#victoria montesi

[comicwaren]

From Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt #003

Art by Germán Peralta and Arthur Hesli

Written by Bryan Hill

[mediaomnivore]

I am so so so so so happy to see Victoria Montesi in House of Harkness.

[scarlet--wiccan]

Why didn't Wanda have her own prophecy in the Darkhold? Consider she's Chthon main chosen kin. There should be a page dedicated to that, right?

First of all-- why would you expect there to be? Nobody ever said the Darkhold was a catalogue of prophecies or that it foretells every single Chthon-related event that will ever happen. It does contain prophecies, but its primary function is usually that of a spellbook.

Second-- Wanda is not Chthon's "kin." I don't really know what you meant by that, but they're not related. Chthon was not involved in Wanda's birth, and has no connection to her lineage. By all accounts, the fact that Wanda ended up on Mount Wundagore when she did is just a stellar example of wrong place, wrong time-- or, depending on how you look at it, a series of violations carried out against a vulnerable minority family, in which Chthon himself is complicit. There is an awfully convenient timing to it all, and you could easily explain that away with a prophecy, but they never did. Personally, I think the subtext is richer if the conditions of Wanda's life are born from generations of systemic violence and exploitation, which I think is the case in both the Magda and Natalya versions of the story.

What you're describing sounds a lot more like the character Victoria Montesi, who was first introduced in the 1992 series horror/supernatural series Darkhold: Pages From the Book of Sins. Vicky is descended from a family of Catholic priests who were responsible for safeguarding the Darkhold scrolls and manuscripts that the Church had collected. Supposedly, their bloodline is especially resistant to the book's corruptive power, but Vicky's father was sterile and, being desperate to continue the bloodline, gave into temptation and used a spell from Darkhold in order to sire a child. Through him, Chthon impregnated Victoria's mother-- so, unlike Wanda, Vicky is actually Chthon's daughter, and, also unlike Wanda, she is the subject of a prophecy.

The Malachy Prophecy is a series of series of predictions, transcribed by one of Victoria's ancestors, which foretells several events. One passage, in particular, states that Chthon's return will be heralded by "a child born of no man, and a woman marked by sin; daughter becomes mother, then will the dark return begin." Vicky is both the woman marked by sin AND the child born of no human man. As she eventually learns, Chthon's plan is for her, the perfect vessel born of his own power, to become pregnant with a reincarnated version of Chthon himself-- daughter becomes mother.

Early in Pages From the Book of Sins, before Vicky learns the truth about herself, Wanda experiences a vision which causes her to recite the prophecy in Latin. Agatha and Stephen assume that it must be about Wanda herself-- she was marked by Chthon, and she had children born of no man. They warn Vicky and her allies about this and try to find a way to stop it from coming true, but of course, they're looking in the wrong place, and it's not until much later that they realize it was actually about Victoria all along.

Prophecies, in fiction, are a funny thing. They're usually vague on purpose, and can be interpreted several ways. They're not precise predictions-- most of the time, even the oracle who delivers the prophecy doesn't know exactly how it'll come true. So, the Malachy Prophecy wasn't about Wanda, but it could have been, and I think that uncertaintly works a lot better than whatever was going on in the M C U.

[bonesandbrimstone]

[justdealingwithsomeissues]

Even Victoria isn't safe from the curse of the 90s big guns...

[simonshepherd]

The ideal path for Scarlet Witch forward in MCU is a quick and definitive arc.

Let’s just acknowledge the fact that Wanda as a character is kinda cursed, and I don’t say that lightly. In the comics she got nuked out of the orbit by House of M and suffered 7 years of straight up absence from comics and spend even more time doing half-assed redemption arcs to get back on her feet.

Ironically it’s probably the popularity boost from MCU that fished her out of the sewer(she barely got comic appearance when WandaVision is actually running, that’s how little Marvel cared about her.) And when her fans saw the new dawn and seemingly bright future, sike, she got nuked again by Multiverse of Madness.

The way I see it, there aren’t many paths that won’t further waste her time or condemn her character even further.(AKA being Kang/Doom’s living plot device for Secret War, at least that’s what the fandom wants for her, before that they want her as the brooding mare for MCU mutants, did I mention this character is cursed?)

 There is one storyline that could maybe both redeem her and develop her character further and maybe lead to a satisfying end though, that is a Darkhold Redeemer project based on the 90s Darhold: Pages from the Book of Sins comic series. She will be perfectly for Modred the Mystic’s role, a former victim of Darkhold who holds tremendous power, and wanting to help others who are affected by the remnants of Chthon’s power, the exact plot of course needs to be changed but Wanda helping Victoria Montesi avoiding her own prophecy and fate would be a very sympathetic premise, and of course it would naturally explore more Elder Gods lore and lead Wanda on the path of finding a way to defeat/contain Chthon, it could probably be finished in a show and a movie, then she can hopefully just peace out and never come back. A somewhat complete legacy not to be disturbed.

Also please just avoid the Billy/Tommy(and Children’s Crusade) in any actual capacity, I don’t hate those characters(and I am a YA fan), but I am going to amputate parts of her if it means I don’t have to be reminded how braindead she is during MoM yelling “muh kids” and that godawful icecream song. (Yes, that includes the none-existent Dadneto) But of course she will more likely be a spectacle generator down the line, have we learned nothing from being a fan of hers since 2005?

[comicsiswild]

Darkhold: Pages From The Book Of Sins (1992) #14

[ronnyraygun]

Midnight Sons: Gays Unleashed

[heckcareoxytwit]

A preview of Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt #2

MIDNIGHT SONS: BLOOD HUNT #2

THE REUNION CONTINUES! What do you get when you cross two Ghost Riders, a daywalker, their supernatural-hunting friends and a horde of vampires swarming the Earth? A whole lot of fangs, fire and penance…

Written by: Bryan Hill Art by: Germán Peralta Cover by: Ken Lashley, Juan Fernandez Page Count: 28 Pages Release Date: June 26, 2024

[excelsiorfics]

What Binds Us Together

Date: 1st Aug 2022 Author: kitausuret Rating: Teen Word Count/Status: 2,105, completed Dynamic: Victoria Montesi & Wanda Maximoff Characters: Victoria Montesi, Wanda Maximoff Tags: The Darkhold, Magic, Missing Scene, Self-Discovery, Female Friendship, Reunions

Summary: On her globetrotting quest to save magic, Wanda Maximoff finds herself drawn to Darwin, Australia - not by the witchcraft she's been trying to heal, but by a far more sinister type of power. When she runs into her old friend Victoria Montesi, though, it's an opportunity to catch up... and a chance to try and instill some wisdom in a fellow survivor.

[vintagegeekculture]

Marvel's 1992 Darkhold Redeemers

“Darkhold Redeemers” was a comic created in 1992 about a group of supernatural investigators in possession of the Darkhold, an evil book of dark sorcery that has evil pages scattered over the world. In Marvel lore, the Darkhold is the book that created the first vampires. The comic was created by 90s Marvel journeyman Chris Cooper (also known for creating Starfleet Academy, a comic about the adventures of Cadet Nog that tied in to the events of Deep Space 9). 

The book is notable for three reasons. 

The first is that the premise is shockingly and coincidentally similar to the later Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with occult investigations carried out by a group that is led by a beautiful, tight outfit wearing vampire killer from a lineage of vampire hunters (Victoria Montesi, the Montesi Formula being the way vampires are destroyed in Marvel Comics), and also includes a mouthy scrappy everyman, an occult expert and archeologist who’s knowledge of the supernatural and collection of books leads to the secret of beating the creature of the week, a tough as nails government agent out of his depth when fighting the supernatural, and finally, a tremendously powerful and immortal dark antihero who joins the side of good despite his dark past (Mordred the Mystic is both Willow and Angel together, I suppose). 

The second detail is that it was the first Marvel Comic with an openly gay lead character. You might have heard it was Northstar, but this is not true. Chris Cooper is openly gay himself and always fought for inclusion of this nature. Victoria Montesi’s debut predates Northstar coming out of the closet (a comic, incidentally, that Chris Cooper wrote as associate editor on Alpha Flight, so he worked on both).

There are, likewise, many candidates for who the first gay character in Star Trek is, but one of the characters with the strongest claim to this title is Chris Cooper’s Yoshi Mishima in his Starfleet Academy series. 

Chris Cooper eventually left Marvel Comics after the 90s. Nothing happened. Most people in a freelance job like comic editing and writing are not Chris Claremont, who are there for decades. Careers in the arts don’t last forever, and they have to come to an end sometime, where you go and get a real job.

But Chris Cooper came up again decades later in the news, was the subject of an incident in 2020 when birdwatching in Central Park (he’d been a member of a birdwatching society at Harvard), where he was threatened by a female jogger, who said she would call the police as he threatened her, when we can see he did no such thing. The incident was known as either “the Central Park Birdwatching Incident” or the “Central Park Karen.” 

Looking at the footage now, it’s easy to see why it was national news and viral on the internet. Apart from the obvious racial angle, it is a chilling reminder of how a woman’s vulnerability can become a weapon, and how man’s strength can turn into a vulnerability. 

All the while watching the incident, I was like "...the Darkhold Redeemers guy? No, it couldn't be...it's probably a coincidence, Chris Cooper is a very common name." But nope, it really was the Starfleet Academy guy from the 90s.

Chris Cooper received a birdwatching show on National Geographic, and inspired many black people to go into birdwatching, but I could care less about birdwatching. I would like to see what happened next with Darkhold Redeemers and Starfleet Academy, which ended at a cliffhanger with a lot of unresolved plot points.

[comicwaren]

“Something... is here.” -- Blade

Cover art for Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt #001

Art by Ken Lashley and Juan Fernandez

[mediaomnivore]

I got really into the character of Victoria Montesi when the Cerebro podcast did an episode on her. It’s been fun to experience Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt.

[scarlet--wiccan]

Possible spoilers for Blood Hunt #1 ///

Omfg did you see that in Blood Hunt #1 Blade said “I already knew that Wanda Maximoff would never cast the spell to exterminate an entire people. It’s not in her.”????? Bc not only is that and Blade’s other mentions of her fodder for my him x wanda ship it (and the rest of this comic) also got me fully behind Jed MacKay so far I haven’t been really liking his current avengers run mainly just bc I don’t think it’s grounded enough and I can’t get myself to care about the impossible city but this (and the rest of the comic) has got me FULLY onboard

Also another cool thing is that victoria montesi was mentioned ✨✨

Hmm, I'm not so sure about shipping Eric with Wanda, but I do hope that they get more page time together soon. The Darkhold event was kind of underwhelming, in term of character interactions, but I've been wishing for Wanda to get a real Midnight Sons/Suns team up for years. For all the focus that is put on chaos magic, nobody seems to be interested in exploring the fact that Wanda, with her incredibly close ties to the Darkhold, is very much a part of that world. I'm hoping that something cool will shake out of Blood Hunt, but at the moment, it looks like McKay is sidelining her. We'll see.

Anyways, yeah, I appreciated this moment. It's obviously a callback to the Decimation, and you can read it a couple ways-- I think it's fair to say that after everything that happened, this is something Wanda is especially sensitive to, and she could not be convinced to cross that line now, in the present. But I'd also like to think that Blade-- and MacKay-- are acknowledging that the Decimation was not Wanda's conscious doing. Restoring a bit of faith in her character, you know?

Also, Victoria Monetsi was not mentioned by name in this issue. The Montesi Formula that Stephen and Clea are searching for is a spell found in the Darkhold that is named after one of Victoria's ancestors. It first appeared in a comic from 1974, predating Victoria's debut by two decades.

[luciferinn]

like victoria montesi is marvel's first Out lesbian and most people who know of her only know her by that headline and have never read her book. which btw. you should read darkhold pages from the book of sin if you haven't

[justdealingwithsomeissues]

Blade kills both Victoria and Modred... and with his last bit of strength Modred spills the land he was carrying around, because upon absorbing Modred, he also took on his geas, and without the soil, he has broken the pact... which will hopefully weaken him enough for the others to take him out.