‘WandaVision’ Just Introduced Billy and Tommy—and the MCU May Never Be the Same

WandaVision is already a groundbreaking entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe just because of its whole vibe and execution alone. And now, after the wild ride that was WandaVision Episode 3, this show is a game changing entry in the MCU. Why? Because this is the episode wherein we finally meet Wanda and Vision’s twins. SPOILER ALERT, obviously!

These twins are more than just a wink to sitcom history. Seriously, how many characters have given birth to twins on TV? It happens way too often! It’s also more than a fun shout out to the fact that Elizabeth Olsen—Wanda herself—is the younger sister of one of the most famous twins in sitcom history, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen. It’s also more than a reference to the fact that twins run in families, and that Wanda herself is a twin (remember Pietro?). The arrival of Billy and Tommy is also the arrival of potentially an entire future phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

So, who are Billy and Tommy? Buckle up, because this is about to get weird.

Who are the twins on WandaVision?

As seen in Episode 3 of WandaVision, Billy and Tommy are the twin sons of Wanda Maximoff and Vision. Their existence is a bit of a mystery, as Vision is a synthetic being of artificial, cosmically-powered intelligence—and he’s also, you know, dead as far as we know. Remember how he was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and was not resurrected during Avengers: Endgame? We don’t know how he’s back, if he’s really back, and if he is back, if he actually has anything to do with Billy and Tommy’s creation. But still, he is their father as far as these sitcoms are concerned!

From what we’ve seen so far, Vision and Wanda made whoopee in the cold open of WandaVision Episode 2 and Wanda was noticeably pregnant by episode’s end. Episode 3 started with her already four months pregnant and ended with her giving birth to twins. So that’s where Billy and Tommy come from!

Who are Billy and Tommy on WandaVision?

William and Thomas are the twin sons of Wanda and Vision, and those names have a lot of significance. On the show, Vision suggests the name William after William Shakespeare. Wanda doesn’t like that name so much; she wants something all-American like Tommy. Fortunately for them they have twin sons and are able to use both names! And those names are major Marvel Comics Easter eggs.

Who are Vision and Wanda Maximoff’s kids in the comics?

Things unfold a bit differently for Wanda and Vision in the comics, even if they end up with twins named Billy and Tommy. As seen in 1985’s Vision and the Scarlet Witch volume 2 (written by Steve Englehart with art by Richard Howell), Wanda channeled a whole lot of magic into herself to create life—the child that she and her husband Vision so desperately wanted. By the end of that 12-issue limited series, Wanda had given brith to twin sons. They named Tommy after Dr. Phineas Thomas Horton, the scientist who created Vision’s android body back in World War II. They named their other son William after Simon Williams, the Avenger whose brain patterns were used to bring Vision to life. Of course, since MCU version of Vision was created by Ultron and JARVIS, WandaVision had to come up with different meanings behind the names. Still, Billy and Tommy are named Billy and Tommy. That’s major.

But comics being comics, that’s nowhere near the end of Billy and Tommy’s story. Four years later, in 1989’s Avengers West Coast #52 (by John Byrne, a writer/artist who truly loves convoluted continuity), it was revealed that Billy and Tommy were actually the result of Wanda experiencing a false pregnancy and using her own probability-altering hex powers, as well as a lot of magic, to conjure the twins into being. Over time, the spell began to wear off, and the twins would actually pop out of existence when Wanda wasn’t around. It was also revealed that in order to give her wish twins life, Wanda snatched two shards of the soul of Mephisto (basically Marvel’s devil). Mephisto reclaimed those shards and Wanda and Vision’s children disappeared for good.

Making matters even worse, Wanda’s witchcraft mentor Agatha Harkness cast a spell that made Wanda forget she ever had children in the first place. Yep……….. comics.

Who are Wiccan and Speed?

Somehow it gets even more complicated—and I’m not even going to get into Avengers: Disassembled here because it’s just too much!

In 2005’s Young Avengers series, writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung introduced the characters Asgardian (Billy Kaplan) and Speed (Tommy Shepherd). Asgardian would soon change his codename to Wiccan, a name he still uses today. At first, everyone thought Billy was just being a Scarlet Witch superfan when he thought that he was Wanda’s reincarnated son and that Tommy—a stranger he just met—was his reincarnated twin brother. I mean, it was a good hunch! Billy has magic powers just like Scarlet Witch, and Speed is super fast just like Wanda’s twin brother Pietro.

It took a while, but 2010’s Avengers: The Children’s Crusade limited series confirmed that yes, Wiccan and Speed are the reincarnated William and Thomas—even if they are teenagers and were already alive when Wanda turned those shards of the devil’s soul into babies. Just read that sentence four more times and go with it.

Wiccan and Speed have become fan favorite characters in their own right over the last 15 years through their adventures with the Young Avengers. Wiccan’s also notable for being one of Marvel’s very first gay superheroes to be introduced, confirmed as queer, and not disappear into supporting roles. He’s a major player and was just at the forefront of Marvel Comics’ big 2020 event, Empyre.

Who are Wiccan and Speed in the MCU?

That is something we don’t know just yet. They were literally just born! And who knows how complicated their origin will be. Hopefully it doesn’t involve Mephisto and Master Baby Hands and is way, way more streamlined than their comics counterparts.

There is a very real possibility that they have a big future ahead of them, though, as a lot of their Young Avengers teammates have already been cast and will appear in upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows. Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) will debut in this year’s Hawkeye Disney+ series. Kathryn Newton has been cast as the young adult Cassie Lang and will debut in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Xochitl Gomez will play America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (a movie also starring Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda). Marvel is clearly setting up a new wave of Avengers, and they are young.

The arrival of Billy and Tommy in WandaVision is the first in what will be a wave of introductions of Young Avengers characters. The question is, how will these twins go from being newborns to battle-ready teens in time for an onscreen team-up with Steinfeld, Newton, Gomez, and whoever else is cast? Time will tell—and maybe even WandaVision will tell! Truly, we have no idea what to expect from the rest of this season.

Stream WandaVision on Disney+