This is the latest in a series (of indefinite length and regularity) of pieces looking at particular odd/strange/interesting instances of retroactively connecting different comic book characters (for instance, Uncanny X-Men #268 retroactively established that Wolverine knew both Captain America and the Black Widow from World War II). Here is an archive of all of the past pieces.

Today, we take a look at the hair-based connection between Magneto and Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch...

When introduced, this was the connection between Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch and Magneto...

Stan Lee clearly didn't see Magneto as a father figure to the pair...

The first thing that slightly changed things was when Neal Adams drew Magneto without a helmet for the first time in X-Men #62 in 1969...

but soon after that, in 1971, Mike Sekowsky showed a DIFFERENT look for Magneto sans-helmet...

And in 1974, in Giant-Size Avengers #1, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's "real" parents were introduced, Miss America and the Whizzer.

It was not until John Byrne drew him without the helmet in 1978's X-Men #113 that the whole “hey, Magneto looks like Quicksilver, maybe he’s the real father of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch” meme began.

Byrne did not like the Miss America and Whizzer reveal, so after he thought about it some, he approached Mark Gruenwald about using the idea for a possible Quicksilver story in Marvel Premiere. Meanwhile, Steven Grant also disliked the Whizzer/Miss America plot, and he ALSO theorized that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were Magneto’s children (Grant came at it from a different angle). And he, too, approached Mark Gruenwald and Avengers editor at the time, Roger Stern, about the idea.

So the idea began to be peppered into issues of X-Men and the Avengers – little hints, stuff like that, with it eventually to be that we, the readers, would pretty much know the truth.

Here’s how they did it.

In the notable Avengers #185-187 storyline in 1979 we meet the new status quo for the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver...

At the same time, over in 1979's X-Men #125, we see Magneto looking at Magda...

The idea at the time was that readers could figure out that Magneto was their dad but A. Marvel wouldn't EXPLICITLY tell you and B. they did not know it themselves, but that was done away with in 1982's Vision and Scarlet Witch mini-series where Magneto reveals that he is their dad. And they believe it because, well, he and Quicksilver look alike...

This remained the status quo for thirty years until last year, when it was revealed that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are NOT Magneto's kids.

That's it for this installment! If YOU have a sugggestion for a future edition of Foundationed Deep, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!