Marvel adding new ties to Captain America and Scarlet Witch's family - back in World War II
Could Captain America: The Ghost Army finally be introducing the Scarlet Warlock?
Return to the frontlines of World War 2 with Captain America and Bucky in the upcoming original graphic novel Captain America: The Ghost Army. The OGN is being published by Scholastic's Graphix imprint, part of a line of Marvel OGNs launched in 2020. The story is written by YA novelist Alan Gratz, with art from Marvel veteran Brent Schoonover and colorist Sarah Stern.
Captain America: The Ghost Army is a WW2 era story in the Marvel U, with Cap and Bucky facing off against an army of undead soldiers from their current war and wars past. They're stuck reeling from the conflict in the Eastern European country of Transylvania, just as Baron Mordo watches it all play out from Wundagore Mountain, just south of the fabled Eastern European nation.
Captain America: The Ghost Army will debut several new characters into Marvel continuity, including Andrei Maximoff and Nikolai Baskerville. Here's concept art for them by Schoonover:
Captain America: The Ghost Army character sketches
Andrei is a villager in the Transylvanian town that Captain America and Bucky take refuge in from the titular Ghost Army, but there's more to it than that. Judging by his last name (Maximoff) and his location (Transylvania) and the fact there are few coincidences in Marvel Comics, Andrei Maximoff could be related to Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (AKA the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver).
Then things get really interesting - Maximoff is the surname of the material side of Wanda and Pietro's lineage. Readers have already met their mother, Natayla Maximoff, in the 2016 Scarlet Witch series (she's also revealed to have called herself the Scarlet Witch). But her father - Wanda and Pietro's grandfather - went by the name Scarlet Warlock, and we don't know his real name.
Could Andrei Maximoff be the Scarlet Warlock?
Meanwhile, Nikolai Baskerville is part of the Allied military forces with Captain America and Bucky.
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Alan Gratz is a popular novelist with such YA hits as Ground Zero, Refugee, and the WW2 era Allies. He's a frequent face at Dragon Con, and according to his website his dream job besides writing would be drawing comics.
Drawing Captain America; The Ghost Army will be Brent Schoonover, who has drawn Astonishing Ant-Man, Howling Commandos of SHIELD, and Captain Marvel, and the recent creator-owned series Devil's Highway.
Here's more of Schoonover's concept art fro Captain America: The Ghost Army:
Captain America: The Ghost Army character sketches
Captain America: The Ghost Army OGN goes on sale on August 2, 2022.
Here are the best Captain America stories of all time.
Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)