365 Marvel Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…June 1st - W
365 Marvel Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…
June 1st - Wiccan
Billy Kaplan was born to a family living in Manhattan. He is both the son of Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan as well as the reincarnated son of The Scarlet Witch. The Scarlet Witch had used her magical powers to manifest twin sons for her and her husband, The Vision. This magic was undone and young Billy and his twin brother’s souls were sent a handful of years back in time to be born to new parents.
Billy connection to The Scarlet Witch resulted in his manifesting magical powers in his early adolescence; powers that he originally attributed to his being a Mutant. Although he would go on to wield vast magical abilities, earlier on his skills were limited to mid-range flight and lightning-like energy projection.
Billy was among the young heroes recruited by Iron Lad to form The Young Avengers. Herein, Billy called himself ‘The Asgardian’ as a nod to The Mighty Thor, who at the time was believed to have perished in battle. Billy and his Young Avenger were able to thwart the schemes of Kang the Conquerer and went on to have further adventures together. Billy would choose to change his superhero alias, taking on the new moniker of ‘Wiccan.’
One such adventure resulted in Billy meeting Tommy Shepherd and their uncanny resemblance led the two to conclude that they must be brothers. Just as Billy possessed magical powers similar to those of The Scarlet Witch, Tommy possessed speed powers similar to the Scarlet Witch’s brother, Quicksilver. The mystery ultimately led Billy, Tommy and The Young Avengers to seek out The Scarlet Witch and therein the two brothers learned the complicated truth of their origins.
Throughout his adventures, Tommy became involved in a romance with his teammate, Teddy Altman (the shapeshifting hero known as Hulking).
As Billy’s magical abilities enhanced he found that he could manifest some things into being simply by stating or wishing them aloud. The potential extent of his abilities was daunting for Billy; even more so when he was approached by Dr. Strange who saw the young mage as possible candidate for becoming the next Sorcerer Supreme.
Billy would later test the upper limits of his magic by attempting to wish Teddy’s dead mother back to life. At first it appeared as though his magic had actually accomplished the feat, but it turned out that he had inadvertently released the inter-dimensional parasite called ‘Mother’ and Billy and Teddy had to put together a new team of Young Avengers to put a stop to this threat.
Billy and Teddy later became member of the Roberto DeCosta’s new team of Avengers and they battled numerous foes including alien invaders and the evil sorcerer called Moridun. Later Wiccan named up with his mother, The Scarlet Witch, and Dr. Strange to fend off the cosmic threat known as The Celestial Destructor.
Meanwhile, Teddy had approached by representatives of a Kree/Skrull Alliance who sought to utilize him as a figurehead to cement this coalition. Teddy is the son of the Kree hero Mar-Vell and the Skrull princess Anelle and with this lineage he was the perfect candidate to unit these two warring people. With so many lives at stake Teddy could not refuse. Unfortunately, the alliance would forbid Teddy relationship with Billy since Billy is from earth. As such, the two arranged a quick wedding in secret before Teddy had to leave for outer space.
Following the Empyre Event where new Kree/Skrull union had to battle the Cotati, Billy and Teddy were able to have a more formal wedding aboard the Alliance’s flagship with a royal celebration attended by the couple’s many friends and allies. Billy was formally inducted into the Alliance as prince consort and court wizard.
A younger version of Billy appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, debuting in the Disney+ series Wanda/Vision and portrayed by actor Julian Hilliard. The hero first appeared in the pages of Young Avengers Vol. 1 #1 (2005).
