Ever since the end of Agatha All Along, we’ve known that the soul of one of Wanda Maximoff and Vision’s twin sons from WandaVision was out there in a new body, but we didn’t know where. In the first episode of VisionQuest, we find out that young Tommy Maximoff is now Thomas Shepherd, played by actor Ruaridh Mollica. And who he is in the MCU now is explained fully. But how he got there goes back to the end of Agatha All Along, the direct sequel to WandaVision.
Agatha All Along Planted the Seed for Tommy’s VisionQuest Return
Agatha All Along revealed the full backstory of Joe Locke’s character Billy Maximoff, a.k.a. Wiccan. And we also now know just what Billy was searching for at the end of the Witches’ Road—his lost twin brother, Tommy Maximoff. At the end of the series, he finds his brother’s wandering essence, helping guide him to a new body. But what do we really even know about his brother, Tommy? And who could he be in the MCU? First, let’s explore Tommy’s history in the pages of Marvel Comics, where he’s the super-fast superhero Speed.
Scarlet Witch Created Tommy Maximoff Using Parts of the Demonic Mephisto’s Soul
Like Wiccan, Speed’s origins began in ‘80s Marvel Comics. This was when husband and wife Avengers the Scarlet Witch and the android Vision moved to the suburbs and started a family, after Wanda magically gave birth to twins, William and Thomas. Eventually, West Coast Avengers revealed Billy and Tommy were only magical constructs, something Wanda subconsciously created from lost fragments of the soul of the demon lord Mephisto. They eventually disappear, with the witch Agatha Harkness wiping Wanda’s memory of their existence. WandaVision loosely adapted all of this.
The twins are more or less forgotten about for years in the comics. Then, the Scarlet Witch nearly decimated the Avengers in the 2004 event Avengers Disassembled, after Wanda lost control of her power. In the aftermath, the Vision activates a protocol to recruit new young heroes as the next generation of Avengers. Among those heroes is teenager Billy Kaplan, who could wield potent magical powers, and calls himself Wiccan. He turned out to be the reincarnated Billy Maximoff. But if Billy reincarnated, what of his twin brother Tommy?
Tommy Maximoff Becomes Tommy Shephard, the Speedster Hero Known as Speed
After Billy helps form the Young Avengers, he sets out to find new teen heroes to join. He’s not specifically looking for Tommy, as he doesn’t really know he’s Wanda’s son at this point. He and his team find Tommy Shepherd, a teenager from Springfield, New Jersey. Unlike Billy, he comes from a broken home, and had a less ideal upbringing. He has super speed powers just like the Avenger Quicksilver, who is Wanda’s twin brother. After accidentally vaporizing his school when his super-speed powers emerged, authorities placed him in a high-tech facility, a souped-up version of juvenile hall. There, he was subject to experiments so nefarious forces could turn him into a living weapon. Luckily, the Young Avengers rescued him, and he finally met his brother Billy.
Young Avengers Speed and Wiccan Search for their Mother Wanda
Eventually, the two realized their true identities—the reincarnated souls of Wanda and Vision’s children. They keep the “how and why” of this rebirth vague in the comics. Did their souls go back in time, born to other parents? Or, as Wanda believes, did they take over the existing bodies of two American teenagers? In any event, Tommy Shepherd takes the name Speed, becoming a member of the Young Avengers along with his brother. The two teen heroes eventually reunite with their mother the Scarlet Witch in Young Avengers: The Children’s Crusade. An openly bisexual character, Speed briefly dated teammate Kate Bishop/Hawkeye and then later David Alleyne/Prodigy, a young mutant hero.
Tommy’s Survival Past WandaVision Was First Hinted at in Agatha All Along
Tommy did not appear in Agatha All Along, but we do get more information about him. In episode 8 of Agatha All Along, Billy tells Agatha that he can sense that his brother is out there somewhere. Unlike Billy, his did not find a new home right away in a new body. However, in the final trial of the Witches’ Road, Agatha helped Billy find his brother’s soul in the ether and guide him toward a new body.
Although the details are vague, Billy found a young boy with no one who cared for him. A young boy who often found himself bullied. Kids tormented this child so badly, they actually drowned him. At the moment of this unknown child’s drowning, Billy guided Tommy’s soul into this new form. We just didn’t know exactly where that new body was located out in the world. But in VisionQuest, we finally find out what really became of Tommy Maximoff.
VisionQuest Finally Reveals What Became of Tommy Maximoff’s Soul, Now in a New Body
In the first episode of VisionQuest, we learn that a young Scottish man named Thomas Shepherd (Ruaridh Mollica) is a small-time thief in London. We learn that Thomas was an orphan in the foster care system, who was bullied by other boys at a public swimming pool in the UK. At some point, they held him down in the water, and he actually drowned as a result. That’s when Tommy Maximoff’s soul “moved in,” and his super speed powers activated. He now had two sets of memories: those of his previous self, Thomas Shepherd, and those of Tommy Maximoff, who only existed in Wanda’s hex.
It’s not clear, but the indication is that those boys were injured or maybe died as a result of Tommy’s powers activating. Thomas Shephard was then sent to a psychiatric institution, but with the help of his new friend, fellow troubled youth Lisa Molinari, he escaped transfer to a different (and worse) one. Lisa is based on the Marvel Comics heroine Coat of Arms, who was once romantically involved with Tommy. The two became grifters together in the streets of London, which is where we meet him in VisionQuest. After being used by the bounty hunter Paladin as bait to lure Vision into his trap, he reunites with his “father” Vision at the end of episode two, “Theseus.”
Nerdist’s Take: Tommy/Speed Has a Big MCU Future as a Young Avenger
We are fairly certain that by the end of VisionQuest, Tommy will embrace his heroic destiny and become the hero Speed. Whether he reunites with his brother Billy remains to be seen, however. But almost all the building blocks are now there for a proper Young Avengers team to form in the MCU. Marvel Studios has been slowly introducing them over the course of the past five years. So we think it’s high time they formed an official team in the MCU. And Speed needs to be a key player in that story.
Originally published on October 31, 2024