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

EnemiesImmortus, 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;
    formerly Avengers Compound in Los Angeles, California;
    formerly Leonia, New Jersey

First Appearance: (Conceived) Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#3 (December, 1985);
    (born) Vision & the Scarlet Witch II#12 (September, 1986)

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.
    While absorbed into Master Pandemonium's form, Thomas and William could channel demonic hellfire through their forms.

 

History:
(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.

(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.
    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.

(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.
    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.

(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.
    Later, when she used her powers to reach the comatose Crystal's mind, she verbally comforted her baby before taxing her own body.

(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.
    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.

(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).
    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 / 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 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.

(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.
    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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(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.
    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.

Profile by Proto-Man and Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Thomas has no known connections to
:

William has no known connections to:

  • William ?? - child of the Voyager, gained self-awareness, married Alicia Harker over 200 years ago, eventually consumed by the Voyager, but released to the afterworld by the Voyager upon its being liberated from Earth by Sam Wantling, reunited with Alicia by his descendent, Harriet Homerstone--[Children of the Voyager#3], Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1/3
  • William ?? - mutant, raised in monastery, restricted to lying on back to prevent him from injuring others, escaped + traveled inot New York city, exhausted powers and shut down mind.
        Release eyeblasts that incapacitate anyone they touch, damage his mind the more they are used
        --Peter Parker: Spider-Man#34
  • other "William" or "Bill" characters


images: (without ads)
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)
   


Other Appearances:
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)


Last updated: 01/12/07

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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