DF Interview: Steve Orlando celebrates a beloved couple’s 50^th anniversary and more in ‘The Vision and the Scarlet Witch’ limited series

By Byron Brewer

Mysterious doors are opening all over the world, drawing people in with promises of miracles and reunions with lost loved ones. When the Vision is mortally wounded investigating the deadly truth of the doors, the Scarlet Witch resorts to extreme measures to save his life – and the results are unlike anything either of them expected!

Writer Steve Orlando and artists Lorenzo Tammetta and Jacopo Camagni reunite Marvel's original star-crossed lovers for the 50th anniversary of their wedding in the coming Vision and the Scarlet Witch limited series. All I had to hear was Vizh and Wanda and I was on board to speak with the man who knows The Living Darkhold best: scribe Steve Orlando.

Byron Brewer: Steve, you have been doing such a wonderful job turning the Scarlet Witch into a solo hero and giving the sorceress her own unique path, even adding to that by re-teaming her with brother Quicksilver. Now we come to another re-teaming, with the android that broke up the way we really old fans always said “Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch” in that order. Tell readers how you as author see today’s Vizh and Wanda as characters.

Steve Orlando: I think they’ve come a long way. Weddings aren’t unique in comics, but getting to explore an arc between two characters, from meeting to romantic to the breakup and beyond, to a love that is more familial and evolved, is pretty rare. I think these are two fantastic characters that have been allowed to grow together, grow apart, and come back together in a new way—or new ways! That’s a much messier, much more two steps forward one step back type of relationship, filled with good intentions and heartbreaking mistakes—it’s a much more human and relatable arc. I think Wanda, despite her power, is one of the most relatable characters in the business. And I think Wanda and Vision, for the lifelong dance they dance, are also one of the most relatable pairs. They’re not perfect! They work for it and even so it doesn’t always work out. And I think, because they’re like us underneath the comic book trappings, their drive makes us love them even more as characters.

Byron: I was so excited as a reader when Giant-Size Avengers #4 came out and Steve Englehart did what Roy Thomas would not: marry my favorite couple (with Immortus presiding, no less)! Will there be any threads from that awesome saga (sans Celestial Madonna) included in this limited series as reminder of their nups a half-century (OMG!) ago?

Steve Orlando: There has to be! It’s a formative moment in their complex relationship. While we’ve already touched on some elements from that in our previous solo run, the emotional threads that feed into this story, feed so across fifty years of comics and trace all the way back to that, as you so rightly say it, that awesome saga.

Byron: Wanda and the Vision have been doing famously in Jed MacKay’s current Avengers run, sharing, as you once described, a bond “stronger than before – as family… That’s a mature bond, and it’s something truly special...” Will this limited series touch on their current status on the same Avengers team? Will there be any of their fellow Assemblers guest-starring?

Steve Orlando: It will touch on it, for sure! This absolutely takes place alongside Avengers, and we’ll find that mostly in the contrast. Wanda and Vision “work” together as Avengers, but they still value their time alone away from what is, for all intents and purposes, their day job. Of course, it’s comics, their day job is wild and fantastic! But being on the Avengers together has made Wanda and Vision value the chances they have to interact outside of the Avengers even more.

Byron: Without spoilers, can you give readers any clues at all – at all! – about the “creeping, corrosive evil from beyond not just the grave, but beyond the universe itself” which our heroes have re-teamed to face?

Steve Orlando: Sure! The first thing I’ll say is that the description is a very solid clue or tease in and of itself. But beyond that, this is a force that even Marvel’s gods have no choice but to fear and respect. And because of that, this evil is also a convenient and powerful get out of jail free card.

Byron: Elephant in the room (a question for which I do not expect an answer, but I will toss it out anyhoo): Why is the Vision in this book’s promo art back to being white?

Steve Orlando: Even an android can see a ghost!

Byron: Can you tell us if any story threads from Wanda’s solo book will follow her to this limited series? Is a new solo Scarlet Witch book planned?

Steve Orlando: It’s an old saying, buy every comic is someone’s first comic. That’s one of the reasons we’ve been lucky enough to return to largely one-off storytelling in Scarlet Witch. That said, the saying about people’s first comics goes double for first issues, if not more. And with The Vision and the Scarlet Witch, we’re pausing the one-off structure to tell one story across the five issues. What’ll carry into this book is the development and character progress Wanda’s experienced, and her status quo in Lotkill will of course remain. But if you haven’t picked up the past runs and you’re stepping in now, we’ll present everything in a welcoming way. We don’t want the stuff from Wanda’s solo and past minis to be a hurdle—checking out what’s come before should never be a burden, it should be an enticement or a reward. So this’ll open the door to a fresh story, and the foundation will be all that’s come before.

Byron: Talk about working with Lorenzo Tammetta and Jacopo Camagni on this series.

Steve Orlando: Lorenzo and Jacopo are ideal collaborators and both superstars on the rise. Lorenzo has perfected a unique, personal take on action storytelling that packs so much energy into page and panel, every beat. At the same time, he captures the powerful emotions backing up that action with a masterful elegance. And Jacopo? Jacopo is a savant at illuminating our fantasy and supernatural worlds. His work is precise, it’s emotional and evocative. There’s a beauty to his extradimensional worlds that’s equally present in the movements and expressions of his character work. I’ve been beyond lucky, and beyond energized, to be working with these two!

Byron: Steve, what other coming projects of yours can you tell readers about?

Steve Orlando: The first is Astonishing Avengers, out every week on Marvel Unlimited! We’re cooking with gas on that one, delivering fun, fresh, classic comics where you never know who’s going to stop by Avengers Mansion. We’ve got Elektra coming in, we’ve teased Somnus, the mutant master of dreams. We’ll have Mister Immortal, whose appearance reminded me and the whole editorial team just how fun he can be! And we’ve got one of my favorite comic book characters, the original Human Torch, stopping in to defend Cooperstown against the hordes of Frankenstein. Oh, and we’ll be visiting the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation for an undercover mission that’s not to be missed! She-Thing’s along for the ride!

After that, there’s the collections for Avengers Assemble and Ewoks, both out very soon and available for pre-order! And there’s more 2099 coming your way this year too—we’ve been cooking it for some time and I can’t wait for folks to see it. We teased the villain at the end of the last mini, and now he’s come to devour all of Universe 2099 in the hungry void!

Dynamic Forces would like to thank Steve Orlando for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1 from Marvel Comics is slated to be in stores May 21!

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