The Russo Siblings
I made a previous Wizards of Waverly Place/ Wizards Beyond Waverly Place post (https://www.tumblr.com/correctmeifimwrongplease/805115663298494464/i-really-hope-we-get-new-wizards-beyond-waverly) and mentioned talking about the Russo family in another post so here it is.
Let’s start with WOWP. In that show we see Alex, Max, and Justin interact with each other as siblings that have to go through the family wizard competition and how that causes issues, but we later learn that their dad Jerry also had two siblings; Megan, Kelbo, and him. We are introduced to Kelbo in the start of the series but Megan’s existence is something that not even the kids knew about. This is because Megan, Kelbo, and Jerry had the same dynamic as Max, Alex, and Justin. Kinda. There are differences but we are firts shown the similarities. The dumb goofball youngest- Max and Kelbo. The troublemaker artist middle child- Alex and Megan. Then the golden boy oldest who studies and is predicted to win the competition. But there are differences. These are made clear by the finale. Where Alex didn’t get upset that she lost (in the short time before Justin told them how she helped him) and even right before the competition Jerry gives them advice to not turn out like his siblings. The show has constantly showed us that the Russo siblings care about eachother. Another difference is Jerry winning but giving it up to be with Theresa and giving his powers to Kelbo while Megan gets nothing; while Justin is about to win but admits Alex should be the winner ending with them both keeping their powers while Max inherits the subway shop. They have a whole thing about dealing with the aftermath of the competition with the fake out to specifically avoid what happened to Jerry and his siblings.
Next is WBWP. In this we get Milo, Billie, and Roman. Milo=Max=Kelbo, Billie=Alex=Megan, and Roman=Justin=Jerry. That’s the surface of it. Milo is a dumb goofball, Billie is literally Alex’s daughter and Roman is practically Justin’s clone. That’s just the generalization. Billie and Roman disagree on the rules and cause shenanigans because of it, and Milo is there to be funny and help out, sometimes even causing his own shenanigans. But the animosity of Alex and Justin is toned down with them, and they give Milo more character moments and scene with his siblings then they did with Max at this point (my observation, grain of salt) just like how Max, Alex, and Justin are toned down from Kelbo, Megan, and Jerry. It seems with each generation at least starting from Jerry the rivalry that causes fighting between the Russo wizard siblings get less and less. This might be me looking to far into things though.
With Milo, Billie, and Roman there is less rivalry and more so different approaches to learning magic which makes sense. In WOWP the three siblings are older than the ones in WBWP by at least a couple of years with the oldest 2 being around Max’s age at the start of the series. And even then they seem younger by a year or two.
Also you have to think about the time and parenting. Max, Alex, and Justin had the Wizard Family Competition being a big part of their lives for years. We learn about it in the first season pretty early on. The competition adds a lot of pressure leading to hostility. If you measure yourself by your chances of being the winner it’s just constant competing with your siblings. If your as younger to the others as Max I imagine that hurts your chances. It was probably worse for Jerry’s generation. But with Milo, Billie, and Roman; they only recently found out and it hasn’t been a big deal not counting that points episode. These three have already built a dynamic outside of the competition. And Gina and Justin are not the types to put cause siblings rivalries by their chances of winning.
Even if Billie remained only a cousin (don’t count only siblings I think) and never became their sister Milo and Roman still probably wouldn’t be as hostile as Justin and Alex. Sure some issues with Milo being younger but I don’t think it would be that big a deal. The wizard competition is just not as important to how they treat eachother this generation.
I wonder if three competing Russos is something that happened before Jerry. I love lore.
Thanks @kea103 for likeing my WOWP post.
