Mutant Twins Mania! Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch Confirmed For ‘Marvel’s The Avengers 2′

Twentieth Century Fox (or, rather, now 21st Century Fox) may own the screen rights to Magneto, the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. But they apparently don't own the screen rights to his kids.

Marvel fans will be happy to know that at least two new characters have been confirmed to appear in "Marvel's The Avengers 2": Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Joss Whedon hinted at last week's Hollywood premiere of "Iron Man 3" that he had written a "brother-sister act" into the script for the "Avengers" sequel, which immediately had fans speculating that he meant the popular mutant duo.

Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige is putting on a poker face about the whole thing, though he emphasizes that nothing's set in stone until the final draft has been set in stone.

"I'm not confirming or denying," said Feige to Entertainment Weekly. "The draft could change six months from now."

Twin siblings Pietro Maximoff, aka Quicksilver, and Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, made their comics debut in "X-Men" #4 (March 1964). As the offspring of Magneto, they were portrayed as bad guys for a few issues before joining the Avengers in "Avengers" #16 (May 1965). Scarlet Witch has the ability to manipulate probability and reality via her "hexes," which usually manifest as cool-looking "hex bolts" or "hex spheres," while Quicksilver is able to move and think at super-sonic speeds.

Joss Whedon has no doubt come up with a clever way to introduce these two characters into the "Avengers" universe ... and a careful one, at that, as he's unable to mention Magneto or the X-Men or perhaps even the phenomenon of "mutant powers" as they exist in the Marvel universe due to the "X-Men" property belonging to Fox and not Disney. Having Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in "The Avengers 2" also means that we'll never see them in an "X-Men" movie, which rules out any future scenario of being reunited with dear old dad (Ian McKellen/Michael Fassbender, depending on what time it is).

On the assumption that the twins make it to the final shooting draft (and really, why wouldn't they?), let the casting speculation now commence. How about Alexander Skarsgård and Eva Green?

"Marvel's The Avengers 2" will hit theaters on May 1, 2015.