Billy Kaplan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
actualwizard) wrote2014-06-10 01:30 am
actualwizard) wrote2014-06-10 01:30 am
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Name: Courtney
DW username: breila_rose
E-Mail: breila24@gmail.com
IM: breila24
Plurk: breila24
Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: William “Billy” Kaplan aka Wiccan
Series: Marvel 616- Young Avengers
Timeline: Post YA Vol.2
Canon Resource Link: Wiccan's Marvel Wiki Entry Wiccan's Wiki Entry
Character History:
Billy Kaplan's history is as simple as it is complicated. He's one of the reincarnated twin sons of the Scarlet Witch and The Vision born in NYC to Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan. Jewish, gay and a self-proclaimed fanboy, Billy didn't always have the easiest time growing up. Not much has been said about his childhood but we can infer that he grew up in a family that was upper middle class, both his parents being doctors and panels that show his parents in a very large apartment, and had a comfortable lifestyle, financially.
He was bullied in high school for being “different”, but being different never bothered him, “I never really had a problem with being different from other people. It’s other people who have a problem with me.” After a particularly nasty encounter with his bully, John Kesler, Billy found himself bleeding on a bench outside Avengers Mansion where he ran into the Scarlet Witch. Before he recognizes her she asks him what happened and he tells her he was punched in the face repeatedly for being different. She asks if he’s a mutant and he says he wishes. She replies by taking her hood down and saying no he doesn’t. At that point he tells her she’s his favorite Avenger and then gets embarrassed for acting like a fanboy in front of her. She tells him that he needs to stand his ground with his bully and show him he’s not afraid.
Instead of taking her advice Billy figures out Kesler's schedule and does his best to avoid him and things get better for a while. That is until Billy sees Kesler attacking his new victim. Deciding that if he can't stand up for himself then he needs to stand up for others and confronts Kesler, telling him to leave the kid alone. Kesler turns his attention to Billy and pushes him to the ground. It's at that moment that Billy's powers manifest for the first time to his surprise and he zaps Kesler almost killing him. Horrified at what happened Billy runs, trying to seek solace at the now abandoned Avengers Mansion. That's when he runs into a kid dressed in armor that resembles Iron Man, he tells Billy that he needs his help.
That kid is Iron Lad, aka Nathaniel Richards, aka future Kang the Conqueror. Nate has travel back to the past to try and prevent himself from becoming Kang and has sought help from the Avengers. The Avengers at this point have disbanded and Nate stumbles upon a The Vision's old armor and finds the Avengers Failsafe Plan, pinpointing potential Avengers to take up the mantle if the Avengers ever disbanded. He recruits Teddy Altman aka Hulkling and Eli Bradley aka Patriot along with Billy to be a team which eventually becomes the Young Avengers.
Because of his love for the Avengers and Norse Mythology, he styled himself after Thor and chose the code name Asgardian.
After the new team formed Billy and Teddy started dating.
After rescuing people from a burning building, the team makes headlines as the Young Avengers and catches the eye of Captain America and Iron Man who are not happy that teenage fanboys are taking up the Avengers mantle and putting themselves in danger.
The boys then try to save a wedding that is being held hostage in St. Patrick’s Cathedral and things don’t go so well. Billy accidentally starts a fire while protecting, and flirting with his boyfriend. The maid of honor, Kate Bishop, winds up saving everyone much to the team’s dismay.
The boys take off, to avoid being apprehended by police and once they regroup Patriot and Iron Lad get into an argument. Something that Billy and Teddy are used to, Patriot leaves and Billy reassures Iron Lad that he’ll be back. Billy and Teddy leave Iron Lad at Avengers mansion and head home, stating they have school the next day. They talk about the fact that they don’t think they are ready to face Kang the Conqueror who Iron Lad says is coming for him. On the way they find Patriot fighting off some drug dealers and step in to lend a hand and Billy shows off his sarcastic wit when deciding what to do with the men, stating that he left his super hero manual in his other tights.
They convince Eli to come back with them and find Kate Bishop and Cassie Lang breaking into Avengers Mansion with hopes of joining the team. While Patriot is against it Billy doesn’t seem to have an opinion on the matter and doesn’t protest when they eventually do join them.
Billy really shines when the group is attacked by Kang’s stimuloids, and he uses his mage powers to hold them back while Iron Lad gets their attention.
Captain America and Iron Man find them, and Billy lets himself be a fanboy for a few moments, awestruck by meeting his heroes he’s quick to tell them his real identity and ready to trust them even though they trick the teens by locking them in the simulation room so that they can’t fight. Kate breaks them out and they go raid weapons from the mansion. Billy once again shows off his nerdy side by naming the past Avengers’ weapons they come across.
Kang shows up from the future looking for Iron Lad, his younger self, to bring back. Iron Lad needs to embrace his destiny or he will mess up the time stream, undoing multiple events that have happened in the past. While Kate thinks that maybe Iron Lad should go back Billy is one of the first to protest, being loyal to his friend and team mate.
The teens defeat Kang and realize that because of this the timeline has changed, and most of the Avengers are dead. They decide Iron Lad needs to go back and Billy tries to use his magic to make Iron Lad forget everything that happened. Iron Lad resists at first until Billy disappears from the timeline followed by Teddy, they never existed if Iron Lad doesn't become Kang. Iron Lad goes back into the time stream and everything reverts back to the way it was before.
At this point Captain America and Ironman tell them at even though they proved themselves capable, they won't train the young avengers without parental consent and the team leaves deciding they have no choice but to disband.
A few weeks late Kate and Cassie gather them together convincing them to still be a team. They also convince Billy to change his code name to Wiccan saying the media would have a fields day with the name Asgardian once they find out about his relationship with Teddy. After seeing their new costumes and new lair Kate has provided Billy, along with Eli and Teddy agree to keep fighting at Young Avengers.
In an effort to tell his parents about being a young avenger before Captain America does Billy tries to come out about it, only his parents think he's telling them he's gay and accept him, telling him they already knew (at least his mother did, his father stating she had to tell him). They welcome Teddy into the family while Billy just stares at them extremely confused by the circumstances.
He spends the next little while fighting with the team and hiding it from his parents. He helps take down Mister Hyde, uses his Mage powers, powers that he still can't always get to work right and they he doesn't understand, and gives an expose to The Bugle, along with the rest of the team, and decides that he's not going to hide his relationship with Teddy from the media. The team decides to disband for a while. It's at this point that Billy realizes he can't just stop, he started this to help people and he doesn't want to stop being a super hero, a sentiment that is shared by the rest of the team. And that's when his boyfriend is attacked by the Super Skrull.
While trying to hide out at Billy's parents apartment the super Skrull attacks again, destroying the apartment and killing Teddy's mom, who Billy tries and fails to save, and kidnapping Teddy.
Billy doesn't do well when his friends are in danger, and is even worse when it's his boyfriend. Deciding they need more people to defeat then Super Skrull they enlist The Vision and use his Failsafe program to locate another potential Avenger, Tommy Shepard. Not caring about the consequences he helps break Tommy out of juvie. When he sees him he realizes that they are almost identical. He's too distracted with worry about Teddy to pay much attention at first, urging them to just go even before making sure that Tommy is going to help and isn't actually a super villain.
They rescue Teddy and it's then that the Super Skrull tells Billy that he and Tommy are the sons of the Scarlet Witch. Vision confirms that the Scarlet Witch wanted children so badly she created them out of two lost souls, but their souls were reclaimed by Mephisto. When Mephisto reabsorbed the souls he was destroyed and the souls scattered and they ceased to exist.
Billy fixates on this, immediately believing it to be true while Tommy is skeptical.
Shortly after the team, along with the Avengers, battles the Skrulls and the Kree, Billy immediately going after Teddy who plans to give himself up, Billy refuses to lose him again. The battle draws to a standstill when the Super Skrull shifts into Teddy and pretends to be him in order to broker a deal to end the fighting and keep Teddy safe from them.
It's at this point the Avengers realize that the Young a Avengers aren't going anywhere and they have to accept them as allies.
The Young Avengers, now with Tommy ( code name Speed) in the ranks, continue to fight crime in NYC and have a large role in the battles that take place during the Civil War, the Secret Invasion, and Siege. During this time Billy learns to control his magic more, going so far as to teleport a bus full out superheroes arrested by SHIELD to Captain America's resistance base. Billy joins the anti-registration side of the civil war becoming part of Captain America's secret avengers.
While trying to help fellow teenage heroes The Runaways, Billy and Teddy are captured by Noh-Varr and become prisoners of the warden. Billy is forced to watch as the warden tortures Teddy, cutting him open and watching him heal while he's unconscious. It is the only time Billy tries to wish for someone's death, the warden goading him into it. Luckily he has dampened on hat prevent him from hearing his spells and the warden isn't killed by Billy.
After the events of the Civil War Billy manages to convince Tommy that the Scarlet Witch is their mother and the boys set out one night to see if they can track her down. Though they turn up nothing on her the mission seems to solidify a bond between the boys, Billy tells Teddy when they get back that yes, they like Tommy.
During the events of siege Billy assists Doctor Strange who discusses his potential and candidacy to become the next Sorcerer Supreme, giving Billy a hint at just how powerful he could be.
After the events of the Siege of Asgard, Billy and the Young Avengers go back to New York to continue keeping the city safe.
During a fight with the Sons of the Serpent Teddy is held hostage by one of the sons who has a nuke strapped to his bad. Fearing for his boyfriend Billy snaps, losing control of his power and rendering the sons all unconscious.
Fearing they might have another Scarlet Witch on their hands the Avengers try to get Billy to stay at the mansion for some tests. Iron Man explains that when the Scarlet Witch remembered that her sons died she had a break down, losing control of her powers and killing Hawkeye, Vision and Ant-man. After that her brother Quicksilver and father Magneto, scared for her safety took her away and convinced her to create a new reality where Magneto and his family reigned supreme. Once the Avengers remembered their old lives they fought to get her to change the world back which she did along with another spell, "no more mutants" which stripped almost all mutants of their powers.
Billy tries to defend his mom, believing that she's not evil after all the good she had done fighting with the avengers but they won't hear it and Billy storms out followed by his team who also express concerns that he doesn't know how much power he has or what he's capable of.
Angry at them and at the Avengers he storms home only to find Captain America in his living room speaking to his parents. Deciding he doesn't have much choice Billy heads back to the mansion, speaking to Cap about his mom along the way, still convinced there's a reason she did what she did. Teddy interrupts them along the way and states that where Billy goes he goes and Cap lets him return to Avengers headquarters with Billy and has a room made up for them.
Billy apologizes to Teddy for his outburst earlier and looks for reassurance about what's going to happen to him from his boyfriend. Which Teddy gladly gives. They are about kiss when they are interrupted by Tommy who breaks them out and brings them to the rest of the team. They reassure Billy they are on his side and decide that they need to find The Scarlet Witch.
Just as they are deciding what to do Magneto shows up, and tells them to call him grandfather, furthering Billy and Tommy's belief that they are the Scarlet Witch's sons.
He wants their help finding his daughter and needs Billy and Tommy to do that. Of course the Avengers show up and fighting breaks out. Wolverine tries to attack Billy and starts fighting Magneto. Determined to end this by finding his mom, Bill teleports Magneto and the Young Avengers away to Transia leaving the Avengers to argue over what to do.
Not wanting his friends to be in danger or in trouble Billy tries to send them back but they protest, telling him they are his family and his team and they are behind him.
Thinking Billy found Wanda Tommy goes to search the village only to stumble upon Quicksilver. Quicksilver, not wanting Magneto looking for his sister quickly grabs Billy and runs, trying to get him away from Magneto's influence. Billy points out that if he wanted to do that he could have just magicked himself away.
Magneto catches up to them, and Quicksilver attacks him, throwing wooden stakes at his father only to hit the Scarlet Witch who was an innocent bystander. Thinking they've killed her they realize it's not her, it's actually a doombot and that she's been prisoner of Doom this whole time.
While arguing over what to do next, Billy volunteers to go to Latveria by himself and do a reconnaissance mission at Doom's castle. He's immediately shot down by both Teddy and Magneto. But Billy sneaks off while Magneto is showing everyone to their rooms.
He's about to cast a teleportation spell to Latveria when he's interrupted by Quicksilver who tells him he'd be more effective if he didn't say his spells allowed and admits they have a lot in common, both rebelling against Magneto. Teddy and the rest of the Young Avengers show up and stop them from going anywhere after Teddy threatens to main Quicksilver if he takes Billy.
Billy with his tendency to rush into situations without thinking sneaks away in the middle of the night, leaving a note for Teddy knowing he will be furious and teleporting to Doom's castle in Latveria.
He finds his mother, who doesn't remember anything about what happened in the past and is marrying Doom the next day. They are interrupted by Doom who starts to fight Billy while Billy tries to get Wanda to remember her life. Doom renders Billy unconscious.
Billy wakes up the next morning to Doom casting a spell on him. He tries to convince Billy that he's in love with Wanda and Billy is understandably skeptical. He invites Billy to stay as a guest because he knows the Avengers are looking for him and when Billy refuses he becomes Doom's prisoner, Doom telling him that he spell he cast took away Billy's magic.
Wanda sneaks into Billy's room asking him to tell her the whole story and they try to sneak out of the palace while he tells her who she is. Once out of the palace they see a battle going on between Doom's forces and the Avengers. As Billy is realizing this might be his fault Wolverine finds them and attacks Wanda trying to kill her but Billy intervenes trying to convince him not to hurt her. Wolverine doesn't listen and goes to attack again when he's shot down by Iron Lad whose has come back to save Billy.
After another fight with Doom Iron Lad grabs the Young Avengers and Wanda and they just into the time stream going back to the day Wanda lost control hoping that she would gain back her memory. She does and brings the team and Cassie's father back to Avengers Mansion in the present day.
Wanda begins reliving everything, her magic getting chaotic as she breaks down and tries to kill herself. Billy goes up to talk to her, tell her that he thinks he's her son and to use her magic to find out. She does and confirms that Billy and Tommy are in fact her reincarnated sons.
In order to give the mutants back their powers Wanda takes the Young Avengers back to Latveria and Doom. Billy asks her what's actually controlling her, saying that she was powerful but not reality altering powerful until she remembered her sons. She confesses that she asked Doom for help and they channeled The Life Force into her and that's what made her go crazy, it's too much power for one person to possess. She needs Doom to help her give the mutants back their power and then help her channel the Life Force back into the earth while using Billy's magic as a shield so Victor doesn't try and take the power for himself.
Not trusting them Eli stops the ritual midway through inadvertently letting Victor absorb all the power from Wanda and take it on himself.
Doom sends them back to New York in an attempt to get the X-Men and Avengers fighting over Wanda, instead Tommy and Billy interrupt sticking up for their mother. Billy names all the crimes the x-men have committed, tells them that some of them have committed horrible acts while being brainwashed or mind controlled and tells them that in the future more will be, and how would they like to be treated when it happens to them?
Doom returns and Billy helps Wanda with his magic as the two groups battle doom. They emerge victorious but at a price; Cassie and Vision are dead.
Billy blames himself for everything that happened, and when Eli and Kate decide to quit being super heroes Billy agrees with them, calling himself the bad guy, the one everyone should be afraid of. He spends the next few months in a depressed funk, sitting in the dark and staring out his window at the city.
Finally Teddy has had enough, telling Billy life is too short for him to waste his and he proposes, on the condition that Billy finally get up and do something. So Billy gets up and kisses him. The two are interrupted by Ms Marvel who tells them Captain America needs to see them at the mansion, in uniform.
He shows them a memorial to Cassie and Vision and tells them that after everything they have done and whether or not they are still young avengers, the avengers will always consider them Avengers and part of their team.
The next two years sees the team split up. Tommy and Teddy move in with Billy's family for a whole until Tommy eventually moves out and Kate goes off to fight with Clint Barton.
Everyone had agreed to stop with the heroics, and they did for a while, but unbeknownst to Billy, Teddy, Kate and Tommy had started up again, going out on their own and being heroes.
One night Billy catches Teddy sneaking back into his room and confronts him, reminding him that they all agreed to quit, and Teddy lets out some things he’d been holding in. Reminding Billy that he’s lucky, he has two set of parents that love him, and a boyfriend whose lost the only person he’s ever called a mother and Billy is the only person he has left in the world. He tell Billy that he’s been there for him, reassuring him that everything is going to be alright, and it breaks his heart that Billy is so afraid of his powers. Billy realizes what an ass he had been and promises to make it up to Teddy, to be the best boyfriend he can be.
Later that night Billy casts a spell, looking at all possible realities and finds Teddy’s mom, moments before she’s killed and pulls her out. What he finds out the next day is that he pulled out an inter-dimensional parasite, named Mother, that has brain washed all the adults into following her. She throws them into prison in her dimension and are rescued by Loki who teleports them back to New York.
He explains that Billy let out a creature that wants to get its hands on Billy’s power and they need his help if they want to fight it. After a short discussion Billy tells Loki he heard something when he was casting his spell, and he recognized the language as Norse. Knowing Loki had something to do with this they take him to Asgardia only to encounter Loki’s father, Laufey, whose supposed to be dead. While fighting Laufey, Miss America shows up and defeats him. When her dead parents show up they realize that whatever Billy did is causing dead parents to come back under the influence of Mother. Fleeing, they end up back in New York. Billy tries to text Kate for backup.
They are once again attacked by mother and captured but Kate shows up with Noh-Varr and they rescue the teens and head to central park where they are surrounded by Mother’s forces. Loki tells them that one way to stop all this would be to kill Billy. After everyone vetoes that idea he convinced Billy to loan him his power for ten minutes. When Billy agrees Loki teleports away. Thinking they have been betrayed Billy goes onto Noh-Varr’s ship to end his life, saying that if he had one spell he could cast it would be on himself, to be better, but it’s a spell that never works. Billy is interrupted by Loki coming back. He uses the power Billy gave him to enhance everyone else’s power and they buy themselves enough time to escape.
They decide to go on the run until they can come up with a plan, and Billy embraces his magic, finally accepting that he’s a super hero and he always will be.
They are on the run for three months, Loki is helping Billy learn how to use his powers to his full potential and they are traveling the universe fighting and tracking what they think are skrulls but find out that they are another shape shifting alien race pretending to be skrulls. Deciding to take a break they head back to Earth for breakfast and encounter David (alias Prodigy), who tells Billy that Tommy has been taken by a dimension jumper dressed like Patriot. They spend weeks chasing not Patriot through the multiverse, dimension hoping sometimes fighting for their lives until they find a dimension with fuzzy green aliens who start calling Billy Demiurge. Over dinner, Billy finds out that he is the demiurge, that one day he will “rewrite the rules of magic and all the implications of that will echo backwards and forwards through all realities”.
After dinner Billy and Teddy leave the restaurant alone and Billy tells him that’s he confident that he can handle everything, and Teddy says good “that means you won’t need me”. He tells Billy that his powers are useless against Mother and that besides that he’s been having thoughts. Loki mentioned something weeks ago, that Billy could have accidentally created Teddy and now Teddy is worried. Worried that Billy accidentally created him, that Billy’s magic influenced their relationship and that his feelings aren’t real or his own. He tells Billy that he needs space and they break up, tearfully saying goodbye. Billy is shattered but he understands, it’s a fear he now has as well. And with that the most important thing in his life is gone.
A few weeks later the team finds out that Mother has Teddy and that shes going to destroy reality. Billy once again tries to end the spell by killing himself but Loki stops him, telling him he lied last time and that won’t do anything, the answer isn’t simple. Billy responds by punching him in the face.
Billy and Loki decide to use their backup plan, to age Loki up that way he has access to more magic and can help Billy save Teddy and all of reality. The ritual works, aging Loki up but not giving him back his power and Billy has had enough, no longer trusting the god he tries to go after Teddy himself before Loki stops him with a plan. In order to save Teddy and reality he needs to become the Demiurge for a short while to have enough power to dispel Mother.
The team gets Billy ready, Loki telling him that he has to have hope, to believe he can do this, or its not going to work. They enter Mother’s dimension and Billy begins to channel his power and fight Mother but it doesn’t go well, he has too many doubts about himself to access it fully and they are locked in a stalemate.
Loki realizes the only way to get his power back and help is to tell them all the truth, and he does, that he was manipulating them all along, that he was in league with Mother at first and had influenced Billy to bring her out of the multiverse. Once he does that he gets his powers and they are able to save Teddy.
Realizing Billy isn’t doing well, David tells Teddy to go to him, not to doubt their love because its real. That even if he wished Teddy into existence they are still who they are and that feeling is real. Realizing David is right he goes to Billy and tells him he doesn’t care if Loki was lying they aren’t and they are real. That was all Billy needed to hear, his hope renewed he taps into his full power and gets rid of Mother and all the havoc she’s caused.
Billy gets a glimpse of the whole multiverse, seeing all the things he could do and change but has enough insight to know that he isn’t ready for this power and he doesn’t have a clue yet. He would do more harm than good and he lets the power go for now.
With everything put back the way it was supposed to be, the team can return home just in time for New Years Eve. They are all attending a New Year’s Eve party and Miss America over hears Billy being down on himself again, she tells him that he’s Billy Kaplan and to own it. Billy returns to Teddy and they have a brief discussion and Billy tells him he’s ready to fight, to be himself again. He tells Teddy that he never could have dreamed him up or imagined loving anything the way he loves teddy. The night ends with Tommy showing back up and the team minus Loki heading out of the party. Billy asks if they know what’s next and Teddy says he doesn’t. Billy says anything they want, which is replied to with breakfast and Miss America kicks a portal open to bring them home, and to get breakfast, the future ahead of them.
Abilities/Special Powers:
Chaos Magic: Billy's main power is the ability to manipulate Chaos Magic, which he inherited from his mother. His magic is based on his wants, when he wants something to happen he has to chant and visualize it happening. As he grows stronger there are some spells he can accomplish without chanting.
Teleportation: Can teleport himself and others over undetermined distances.
Healing: Can quickly heal others through his spells.
Flight: Billy can use his magic to make himself fly and help others do the same.
Solid Energy Constructs: Billy can manipulate mystical energy to create solid constructs such as disks, shields, force fields, and other projectiles.
Conjuring: Billy can create clothing, decor, and food from seemingly nothing.
Third-Person Sample:
Teddy was gone. That was the only thing Billy could think, sitting in their- no, now his- room on the ship. He was scared Billy was controlling him, that Billy created him, made him fall in love with him. Billy wasn't a hundred percent sure that wasn't true, so he let him go, because he loved him and because he was scared Teddy was right.
The only problem was now he had no idea what to do. He told Teddy he had this, that he was confident that he could fix everything, and he was, when he had Teddy.
Then you don't need me
That's where Teddy had been wrong. He always needed Teddy. Teddy was his rock, his constant. The only one who had stuck with him from the beginning and never left. He was the only one Billy had. Nate was gone, Cassie and Vision were dead, Eli had left them. Tommy was around but never for more than a moment and now he was missing. He knew he had Kate now, but she also hadn't been around, working with Hawkeye and being a hero. Not that he blamed her, blamed any of them, he blamed himself. He always did, but he always had Teddy, to talk sense into him, tell him he was being an idiot, snap him out of his funks with a joke or a smile or a kiss. He wasn't sure what hurt more, Teddy thinking he only loved Billy because of Billy's magic, Teddy believing Billy didn't need him.
Now he had to go save the world. "Man up, Kaplan," he muttered to himself staring up at the ceiling. "You can do this, you don't need anyone. You can figure this out, get rid of mother and save them all. You can find Tommy and you can fix your mistakes. You have to."
He could do this without anyone, on his own. He had to now. He didn't have any other choice. He was a Young Avenger, and Young Avengers didn’t give up.
First-Person Sample:
[The camera clicks on and amber eyes blink owlishly at the screen. Billy usually didn’t do things like this. The only videos that existed of him were usually taken by Teddy, because he claimed Billy was doing something cute, or by Tommy who claimed Billy was doing something idiotic and those usually wound up on the internet somewhere. This was a first for him.]
Well. This was not where I expected to end up when trying to teleport home. Unless someone slipped me something at the comic book store. Is it possible to hallucinate entire worlds? For all I know I’ve wandered into Avengers Mansion and I’m talking to a wall.
[He winced internally, he was babbling and the only one who ever found that endearing was Teddy, and Teddy wasn’t here. He was simultaneously happy and upset about that fact.]
So um, hi, I guess? I guess I should introduce myself. Billy Kaplan, I can do magic…and sometimes it even works.
DW username: breila_rose
E-Mail: breila24@gmail.com
IM: breila24
Plurk: breila24
Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: William “Billy” Kaplan aka Wiccan
Series: Marvel 616- Young Avengers
Timeline: Post YA Vol.2
Canon Resource Link: Wiccan's Marvel Wiki Entry Wiccan's Wiki Entry
Character History:
Billy Kaplan's history is as simple as it is complicated. He's one of the reincarnated twin sons of the Scarlet Witch and The Vision born in NYC to Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan. Jewish, gay and a self-proclaimed fanboy, Billy didn't always have the easiest time growing up. Not much has been said about his childhood but we can infer that he grew up in a family that was upper middle class, both his parents being doctors and panels that show his parents in a very large apartment, and had a comfortable lifestyle, financially.
He was bullied in high school for being “different”, but being different never bothered him, “I never really had a problem with being different from other people. It’s other people who have a problem with me.” After a particularly nasty encounter with his bully, John Kesler, Billy found himself bleeding on a bench outside Avengers Mansion where he ran into the Scarlet Witch. Before he recognizes her she asks him what happened and he tells her he was punched in the face repeatedly for being different. She asks if he’s a mutant and he says he wishes. She replies by taking her hood down and saying no he doesn’t. At that point he tells her she’s his favorite Avenger and then gets embarrassed for acting like a fanboy in front of her. She tells him that he needs to stand his ground with his bully and show him he’s not afraid.
Instead of taking her advice Billy figures out Kesler's schedule and does his best to avoid him and things get better for a while. That is until Billy sees Kesler attacking his new victim. Deciding that if he can't stand up for himself then he needs to stand up for others and confronts Kesler, telling him to leave the kid alone. Kesler turns his attention to Billy and pushes him to the ground. It's at that moment that Billy's powers manifest for the first time to his surprise and he zaps Kesler almost killing him. Horrified at what happened Billy runs, trying to seek solace at the now abandoned Avengers Mansion. That's when he runs into a kid dressed in armor that resembles Iron Man, he tells Billy that he needs his help.
That kid is Iron Lad, aka Nathaniel Richards, aka future Kang the Conqueror. Nate has travel back to the past to try and prevent himself from becoming Kang and has sought help from the Avengers. The Avengers at this point have disbanded and Nate stumbles upon a The Vision's old armor and finds the Avengers Failsafe Plan, pinpointing potential Avengers to take up the mantle if the Avengers ever disbanded. He recruits Teddy Altman aka Hulkling and Eli Bradley aka Patriot along with Billy to be a team which eventually becomes the Young Avengers.
Because of his love for the Avengers and Norse Mythology, he styled himself after Thor and chose the code name Asgardian.
After the new team formed Billy and Teddy started dating.
After rescuing people from a burning building, the team makes headlines as the Young Avengers and catches the eye of Captain America and Iron Man who are not happy that teenage fanboys are taking up the Avengers mantle and putting themselves in danger.
The boys then try to save a wedding that is being held hostage in St. Patrick’s Cathedral and things don’t go so well. Billy accidentally starts a fire while protecting, and flirting with his boyfriend. The maid of honor, Kate Bishop, winds up saving everyone much to the team’s dismay.
The boys take off, to avoid being apprehended by police and once they regroup Patriot and Iron Lad get into an argument. Something that Billy and Teddy are used to, Patriot leaves and Billy reassures Iron Lad that he’ll be back. Billy and Teddy leave Iron Lad at Avengers mansion and head home, stating they have school the next day. They talk about the fact that they don’t think they are ready to face Kang the Conqueror who Iron Lad says is coming for him. On the way they find Patriot fighting off some drug dealers and step in to lend a hand and Billy shows off his sarcastic wit when deciding what to do with the men, stating that he left his super hero manual in his other tights.
They convince Eli to come back with them and find Kate Bishop and Cassie Lang breaking into Avengers Mansion with hopes of joining the team. While Patriot is against it Billy doesn’t seem to have an opinion on the matter and doesn’t protest when they eventually do join them.
Billy really shines when the group is attacked by Kang’s stimuloids, and he uses his mage powers to hold them back while Iron Lad gets their attention.
Captain America and Iron Man find them, and Billy lets himself be a fanboy for a few moments, awestruck by meeting his heroes he’s quick to tell them his real identity and ready to trust them even though they trick the teens by locking them in the simulation room so that they can’t fight. Kate breaks them out and they go raid weapons from the mansion. Billy once again shows off his nerdy side by naming the past Avengers’ weapons they come across.
Kang shows up from the future looking for Iron Lad, his younger self, to bring back. Iron Lad needs to embrace his destiny or he will mess up the time stream, undoing multiple events that have happened in the past. While Kate thinks that maybe Iron Lad should go back Billy is one of the first to protest, being loyal to his friend and team mate.
The teens defeat Kang and realize that because of this the timeline has changed, and most of the Avengers are dead. They decide Iron Lad needs to go back and Billy tries to use his magic to make Iron Lad forget everything that happened. Iron Lad resists at first until Billy disappears from the timeline followed by Teddy, they never existed if Iron Lad doesn't become Kang. Iron Lad goes back into the time stream and everything reverts back to the way it was before.
At this point Captain America and Ironman tell them at even though they proved themselves capable, they won't train the young avengers without parental consent and the team leaves deciding they have no choice but to disband.
A few weeks late Kate and Cassie gather them together convincing them to still be a team. They also convince Billy to change his code name to Wiccan saying the media would have a fields day with the name Asgardian once they find out about his relationship with Teddy. After seeing their new costumes and new lair Kate has provided Billy, along with Eli and Teddy agree to keep fighting at Young Avengers.
In an effort to tell his parents about being a young avenger before Captain America does Billy tries to come out about it, only his parents think he's telling them he's gay and accept him, telling him they already knew (at least his mother did, his father stating she had to tell him). They welcome Teddy into the family while Billy just stares at them extremely confused by the circumstances.
He spends the next little while fighting with the team and hiding it from his parents. He helps take down Mister Hyde, uses his Mage powers, powers that he still can't always get to work right and they he doesn't understand, and gives an expose to The Bugle, along with the rest of the team, and decides that he's not going to hide his relationship with Teddy from the media. The team decides to disband for a while. It's at this point that Billy realizes he can't just stop, he started this to help people and he doesn't want to stop being a super hero, a sentiment that is shared by the rest of the team. And that's when his boyfriend is attacked by the Super Skrull.
While trying to hide out at Billy's parents apartment the super Skrull attacks again, destroying the apartment and killing Teddy's mom, who Billy tries and fails to save, and kidnapping Teddy.
Billy doesn't do well when his friends are in danger, and is even worse when it's his boyfriend. Deciding they need more people to defeat then Super Skrull they enlist The Vision and use his Failsafe program to locate another potential Avenger, Tommy Shepard. Not caring about the consequences he helps break Tommy out of juvie. When he sees him he realizes that they are almost identical. He's too distracted with worry about Teddy to pay much attention at first, urging them to just go even before making sure that Tommy is going to help and isn't actually a super villain.
They rescue Teddy and it's then that the Super Skrull tells Billy that he and Tommy are the sons of the Scarlet Witch. Vision confirms that the Scarlet Witch wanted children so badly she created them out of two lost souls, but their souls were reclaimed by Mephisto. When Mephisto reabsorbed the souls he was destroyed and the souls scattered and they ceased to exist.
Billy fixates on this, immediately believing it to be true while Tommy is skeptical.
Shortly after the team, along with the Avengers, battles the Skrulls and the Kree, Billy immediately going after Teddy who plans to give himself up, Billy refuses to lose him again. The battle draws to a standstill when the Super Skrull shifts into Teddy and pretends to be him in order to broker a deal to end the fighting and keep Teddy safe from them.
It's at this point the Avengers realize that the Young a Avengers aren't going anywhere and they have to accept them as allies.
The Young Avengers, now with Tommy ( code name Speed) in the ranks, continue to fight crime in NYC and have a large role in the battles that take place during the Civil War, the Secret Invasion, and Siege. During this time Billy learns to control his magic more, going so far as to teleport a bus full out superheroes arrested by SHIELD to Captain America's resistance base. Billy joins the anti-registration side of the civil war becoming part of Captain America's secret avengers.
While trying to help fellow teenage heroes The Runaways, Billy and Teddy are captured by Noh-Varr and become prisoners of the warden. Billy is forced to watch as the warden tortures Teddy, cutting him open and watching him heal while he's unconscious. It is the only time Billy tries to wish for someone's death, the warden goading him into it. Luckily he has dampened on hat prevent him from hearing his spells and the warden isn't killed by Billy.
After the events of the Civil War Billy manages to convince Tommy that the Scarlet Witch is their mother and the boys set out one night to see if they can track her down. Though they turn up nothing on her the mission seems to solidify a bond between the boys, Billy tells Teddy when they get back that yes, they like Tommy.
During the events of siege Billy assists Doctor Strange who discusses his potential and candidacy to become the next Sorcerer Supreme, giving Billy a hint at just how powerful he could be.
After the events of the Siege of Asgard, Billy and the Young Avengers go back to New York to continue keeping the city safe.
During a fight with the Sons of the Serpent Teddy is held hostage by one of the sons who has a nuke strapped to his bad. Fearing for his boyfriend Billy snaps, losing control of his power and rendering the sons all unconscious.
Fearing they might have another Scarlet Witch on their hands the Avengers try to get Billy to stay at the mansion for some tests. Iron Man explains that when the Scarlet Witch remembered that her sons died she had a break down, losing control of her powers and killing Hawkeye, Vision and Ant-man. After that her brother Quicksilver and father Magneto, scared for her safety took her away and convinced her to create a new reality where Magneto and his family reigned supreme. Once the Avengers remembered their old lives they fought to get her to change the world back which she did along with another spell, "no more mutants" which stripped almost all mutants of their powers.
Billy tries to defend his mom, believing that she's not evil after all the good she had done fighting with the avengers but they won't hear it and Billy storms out followed by his team who also express concerns that he doesn't know how much power he has or what he's capable of.
Angry at them and at the Avengers he storms home only to find Captain America in his living room speaking to his parents. Deciding he doesn't have much choice Billy heads back to the mansion, speaking to Cap about his mom along the way, still convinced there's a reason she did what she did. Teddy interrupts them along the way and states that where Billy goes he goes and Cap lets him return to Avengers headquarters with Billy and has a room made up for them.
Billy apologizes to Teddy for his outburst earlier and looks for reassurance about what's going to happen to him from his boyfriend. Which Teddy gladly gives. They are about kiss when they are interrupted by Tommy who breaks them out and brings them to the rest of the team. They reassure Billy they are on his side and decide that they need to find The Scarlet Witch.
Just as they are deciding what to do Magneto shows up, and tells them to call him grandfather, furthering Billy and Tommy's belief that they are the Scarlet Witch's sons.
He wants their help finding his daughter and needs Billy and Tommy to do that. Of course the Avengers show up and fighting breaks out. Wolverine tries to attack Billy and starts fighting Magneto. Determined to end this by finding his mom, Bill teleports Magneto and the Young Avengers away to Transia leaving the Avengers to argue over what to do.
Not wanting his friends to be in danger or in trouble Billy tries to send them back but they protest, telling him they are his family and his team and they are behind him.
Thinking Billy found Wanda Tommy goes to search the village only to stumble upon Quicksilver. Quicksilver, not wanting Magneto looking for his sister quickly grabs Billy and runs, trying to get him away from Magneto's influence. Billy points out that if he wanted to do that he could have just magicked himself away.
Magneto catches up to them, and Quicksilver attacks him, throwing wooden stakes at his father only to hit the Scarlet Witch who was an innocent bystander. Thinking they've killed her they realize it's not her, it's actually a doombot and that she's been prisoner of Doom this whole time.
While arguing over what to do next, Billy volunteers to go to Latveria by himself and do a reconnaissance mission at Doom's castle. He's immediately shot down by both Teddy and Magneto. But Billy sneaks off while Magneto is showing everyone to their rooms.
He's about to cast a teleportation spell to Latveria when he's interrupted by Quicksilver who tells him he'd be more effective if he didn't say his spells allowed and admits they have a lot in common, both rebelling against Magneto. Teddy and the rest of the Young Avengers show up and stop them from going anywhere after Teddy threatens to main Quicksilver if he takes Billy.
Billy with his tendency to rush into situations without thinking sneaks away in the middle of the night, leaving a note for Teddy knowing he will be furious and teleporting to Doom's castle in Latveria.
He finds his mother, who doesn't remember anything about what happened in the past and is marrying Doom the next day. They are interrupted by Doom who starts to fight Billy while Billy tries to get Wanda to remember her life. Doom renders Billy unconscious.
Billy wakes up the next morning to Doom casting a spell on him. He tries to convince Billy that he's in love with Wanda and Billy is understandably skeptical. He invites Billy to stay as a guest because he knows the Avengers are looking for him and when Billy refuses he becomes Doom's prisoner, Doom telling him that he spell he cast took away Billy's magic.
Wanda sneaks into Billy's room asking him to tell her the whole story and they try to sneak out of the palace while he tells her who she is. Once out of the palace they see a battle going on between Doom's forces and the Avengers. As Billy is realizing this might be his fault Wolverine finds them and attacks Wanda trying to kill her but Billy intervenes trying to convince him not to hurt her. Wolverine doesn't listen and goes to attack again when he's shot down by Iron Lad whose has come back to save Billy.
After another fight with Doom Iron Lad grabs the Young Avengers and Wanda and they just into the time stream going back to the day Wanda lost control hoping that she would gain back her memory. She does and brings the team and Cassie's father back to Avengers Mansion in the present day.
Wanda begins reliving everything, her magic getting chaotic as she breaks down and tries to kill herself. Billy goes up to talk to her, tell her that he thinks he's her son and to use her magic to find out. She does and confirms that Billy and Tommy are in fact her reincarnated sons.
In order to give the mutants back their powers Wanda takes the Young Avengers back to Latveria and Doom. Billy asks her what's actually controlling her, saying that she was powerful but not reality altering powerful until she remembered her sons. She confesses that she asked Doom for help and they channeled The Life Force into her and that's what made her go crazy, it's too much power for one person to possess. She needs Doom to help her give the mutants back their power and then help her channel the Life Force back into the earth while using Billy's magic as a shield so Victor doesn't try and take the power for himself.
Not trusting them Eli stops the ritual midway through inadvertently letting Victor absorb all the power from Wanda and take it on himself.
Doom sends them back to New York in an attempt to get the X-Men and Avengers fighting over Wanda, instead Tommy and Billy interrupt sticking up for their mother. Billy names all the crimes the x-men have committed, tells them that some of them have committed horrible acts while being brainwashed or mind controlled and tells them that in the future more will be, and how would they like to be treated when it happens to them?
Doom returns and Billy helps Wanda with his magic as the two groups battle doom. They emerge victorious but at a price; Cassie and Vision are dead.
Billy blames himself for everything that happened, and when Eli and Kate decide to quit being super heroes Billy agrees with them, calling himself the bad guy, the one everyone should be afraid of. He spends the next few months in a depressed funk, sitting in the dark and staring out his window at the city.
Finally Teddy has had enough, telling Billy life is too short for him to waste his and he proposes, on the condition that Billy finally get up and do something. So Billy gets up and kisses him. The two are interrupted by Ms Marvel who tells them Captain America needs to see them at the mansion, in uniform.
He shows them a memorial to Cassie and Vision and tells them that after everything they have done and whether or not they are still young avengers, the avengers will always consider them Avengers and part of their team.
The next two years sees the team split up. Tommy and Teddy move in with Billy's family for a whole until Tommy eventually moves out and Kate goes off to fight with Clint Barton.
Everyone had agreed to stop with the heroics, and they did for a while, but unbeknownst to Billy, Teddy, Kate and Tommy had started up again, going out on their own and being heroes.
One night Billy catches Teddy sneaking back into his room and confronts him, reminding him that they all agreed to quit, and Teddy lets out some things he’d been holding in. Reminding Billy that he’s lucky, he has two set of parents that love him, and a boyfriend whose lost the only person he’s ever called a mother and Billy is the only person he has left in the world. He tell Billy that he’s been there for him, reassuring him that everything is going to be alright, and it breaks his heart that Billy is so afraid of his powers. Billy realizes what an ass he had been and promises to make it up to Teddy, to be the best boyfriend he can be.
Later that night Billy casts a spell, looking at all possible realities and finds Teddy’s mom, moments before she’s killed and pulls her out. What he finds out the next day is that he pulled out an inter-dimensional parasite, named Mother, that has brain washed all the adults into following her. She throws them into prison in her dimension and are rescued by Loki who teleports them back to New York.
He explains that Billy let out a creature that wants to get its hands on Billy’s power and they need his help if they want to fight it. After a short discussion Billy tells Loki he heard something when he was casting his spell, and he recognized the language as Norse. Knowing Loki had something to do with this they take him to Asgardia only to encounter Loki’s father, Laufey, whose supposed to be dead. While fighting Laufey, Miss America shows up and defeats him. When her dead parents show up they realize that whatever Billy did is causing dead parents to come back under the influence of Mother. Fleeing, they end up back in New York. Billy tries to text Kate for backup.
They are once again attacked by mother and captured but Kate shows up with Noh-Varr and they rescue the teens and head to central park where they are surrounded by Mother’s forces. Loki tells them that one way to stop all this would be to kill Billy. After everyone vetoes that idea he convinced Billy to loan him his power for ten minutes. When Billy agrees Loki teleports away. Thinking they have been betrayed Billy goes onto Noh-Varr’s ship to end his life, saying that if he had one spell he could cast it would be on himself, to be better, but it’s a spell that never works. Billy is interrupted by Loki coming back. He uses the power Billy gave him to enhance everyone else’s power and they buy themselves enough time to escape.
They decide to go on the run until they can come up with a plan, and Billy embraces his magic, finally accepting that he’s a super hero and he always will be.
They are on the run for three months, Loki is helping Billy learn how to use his powers to his full potential and they are traveling the universe fighting and tracking what they think are skrulls but find out that they are another shape shifting alien race pretending to be skrulls. Deciding to take a break they head back to Earth for breakfast and encounter David (alias Prodigy), who tells Billy that Tommy has been taken by a dimension jumper dressed like Patriot. They spend weeks chasing not Patriot through the multiverse, dimension hoping sometimes fighting for their lives until they find a dimension with fuzzy green aliens who start calling Billy Demiurge. Over dinner, Billy finds out that he is the demiurge, that one day he will “rewrite the rules of magic and all the implications of that will echo backwards and forwards through all realities”.
After dinner Billy and Teddy leave the restaurant alone and Billy tells him that’s he confident that he can handle everything, and Teddy says good “that means you won’t need me”. He tells Billy that his powers are useless against Mother and that besides that he’s been having thoughts. Loki mentioned something weeks ago, that Billy could have accidentally created Teddy and now Teddy is worried. Worried that Billy accidentally created him, that Billy’s magic influenced their relationship and that his feelings aren’t real or his own. He tells Billy that he needs space and they break up, tearfully saying goodbye. Billy is shattered but he understands, it’s a fear he now has as well. And with that the most important thing in his life is gone.
A few weeks later the team finds out that Mother has Teddy and that shes going to destroy reality. Billy once again tries to end the spell by killing himself but Loki stops him, telling him he lied last time and that won’t do anything, the answer isn’t simple. Billy responds by punching him in the face.
Billy and Loki decide to use their backup plan, to age Loki up that way he has access to more magic and can help Billy save Teddy and all of reality. The ritual works, aging Loki up but not giving him back his power and Billy has had enough, no longer trusting the god he tries to go after Teddy himself before Loki stops him with a plan. In order to save Teddy and reality he needs to become the Demiurge for a short while to have enough power to dispel Mother.
The team gets Billy ready, Loki telling him that he has to have hope, to believe he can do this, or its not going to work. They enter Mother’s dimension and Billy begins to channel his power and fight Mother but it doesn’t go well, he has too many doubts about himself to access it fully and they are locked in a stalemate.
Loki realizes the only way to get his power back and help is to tell them all the truth, and he does, that he was manipulating them all along, that he was in league with Mother at first and had influenced Billy to bring her out of the multiverse. Once he does that he gets his powers and they are able to save Teddy.
Realizing Billy isn’t doing well, David tells Teddy to go to him, not to doubt their love because its real. That even if he wished Teddy into existence they are still who they are and that feeling is real. Realizing David is right he goes to Billy and tells him he doesn’t care if Loki was lying they aren’t and they are real. That was all Billy needed to hear, his hope renewed he taps into his full power and gets rid of Mother and all the havoc she’s caused.
Billy gets a glimpse of the whole multiverse, seeing all the things he could do and change but has enough insight to know that he isn’t ready for this power and he doesn’t have a clue yet. He would do more harm than good and he lets the power go for now.
With everything put back the way it was supposed to be, the team can return home just in time for New Years Eve. They are all attending a New Year’s Eve party and Miss America over hears Billy being down on himself again, she tells him that he’s Billy Kaplan and to own it. Billy returns to Teddy and they have a brief discussion and Billy tells him he’s ready to fight, to be himself again. He tells Teddy that he never could have dreamed him up or imagined loving anything the way he loves teddy. The night ends with Tommy showing back up and the team minus Loki heading out of the party. Billy asks if they know what’s next and Teddy says he doesn’t. Billy says anything they want, which is replied to with breakfast and Miss America kicks a portal open to bring them home, and to get breakfast, the future ahead of them.
Abilities/Special Powers:
Chaos Magic: Billy's main power is the ability to manipulate Chaos Magic, which he inherited from his mother. His magic is based on his wants, when he wants something to happen he has to chant and visualize it happening. As he grows stronger there are some spells he can accomplish without chanting.
Teleportation: Can teleport himself and others over undetermined distances.
Healing: Can quickly heal others through his spells.
Flight: Billy can use his magic to make himself fly and help others do the same.
Solid Energy Constructs: Billy can manipulate mystical energy to create solid constructs such as disks, shields, force fields, and other projectiles.
Conjuring: Billy can create clothing, decor, and food from seemingly nothing.
Third-Person Sample:
Teddy was gone. That was the only thing Billy could think, sitting in their- no, now his- room on the ship. He was scared Billy was controlling him, that Billy created him, made him fall in love with him. Billy wasn't a hundred percent sure that wasn't true, so he let him go, because he loved him and because he was scared Teddy was right.
The only problem was now he had no idea what to do. He told Teddy he had this, that he was confident that he could fix everything, and he was, when he had Teddy.
Then you don't need me
That's where Teddy had been wrong. He always needed Teddy. Teddy was his rock, his constant. The only one who had stuck with him from the beginning and never left. He was the only one Billy had. Nate was gone, Cassie and Vision were dead, Eli had left them. Tommy was around but never for more than a moment and now he was missing. He knew he had Kate now, but she also hadn't been around, working with Hawkeye and being a hero. Not that he blamed her, blamed any of them, he blamed himself. He always did, but he always had Teddy, to talk sense into him, tell him he was being an idiot, snap him out of his funks with a joke or a smile or a kiss. He wasn't sure what hurt more, Teddy thinking he only loved Billy because of Billy's magic, Teddy believing Billy didn't need him.
Now he had to go save the world. "Man up, Kaplan," he muttered to himself staring up at the ceiling. "You can do this, you don't need anyone. You can figure this out, get rid of mother and save them all. You can find Tommy and you can fix your mistakes. You have to."
He could do this without anyone, on his own. He had to now. He didn't have any other choice. He was a Young Avenger, and Young Avengers didn’t give up.
First-Person Sample:
[The camera clicks on and amber eyes blink owlishly at the screen. Billy usually didn’t do things like this. The only videos that existed of him were usually taken by Teddy, because he claimed Billy was doing something cute, or by Tommy who claimed Billy was doing something idiotic and those usually wound up on the internet somewhere. This was a first for him.]
Well. This was not where I expected to end up when trying to teleport home. Unless someone slipped me something at the comic book store. Is it possible to hallucinate entire worlds? For all I know I’ve wandered into Avengers Mansion and I’m talking to a wall.
[He winced internally, he was babbling and the only one who ever found that endearing was Teddy, and Teddy wasn’t here. He was simultaneously happy and upset about that fact.]
So um, hi, I guess? I guess I should introduce myself. Billy Kaplan, I can do magic…and sometimes it even works.