very pregnant body, he was
repulsed and fled.
Three days later, the Scarlet Witch brought her twins home to
her Leonia, New Jersey home, where numerous friends and family -- Glamor,
Illusion, Magneto, Martha Williams, Wonder Man -- met the twins for the first
time.
(Avengers West Coast#61 (fb) - BTS) - Immortus did this to make the Scarlet Witch a
better candidate to serve as his power receptacle.
OR
(Avengers Forever#8 (fb) -
BTS) - Immortus did this to weaken the Scarlet Witch's ties to her children
(which might have been too strong for even Mephisto to break) so that her
children might be more easily destroyed.
The twins were soon terrified as
Master Pandemonium attacked the Avengers Compound, temporarily felling "Agatha"
with a blast of demonfire. Almost as soon as Scarlet Witch and Vision joined
the battle against Master Pandemonium, Pandemonium retreated, claiming his
job there was done. Before anyone could react to Pandemonium's sudden retreat,
Wanda exclaimed that the twins were gone. Back in his lair, Pandemonium
explained his origins to the captive Tommy and William before the Avengers
managed to track him to his demonic lair. By the time the Avengers found
him however, Master Pandemonium had absorbed the twins' forms into his demonic
self.
However, in Young Avengers, it would appear that the twins
DID, in fact, exist, and that they have become Thomas Shepherd and Billy Kaplan.
However, as that's unconfirmed, and b/c there's an unexplained leap from one to
the other, I'm treating the infants as separate characters than the Young
Avengers members...just like doing a profile on Psilord as separate from
Franklin Richards...for now...it's information gathering...relax.
Thomas has no known connections to:
(app-pterodactyl)--Monsters on the Prowl#15/3
Release eyeblasts that incapacitate anyone
they touch, damage his mind the more they are used
--Peter Parker: Spider-Man#34
Vision & Scarlet Witch II#12, last page, last panel (with Vision and
Scarlet Witch)
Avengers West Coast#51, p6, panel 2 (normal forms)
Avengers West Coast#52, cover (demonized forms on arms)
p6, panel 2 (baby forms on arms)
Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#12 (September, 1986) - Steve
Englehart (story), Richard
Howell (pencils), Frank Springer (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
West Coast Avengers Annual#1 (1986) - Steve Englehart (script/co-plotter),
Mark Bright (pencils/co-plotter), Geof Isherwood (inks)
West Coast Avengers#30 (March, 1988) - Al Milgrom (story/layouts), Mike Machlan
(finishes)
Solo Avengers#5/2 (April, 1988) - Dennis Mallonnee (writer), John Ridgway
(artist), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
West Coast Avengers#34 (July, 1988) - Steve Englehart (story), Al Milgrom
(layouts), Mike Machlan (finishes)
West Coast Avengers Annual#3 (1988) - Steve Englehart (story), Al Milgrom
(layouts), Gerry Talaoc (finishes)
West Coast Avengers#39 (December, 1988) - Steve Englehart (story), Al Milgrom
(art)
West Coast Avengers#40 (January, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Al Milgrom
(artist)
West Coast Avengers#42 (March, 1989) - John Byrne (writer/penciller), Mike
Machlan (inker)
West Coast Avengers#43 (April, 1989) - John Byrne (writer/penciller), Mike
Machlan (inker)
West Coast Avengers#44 (May, 1989) - John Byrne (writer/penciller), Mike
Machlan (inker)
West Coast Avengers#45 (June, 1989) - John Byrne (story/pencils), Mike Machlan
(inker)
Avengers West Coast#47 (August, 1989) - John Byrne (writer/penciler), Mike
Machlan (inker)
Avengers West Coast#50 (November, 1989) - John Byrne (writer/artist), Mike
Machlan (artist/inker)
Avengers West Coast#51 (Mid-November, 1989) - John Byrne
(writer/penciller), Mike Machlan (inker)
Avengers West Coast#52 (December, 1989) - John Byrne (writer/penciller),
Mike Machlan (inker)
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