The Gifted will air Mondays on Fox, giving wider scope to the X-Men corner of the Marvel Television universe. Proceeded by Legion, the second X-Men Marvel Television show will spotlight several issues yet to be tackled – namely what mutant powers can do to families. To get ready for the show’s release we are taking a look at the each of the characters and their comic counterparts.
The core of The Gifted is a story of family. The Struckers, Reed (Stephen Moyer) and Caitlin (Amy Acker) go on the run when it is discovered that their children, Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) and Andy (Percy Hynes White), are mutants. The Strucker family’s known in the comic universe – albeit in considerably different ways than people might expect. They have a history with HYDRA and they have a half-brother of sorts in Werner Von Strucker who ended up on Agents of SHIELD.
In the comics the Strucker kids are twins- Andrea and Andreas Von Strucker- and mutants. Hence why they’ll be appearing on The Gifted instead of Agents of SHIELD. How will they appear though? What makes them unique?
HAIL HYDRA-er SENTINEL SERVICES?:
So far in The Gifted Andy and Lauren appear to be normal teenagers (or at least as normal as they can get with mutant powers). In the comics however, their conception and reality is far different. The children of Baron Von Strucker are much like their father, incestuous white supremacists who thanks to experimentation with the X-Gene while in the womb have powers and abilities. There’s no mistaking their agenda – they support HYDRA and everything it stands for wholeheartedly.
The comic twins went around performing various acts of evil before Andrea died after discovering the secret of HYDRA leader Baron Zemo – that he had returned to life against HYDRA’s wishes. Andreas Strucker briefly flirted with the notion of redemption by joining the New Thunderbolts as the fourth swordsman. By tanning his sister’s skin and wrapping it around the blade of his sword he was able to regain the abilities he shared with his sister. As horrific as that is, the supervillains returned to the land of the living and ended up retiring and opening up a club for villains called Club Fenris. Presumably, they’re currently still running their club.
In The Gifted, instead of HYDRA the Von Struckers, or in this case the Struckers, are children of a pair of normal suburban parents. Their father works for Sentinel testing services who have been making the rounds in New York City and throughout the country looking for mutants. While Moyer’s character probably doesn’t support a HYDRA agenda (given that HYDRA is over with Marvel and Disney), he does appear to work against mutants – or at least see them as a threat if his actions in the trailer are any indication. At least we’ll see how their father has a change of heart when confronting the reality that his children are different than what he expected. It’s clear these kids came from a different much more loving family.
POWERS AND ABILITIES
In the comics, the Von Struckers can fly, generate concussive blasts, and disintegration beams but only while holding hands. Andreas can generate concussive force blasts while Andrea can fire disintegration beams. After Andrea’s death and Andreas grafting her skin to his sword, the swordsman’s primary weapon had the ability to fire those disintegration beams. This makes the notion of the two of them fighting interesting. How could they do actual battle holding hands? Proof that genetic engineering (and Arnim Zola) might have made a major miscalculation when creating these so-called “super-powered” twins.
Thankfully the Struckers aren’t limited by that handicap. If the trailer is any indication Lauren is capable of generating those protective fields while Andy can rip objects apart with telekinesis. However, the full extent of their abilities remains unknown. Lauren clearly has more of a grip on her abilities and intends to teach her brother how to use them which should make for some nice storytelling between the two. With impressive visuals, the Strucker twins are clearly superior to their comic book counterparts in multiple ways.
WILL THIS HAVE A HAPPY ENDING?
If anything, the trailer seems to indicate that while the Strucker siblings won’t have it easy their parents appear to dedicate themselves to being a family. Baron Von Strucker is a sociopath and bringing his children into HYDRA eventually leads to their deaths so the Strucker Family obviously has a one up on their comic book HYDRA worshiping counterparts.
Still, things won’t be easy living in a world where mutants are hated and feared. If we want to really know how the Strucker Family turns out and if the kids join either the Brotherhood or the X-Men, both possibilities we’ll probably have to tune in to see for ourselves.
That concludes our look at the Strucker kids and the Von Strucker twins, a family collective with an unusual and strange history who’ll be making their X-Men debut this fall. They’ll be joining an all-star cast that includes Blink, Thunderbird, and more. Will you be tuning in to see how Lauren and Andy’s story unfolds? Let us know in the comments below.
The Gifted airs October 2nd at 9 PM on Fox.