Who are Wiccan and Speed?
Wiccan (Billy Kaplan) and Speed (Tommy Shepherd) are Young Avengers who are the reincarnated sons of the Scarlet Witch and Vision. Wanda created the twins with magic in the 1980s, and Master Pandemonium reabsorbed their souls for Mephisto. Their souls came back in two unrelated teens: Billy, a reality-warping sorcerer, and Tommy, a speedster. They joined Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung’s Young Avengers (2005) and found their mother in The Children’s Crusade.
Spoilers ahead for Agatha All Along and VisionQuest episodes 1 to 4 in the MCU sections.
Wiccan and Speed quick facts
| Detail | Wiccan | Speed | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real name | William “Billy” Kaplan | Thomas “Tommy” Shepherd | Confirmed |
| First appearance | Young Avengers #1 (April 2005) as Asgardian; named Wiccan in #6 | Young Avengers #10 (2006); named Speed in #12 | Confirmed |
| Created by | Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung | Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung | Confirmed |
| Born as | William Maximoff | Thomas Maximoff | Confirmed |
| Birth issue | Vision and the Scarlet Witch (1985 series) #12, Steve Englehart and Richard Howell | Same issue | Confirmed |
| Powers | Chaos magic, reality warping | Supersonic speed, vibration | Confirmed |
| MCU actor | Joe Locke (Agatha All Along) | Ruaridh Mollica (VisionQuest) | Confirmed |
How were Billy and Tommy born?
Wanda used her hex powers to conceive twins while she was married to Vision. They were not ordinary babies. Pieces of Mephisto’s own essence went into them. Where those pieces came from depends on the source: Marvel.com says Wanda absorbed Mephisto’s energy fighting Salem’s Seven, while Wikipedia traces them to Mephisto’s defeat by Franklin Richards in Fantastic Four #277 (1985). Doctor Strange delivered the boys, and the West Coast Avengers helped raise them.
It didn’t last. Master Pandemonium, a servant of Mephisto, reabsorbed the twins’ spirits in Avengers West Coast #51–52 (1989) by John Byrne. Wanda’s mentor Agatha Harkness then erased Wanda’s memory of her sons. Marvel says that decision fed into Wanda’s later breakdown in Avengers Disassembled and House of M. For Mephisto himself, see our guide to Mephisto’s origin and powers.
How did their souls return as Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd?
Marvel’s account is that powerful entities, including Young Immortus and M’Kraan, shepherded the wandering souls into new bodies. Tommy was born in New Jersey to Frank and Mary Shepherd. Billy was the eldest of three sons of Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan, and he found comfort outside Avengers Mansion as a bullied kid. Tommy’s parents knew nothing about his lineage (Marvel.com).
Billy’s powers surfaced when he defended another kid from a bully. Tommy’s speed got him into trouble: he vaporized his high school and was held in a youth facility that tried to turn him into a weapon.
The truth comes out in Young Avengers #11, when the Super-Skrull and the Vision tell the team the twins are Wanda’s sons. Billy believes it. Tommy doesn’t, until Magneto shows up in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade (2010) and introduces himself as their grandfather.
Who are the Young Avengers?
A team of teen heroes formed after Avengers Disassembled, built around Vision’s emergency protocol to recruit young people tied to the Avengers. Iron Lad, a young version of Kang, gathers them. The first issue’s team is Iron Lad, Patriot, Hulkling, Wiccan and Kate Bishop (Hawkeye). Stature (Cassie Lang), Vision (Jonas) and Speed join later.
Allan Heinberg was a TV writer on The O.C., and he planned the first series as a 12-issue limited run, like a season of television. Jim Cheung was the only artist considered. The book won the 2006 Harvey Award for Best New Series and GLAAD Media Awards in 2006 and 2014 (Wikipedia).
Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie relaunched it in 2013 as part of Marvel NOW!. Our read: the first series asks what a legacy hero is, and the second asks what comes after, and you can read either one without the other.
What powers do Wiccan and Speed have?
- Wiccan: chaos magic, which lets him warp reality, fly, teleport people, generate lightning and force fields, and cast spells by stating an intent. He once had to be heard to cast; later stories dropped that rule. In Young Avengers (2013), Loki tells him he is destined to become the Demiurge, a being who will rewrite the rules of magic. He briefly reaches that form and gives it up. Other stories show him as a future Sorcerer Supreme.
- Speed: supersonic speed and enhanced reflexes, with a stated top speed of 761 mph in X-Factor (2020) #7. He can vibrate matter at high speed to make it explode and can phase through walls. In Young Avengers Presents #3 (2008) he calls himself “Quicksilver fast,” his uncle’s speed class.
Are Wiccan and Hulkling a couple?
Yes. They’ve been together since the first series and married twice in the comics, first at a courthouse and then in a ceremony that blended Jewish and Skrull/Kree customs (Empyre: Aftermath Avengers #1, 2020).
The relationship almost didn’t happen the way Heinberg first planned. He assumed Marvel wouldn’t allow two gay leads, so his early drafts had Hulkling as a female shapeshifter named Chimera who would discover her true form was male. Editor Tom Brevoort suggested simply making both characters gay, and Heinberg went back to his original idea (Wikipedia, citing Heinberg’s Gay Times interview).
How did Wiccan and Speed find the Scarlet Witch?
They searched twice. In Young Avengers Presents #3 (2008), they visited Genosha, Wundagore and the old Maximoff home in New Jersey. They found Master Pandemonium there, who told them to stop digging into a past of “darkness and chaos” and live in the present. They did, for a while.
In Avengers: The Children’s Crusade (2010–12, #1–9) by Heinberg and Cheung, Wiccan’s powers flare, and the Avengers try to contain him. The Young Avengers team up with Magneto and Quicksilver and track Wanda to Latveria. She has no powers or memories and is engaged to Doctor Doom. In #6, she embraces Billy and Tommy as her sons.
The ending is brutal. Doom ends up with Wanda’s reality-altering power, Stature is killed, Vision is destroyed, and the team disbands. See our guide to what Doom steals in the comics.
Years later, in X-Men: The Trial of Magneto (2021) #3–4, the brothers help a resurrected, younger Wanda face her guilt. Tommy had found her body on Krakoa after the Hellfire Gala.
Where are Wiccan and Speed now?
- Wiccan: he stars in Wiccan: Witches’ Road (December 2025 to April 2026), a five-issue series by Wyatt Kennedy and Andy Pereira. Speed and Wanda help him in #5.
- Both: when Wanda becomes Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme in Sorcerer Supreme (2025) #1 by Steve Orlando and Bernard Chang, the twins join her cabinet of advisers, the Nexus Nine.
- Speed: he works as a rapid-response agent for the U.N. Sorcerous Crimes Service (Marvel.com).
How are Wiccan and Speed different in the MCU?
Sources: Wikipedia, Marvel.com, Meaww, ComicBookMovie, Looper, TV Insider. Through VisionQuest episode 4.
In WandaVision (2021), the twins are illusions Wanda creates inside the Hex, played at different ages by Baylen Bielitz and Julian Hilliard (Billy) and Gavin Borders and Jett Klyne (Tommy). They vanish when she ends it.
Agatha All Along (2024) brings Billy back as Joe Locke. His soul entered William Kaplan’s body after a fatal car crash, and in the finale Billy and Agatha place Tommy’s soul in a drowned teenager (Wikipedia). VisionQuest shows that boy: Thomas Shepherd, played by Ruaridh Mollica, who grew up in London foster care. Episode 2 explains that bullies held him underwater until he drowned (Meaww), and Tommy’s soul ended up sharing his body (Meaww). The show lets Vision wonder whether he is looking at his son.
ComicBookMovie (Oct 16) reports that Mollica, who is bisexual himself, told Variety that Tommy is bisexual in the MCU too. The show hadn’t addressed it in its first two episodes.
Will the Young Avengers happen in the MCU?
Marvel hasn’t announced a Young Avengers project. In the post-credit scene of The Marvels, Kamala Khan recruits Kate Bishop and asks about Ant-Man’s daughter, Cassie Lang (Looper). Kevin Feige said in 2021 that the potential was “endless” (Wikipedia, citing Entertainment Weekly).
Billy and Tommy are now both on screen, played by Locke and Mollica. Speculation: the pieces are on the table, but no project is named.
Where should you start reading Wiccan and Speed?
Our pick, in order:
- Young Avengers (2005) #1–12 by Heinberg and Cheung: the team, the twins, the first reveal. It’s collected as Young Avengers by Allan Heinberg & Jim Cheung: The Complete Collection.
- Young Avengers Presents #3 (2008): the first search for Wanda.
- Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #1–9 (2010–12): the reunion and the fall.
- Young Avengers (2013) #1–15 by Gillen and McKelvie: the best entry if you want the team with no earlier reading.
- Wiccan: Witches’ Road #1–5 (2025–26): Billy’s solo series.
For the birth, read Vision and the Scarlet Witch (1985 series) #12 and Avengers West Coast #51–52 (1989) as background. The 2005 series follows Avengers Disassembled directly (Wikipedia).
What is the timeline of Billy and Tommy?
| Year | Issue | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Vision and the Scarlet Witch (1985 series) #12 | Wanda gives birth to William and Thomas |
| 1989 | Avengers West Coast #51–52 | Master Pandemonium reabsorbs them for Mephisto |
| 2005 | Young Avengers #1 | Billy appears as Asgardian, the later Wiccan |
| 2006 | Young Avengers #10–12 | Tommy is freed and becomes Speed |
| 2008 | Young Avengers Presents #3 | The first search for Wanda |
| 2010–12 | Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #1–9 | They find Wanda; Doom takes her power |
| 2013–14 | Young Avengers (vol. 2) #1–15 | Gillen and McKelvie’s team |
| 2020 | Empyre: Aftermath Avengers #1 | Billy and Teddy’s wedding |
| 2021 | X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #3–4 | They help a resurrected Wanda |
| 2025–26 | Wiccan: Witches’ Road #1–5 | Billy’s first solo series |
Issue numbers and dates: Wikipedia and Marvel.com.
FAQ
Are Wiccan and Speed the Scarlet Witch’s sons?
They are the reincarnated souls of her sons with Vision, according to Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #6. Wanda confirms it herself, though she isn’t sure whether they were ordinary kids before the souls took over.
Who plays Wiccan and Speed in the MCU?
Joe Locke plays Billy (Agatha All Along). Ruaridh Mollica plays Tommy (VisionQuest). Younger versions appeared in WandaVision.
Are Wiccan and Hulkling married?
Yes, since Empyre: Aftermath Avengers #1 (2020). They also had an earlier courthouse wedding.
How fast is Speed?
X-Factor (2020) #7 gives a top speed of 761 mph, the speed of sound.
Are the Young Avengers in the MCU?
Not as a team. Marvel hasn’t announced a project, though The Marvels teases one.
Updated October 24, 2026