| Wanda Maximoff | |
|---|---|
| Marvel Cinematic Universe character | |
 Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff after she becomes the Scarlet Witch in theWandaVision episode "The Series Finale" (2021). | |
| First appearance | Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) |
| Last appearance | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) |
| Based on | |
| Adapted by | Joss Whedon |
| Portrayed by |
|
| Voiced by | Elizabeth Olsen (What If...?season 2 andMarvel Zombies) |
| Powers |
|
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Human mutate |
| Gender | Female |
| Title | Scarlet Witch |
| Occupation | Witch |
| Affiliation | |
| Weapon | |
| Family |
|
| Significantother | Vision[a] |
| Children | Billy andTommy Maximoff[b] |
| Origin | Sokovia |
| Nationality | Sokovian |
Wanda Maximoff is afictional character primarily portrayed byElizabeth Olsen in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)media franchise based on theMarvel Comics characterof the same name. Wanda is depicted as aSokovianrefugee who, along with her twin brotherPietro Maximoff, volunteers to be experimented on byHydra. She gainstelekinetic and energy manipulation abilities after coming into contact with theMind Stone, harnessingChaos magic. She later joins theAvengers and helps them defeatUltron, becoming one of their most powerful members.
Wanda develops a romantic relationship with team-memberVision until his death. She falls victim tothe Blip but is restored to life. In her grief, Wanda becomes mentally unstable and uses her abilities to trap the town ofWestview, New Jersey in afalse reality where she marries Vision, and has two children,Billy andTommy Maximoff. This puts her at odds withS.W.O.R.D. andAgatha Harkness, ultimately leading her to manifest her ancient prophesied identity as theScarlet Witch. She also takes possession of theDarkhold, which she later uses to learn about theMultiverse. Corrupted by its influence, she comes into conflict withStephen Strange in an attempt to kidnap teenagerAmerica Chavez and take her multiverse-traveling abilities, intending to reunite with alternate versions of her children. After massacring theEarth-838Illuminati, Wanda is confronted by that reality's Billy and Tommy. Overcome with guilt, she collapsesMount Wundagore on herself and dies, destroys all copies of theDarkhold across the multiverse.
Olsen appeared as the character within six films throughout the MCU as of 2024[update]. She also had a lead role in theDisney+miniseriesWandaVision (2021), while alternate versions of the character appear in the various media, including the animated seriesWhat If...? (2021-2023). Olsen's portrayal of the character has been well-received, and she has earned several accolades for her performance, notably being nominated for aPrimetime Emmy Award in2021, and aGolden Globe Award in 2022.
Wanda Maximoff was born in 1989[4] inSokovia, EasternEurope, unaware that she was born a witch and unknowingly engaging in basic hex magic. While growing up with her twin brotherPietro and her parents Oleg and Iryna in a small apartment during a war, she enjoyed watching Americansitcoms, which her father sold DVD box sets of so their family could practice speaking English in the hopes of emigrating to America. However, Oleg and Iryna were killed when a missile struck their apartment while Wanda and Pietro were trapped in the debris for two days. While a secondStark Industries missile flew in, it never went off as Wanda unknowingly cast a probability hex that turned it into a dud, though the twins lived in fear of it going off until they were rescued. The trauma of that experience found a focus in the prominence of the Stark Industries logo printed on the missile. This left the twins with the fervent belief that Stark himself was ultimately responsible for their parents' deaths as it occurred via sales of his company's weapons which he had intentionally profited from.
Years later, as young adults, Wanda and Pietro participated in political protests in their city, before eventually volunteering forHydra's enhancement program overseen by BaronWolfgang von Strucker. The organization exposed the twins and numerous other test subjects to theMind Stone, with Wanda and Pietro being the only survivors and the former gaining psychic abilities while her magic was greatly amplified. During the experiments, Wanda gained a glimpse of herself as the Scarlet Witch.
In 2015, Wanda is called by Strucker to assist in fightingSteve Rogers upon his arrival to Strucker's base. She then findsTony Stark and plants a nightmarish vision in his mind. Shortly after,Ultron secures an alliance with Wanda and Pietro, using their hatred of Tony Stark as leverage. InJohannesburg, Wanda subdues Steve Rogers,Natasha Romanoff,Thor, andBruce Banner with visions, however, is unable to subdueClint Barton, as he briefly incapacitates her. Following this, Ultron, Wanda, and Pietro travel toSeoul, where Ultron uses the Mind Stone to enslave Dr.Helen Cho so he can use her synthetic-tissue technology,vibranium, and the Mind Stone to craft a new body. As Ultron uploads himself into it, Wanda reads his mind and discovers his plan to cause human extinction. She and Pietro turn against Ultron and join forces with Steve Rogers to stop him. Upon learning of Tony Stark's plan to give the body life and fearing what he will do with it, Steve Rogers takes Wanda and Pietro toAvengers Tower to stop him. While Steve Rogers and Tony Stark fight, Wanda fights Banner, but Thor suddenly arrives and turns the body into the "Vision". Wanda and Pietro tell them of Ultron's plot and they decide to travel to Sokovia, where Ultron has used his remaining vibranium to build a machine capable of lifting a large section of the capital city Skyward, intending to crash it into the Earth and cause global extinction. Wanda becomes overwhelmed by her role in Ultron's scheme until Clint Barton befriends and encourages her to join them in stopping Ultron. Wanda volunteers to protect the machine's core from Ultron, but abandons her post to destroy Ultron's primary body after sensing Pietro's death, which allows one of his drones to activate the machine. Vision rescues Wanda from the collapsing city. Afterwards, Wanda goes to theAvengers Compound, where she, along withSam Wilson,James Rhodes, and Vision, join theAvengers.
Sometime later, Wanda is watching sitcoms in her bedroom, when she is visited by Vision, who comforts her over Pietro's death, assuring her that the grief she feels over losing her family meant that she still loved them.
In 2016, Wanda joins Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson in a mission to stopBrock Rumlow from stealing a biological weapon in a lab inLagos. Rumlow detonates his suicide vest in an attempt to kill Rogers, but Wanda telekinetically contains the explosion and throws it upward, accidentally killing severalWakandan humanitarian workers, to her horror. As a result,United States Secretary of State,Thaddeus Ross, informs the Avengers that theUnited Nations (UN) is preparing to pass theSokovia Accords, which will establish a UN panel to oversee and control the team. Stark has Wanda confined to the Compound, where Vision watches over her and they begin to develop romantic feelings for each other. Wanda is picked up by Barton, who was sent by Rogers and Wilson, and they getScott Lang before regrouping with Rogers, Wilson, andBucky Barnes at theLeipzig/Halle Airport inGermany. Wanda significantly helps her team through the battle, protecting them from Stark's team. After Rogers and Barnes escape, Wanda, Barton, Wilson, and Lang are captured and detained at theRaft. Eventually, they are rescued when Rogers breaks them out.
In 2018, Wanda and Vision have begun a romantic relationship and gone into hiding inEdinburgh. However, they are ambushed byProxima Midnight andCorvus Glaive, members of theChildren of Thanos sent to retrieve the Mind Stone. Rogers, Wilson, and Romanoff rescue them and take them back to the Compound, where they reunite with Rhodes and Banner. While there, Vision asks Wanda to destroy the Stone, but she refuses as it would kill him. Rogers suggests they travel toWakanda, which he believes has the resources to remove the Stone without killing Vision. AsShuri works to extract the Mind Stone from Vision, Wanda is tasked with staying behind and watching over the operation until the Stone is removed. Nevertheless, she leaves to aid the Avengers in their fight against theOutriders, killing Midnight in the process. WhenThanos arrives to retrieve the Mind Stone himself, Wanda reluctantly kills Vision and destroys the Stone, but Thanos uses theTime Stone to reverse the action and rip the repaired Mind Stone from Vision's forehead, before knocking out a horrified Wanda and activating the completedInfinity Gauntlet. Wanda, along with half of all life in the universe, disintegrates in an event that would later be calledthe Blip.
Five years later, Wanda is resurrected and joins the Avengers and their allies' to fight an alternate Thanos and his army from a 2014 timeline. In the ensuing climactic battle, Wanda nearly defeats Thanos before she is blown away by his forces, with Stark later sacrificing himself to eliminate Thanos for good. A week later, Wanda attends Stark's funeral, where she reunites with Barton.
The next day, Wanda goes toS.W.O.R.D.'s headquarters to retrieve Vision's body. However, after meeting with S.W.O.R.D.'s acting director Tyler Hayward, she witnesses Vision being dismantled and realizes she can no longer sense him. She leaves and drives to the suburban town of Westview,New Jersey, to view a vacant lot that Vision had purchased in 2018 for the two "to grow old in". Overcome with grief, Wanda accidentally unleashes waves ofchaos magic that transforms Westview into a sitcom-themed false reality and isolates it from the outside world via a hexagonal barrier, later known as the "Hex". She materializes a new version of Vision that lacks any prior memories and starts living with him in the Hex as a newly married couple living their ideal suburban life.
While attempting to befriend her neighbors (painfully forced to role-play assitcom stereotypes, and kept from their children) and concealing her and Vision's powers, Wanda becomes visibly pregnant. As it progresses at an accelerated rate, she encountersMonica Rambeau, who had been absorbed into the Hex and took on the alias of "Geraldine", and receives her help in giving birth to twin boysTommy andBilly. However, Rambeau mentions Pietro and his death at Ultron's hands, inciting Wanda to telekinetically cast her out of Westview. When Vision returns moments later, he briefly appears as a corpse before Wanda resets him.
As Wanda's children age rapidly, S.W.O.R.D. sends an armed drone into Westview in an attempt to kill Wanda. Enraged, she exits the Hex, warns Hayward to leave her alone, and emphasizes her point by hypnotizing his agents into turning their guns on him. Rambeau, who empathizes with Wanda, tries to offer help, but is rebuffed. Back in Westview, Wanda gets into a heated argument with Vision when he finds out the truth after briefly freeing one of Wanda's victims and reading a S.W.O.R.D. communique at work. The argument is interrupted when aman claiming to be Pietro appears and Wanda briefly accepts him into her life. During the town's Halloween festival, Wanda reveals to "Pietro" that she does not remember what happened to her other than feeling alone and empty, which seemingly made her create the Hex. When Wanda learns that Vision has breached the barrier and is dying, she expands the Hex to save his life, in the process also absorbing the nearby S.W.O.R.D. outpost andDarcy Lewis.
Following her expansion of the Hex, Wanda starts losing control of the altered reality and begins having a mental breakdown. Rambeau returns to Westview to warn Wanda of Hayward's plan to revive and weaponize Vision, but an enraged Wanda refuses to listen and attempts to cast her out once more. When Rambeau resists using her newly acquired powers, Wanda's neighbor "Agnes" interrupts and takes Wanda to her house, where she reveals her true identity as the sorceressAgatha Harkness and forces Wanda to relieve her most traumatic memories to learn how she created the Hex, by threatening Tommy and Billy's lives. Eventually, Harkness releases her, mocking Wanda for not knowing the full extent of her own abilities before revealing Wanda is the legendary "Scarlet Witch", who wields chaos magic and is capable of spontaneously altering reality and weaving together numerous high-level spells that run automatically. As Wanda battles Harkness, the latter absorbs her magic. They are briefly interrupted by Hayward's Vision, but Wanda's version fends him off. Continuing their battle, Harkness reveals further that Wanda is even more powerful than theSorcerer Supreme and that she is destined to destroy the world as the "Harbinger of Chaos"; Harkness then frees Westview's citizens from Wanda's influence, allowing them to reveal to Wanda that her spell has been causing them to experience her repressed grief and nightmares. Overwhelmed, Wanda accidentally loses control of her powers once more and nearly chokes them all to death. Horrified by what she has done, Wanda brings down the Hex so the citizens can escape, but restores it after her Vision, Billy, and Tommy begin to disappear. As invading S.W.O.R.D. agents attack Westview, Billy and Tommy disarm them while Rambeau and Lewis stop Hayward. Meanwhile, Wanda and Harkness renew their fight; the latter seemingly absorbs all of Wanda's magic, but realizes too late that Wanda had placed protective runes at the Hex's borders to neutralize Harkness's magic. Claiming her new identity as the Scarlet Witch, Wanda traps Harkness in her Agnes identity before permanently bringing down the Hex and sharing a tearful goodbye with her family. Wanda meets with a sympathetic Rambeau to apologize and vow to better understand her powers before fleeing to live remotely in a mountainside cabin, where she studies theDarkhold to learn more about her powers before hearing "her sons" cry out for help.
By late 2024, Wanda had gradually been corrupted by theDarkhold, learning about themultiverse and that alternate "real" versions of her sons exist in other universes. After learning ofAmerica Chavez and her ability to freely travel the multiverse, Wanda secretly sends multi-dimensional creatures, includingGargantos, to kill her, planning to take her powers for herself, travel to an alternate reality where her sons are alive and kill and replace her own counterpart. WhenStephen Strange seeks Wanda's help in protecting Chavez, she accidentally reveals her knowledge of the girl and that she had been the one hunting her, explaining her plans to him and demanding Strange hand Chavez over. Strange refuses, and Wanda attacksKamar-Taj, killing the majority of its sorcerers, with the Sorcerer Supreme,Wong, identifying the Scarlet Witch as a being "prophesied to either rule or destroy the multiverse".
During the attack, Chavez accidentally sends herself and Strange to an alternate universe calledEarth-838. In pursuit of the pair, Wanda attempts to dream-walk; a spell which involves temporarily possessing alternate versions of oneself into a counterpart's body. When a surviving sorceress, Sara, sacrifices herself to destroy theDarkhold and break the dream-walk, Wanda forces Wong to lead her to a temple dedicated to theDarkhold's authorChthon atopMount Wundagore, the original source of theDarkhold's spells.
Using the temple's magic, Wanda re-establishes her dream-walk and successfully possesses her Earth-838's counterpart's body. She then breaks into theIlluminati's headquarters and slaughters most of them without hesitation while Strange and Chavez escape with the help of scientistChristine Palmer. The trio enter the Gap Junction, a space between universes, to find theBook of the Vishanti, the antithesis of theDarkhold, but Wanda appears, destroys the book, and takes over Chavez's mind, sending Strange and Palmer to an post-incursion universe, and opening a portal back toEarth-616.
At Mount Wundagore, Wanda begins to absorb Chavez's powers but is confronted by a dreamwalking Strange who encourages Chavez to believe in herself and use her powers to open a portal to Earth-838, through which Tommy and Billy, seeing Wanda choke Chavez, recoil in horror, running from her and crying out for their real mother to protect them from "the witch". As a result, Wanda collapses with grief and, after being assured by her Earth-838 counterpart that "they will be loved," allows Chavez, Wong, and Strange to leave. She then turns the Darkhold's dark magic upon itself, destroying Mount Wundagore along with all copies of the Darkhold across the Multiverse, effectively killing herself in the process.[5][c]
Other versions of Wanda are depicted in the alternate realities of the MCU multiverse, appearing in the filmDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) and the animated seriesWhat If...? (2021 & 2023), also portrayed by Olsen.
In an alternate 2018 in the zombie-infested Earth-838 timeline, Wanda is among the Avengers who became infected by a quantum virus, turning into azombie. She is then taken by Vision toCamp Lehigh, where he attempts to cure her with the Mind Stone, though she proves immune. Sometime later, a group of survivors come to Vision for his cure, but Wanda breaks free and kills Kurt Goreshter and infects Okoye. She engages the Hulk in a fight after learning about Vision's destruction.
Five years later, Wanda, having regained her sentience and control over her reality warping powers, controls a massive horde of zombies as their leader, referred to as the "Red Queen" or "Queen of the Dead". She seeks to harness the residual cosmic energy released during the Wakanda Event, in whichT’Challa destroyed Thanos and the remaining Infinity Stones. Through her controlled zombie "scions"—Okoye and Namor—Wanda also targets a group of surviving heroes, includingKamala Khan, intending to bring Kamala to her side. Using her chaos magic, Maximoff restores a human-like appearance and arrives inNew Asgard under the title "Queen of Sokovia". She offers the Asgardians a feast and misleads the survivors about her intentions, claiming she had healed herself and aims to heal the world using the Infinity Stone energy. However, the food served is revealed to be made from zombie remains, which results in the infection of the Asgardians. Thor is later turned as well after a battle with her.
Arriving in apocalyptic remains of Paris, Wanda then launches an assault on Bruce Banner, who has transformed into an entity known as Infinity Hulk, capable of containing the concentrated energy of the destroyed Stones. Her army faces resistance from the surviving heroes, now joined by sorcerers,Spider-Man, and Scott Lang. Wanda targets Kamala Khan for her unique cosmic powers, attempting to manipulate her with promises of restoring the world. In the final battle, Wanda succeeds in absorbing the energy from Infinity Hulk, defeating the defenders in the process. Kamala, convinced by a vision of a restored reality, ultimately takes Wanda’s hand. This act triggers a massive energy burst that creates an illusory world masking the ongoing zombie apocalypse.
A version of Zombie Wanda, along with a horde of zombies, is also depicted being transported byDoctor Strange Supreme to an uninhabited universe to distractInfinity Ultron, before facing a planetary explosion done by Ultron'sInfinity Stone.
Afterwards, she is captured by Strange Supreme and held captive in his Sanctum Infinitum. She is released byCaptain Peggy Carter and soon after, mind controls other zombies to attack Carter and Kahhori. During a duel with Kahhori, she gets sent through a portal back to her universe.
In an alternate medieval-themed universe, Wanda uses her Chaos Magic to transport CaptainPeggy Carter from Peggy's universe to Wanda's own. Wanda and Nick Fury discuss Captain Carter being the one who can save both their queen and their world. Later, during the scuffle between King Thor's guards and Rogers Hood's crew of thieves, Wanda uses her powers to contain the next incursion. She also helps Carter and Rogers's crew obtain the Time Stone from King Thor's Scepter, and place on Tony Stark's machine, which identifies Rogers as the "forerunner" who has been inadvertently been causing the incursions. Wanda is then sent back to her timeline after Carter and Rogers undo the incursion.
In an alternate 2021, Wanda lives a peaceful suburban life with her children Tommy and Billy. She is possessed by her counterpart from Earth-616, who is hunting for America Chavez through the multiverse. The possessed Wanda then kills most of the Illuminati in cold blood, but is eventually freed from the spell. When 616-Wanda returns through a multiverse portal, Wanda attempts to protect her frightened children from 616-Wanda, causing the latter to acknowledge the suffering she has caused and end her deadly hunt for Chavez before she kills herself to destroy theDarkhold.
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The Scarlet Witch debuted, alongside her twin brother,Quicksilver, as a part of theBrotherhood of Evil Mutants inX-Men #4 (March 1964).[9] They were depicted as reluctant villains, uninterested inMagneto's ideologies. Scarlet Witch was depicted as introverted and disdainful of her teammates.
Stan Lee, author of theAvengers comic book, composed the team of Marvel's most prominent heroes. However, he eventually altered the team roster, removing all butCaptain America, and added villains from other comics: the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver from theX-Men, andHawkeye fromIron Man's adventures inTales of Suspense. The team was known as "Cap's Kooky Quartet".[10] Although common in later years, such a change in the roster of a superhero group was completely unprecedented.[11] Scarlet Witch would now become a lasting member of the team.
Some years later,Avengers writerRoy Thomas started a long-running romantic relationship between the Scarlet Witch and theVision, considering that it would help with the series' character development. He selected those characters because they were only published in theAvengers comic book, so it would not interfere with other publications.[12]
In the 1990s, Marvel licensed the filming rights of the X-Men and related concepts, such asmutants, to20th Century Fox. Fox created afilm series based on the franchise. Years later, Marvel started its own film franchise, theMarvel Cinematic Universe, focused on the characters that they had not licensed to other studios, such as theAvengers. The main core of this franchise was theAvengers, both in standalone films and the successfulThe Avengers film. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were disputed by both studios. Fox would claim the rights over them because they were both mutants and children of Magneto, the villain of most of their films, and Marvel would claim those rights because the editorial history of the characters in comic books is more associated with the Avengers rather than the X-Men. The studios made an agreement so that both of them would use the characters. It was made on the condition that the plots do not make reference to the other studio's properties: the Fox films cannot mention them as members of the Avengers, and the Marvel films cannot mention them as mutants or children of Magneto.[13] Despite this deal, films in the FoxX-Men series did not feature Scarlet Witch.[14][15]
In May 2013,Joss Whedon consideredSaoirse Ronan to be his "prototype" actress for the part, but by August of that year,Elizabeth Olsen had been cast for the role.[16] Olsen has since played Wanda Maximoff in theMarvel Cinematic Universe. Olsen noted that when Joss Whedon offered her the role, he said "[wh]en you go home and Google her, just know you will never ever have to wear what she wears in the comics",[17] and, in keeping with this, Wanda's comic book costume was ignored in favor of more casual clothing. She first appeared, as well as Quicksilver, in amid-credits scene of the 2014 filmCaptain America: The Winter Soldier as a prisoner ofBaron Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann).[18] Scarlet Witch became a supporting character in the 2015 filmAvengers: Age of Ultron, where the siblings initially conspire withUltron (James Spader), a reflection of their initial villainous roles in the comics, but later defect to the Avengers.[19][20] Quicksilver dies in the ensuing conflict while Wanda goes on to become a member ofCaptain America's Avengers. She appears in the 2016 filmCaptain America: Civil War.[21] Both Olsen andAaron Taylor-Johnson signed multi-picture deals.[22] Olsen reprises the role in the 2018 filmAvengers: Infinity War, its 2019 sequelAvengers: Endgame, and the 2022 filmDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.[23][24] In the films, her powers aretelekinetic andtelepathic abilities, which she gained by volunteering as a test subject inHydra experiments to createsupersoldiers, by exposing her to theMind Stone. Therefore, both she and her brother are described in the films as "enhanced humans", as opposed to the naturally occurring mutants they are in the comics.
By September 2018,Marvel Studios began developing several limited series forDisney's streaming service,Disney+, to be centered on "second tier" characters from theMarvel Cinematic Universe films who had not and were unlikely to star in their own films, such as Scarlet Witch, withElizabeth Olsen expected to reprise her role.[25] The title of this show was later revealed to beWandaVision, co-starringPaul Bettany as theVision.[26] It premiered in January 2021.[27] As the show is premised on Wanda and Vision appearing in a sitcom (apparently constructed by Wanda to escape her grief over Vision's real-world death), her appearance throughout the series reflects the clothing styles of sitcom characters across different decades of the genre. By the finale, having fully embraced her identity as the Scarlet Witch, Wanda gains a new costume reflecting a modernized version of her comic counterpart.
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Wanda is first fully introduced inAvengers: Age of Ultron as the twin sister ofPietro Maximoff who can engage inhypnosis andtelekinesis.[28][29] Olsen felt Wanda was "overly stimulated" rather than "mentally insane" because "she has such a vast amount of knowledge that she's unable to learn how to control it. No one taught her how to control it properly... she can connect to this world and parallel worlds at the same time, and parallel times".[29] Describing her character's mind control powers, Olsen said that the character is able to do more than manipulating someone's mind, with Scarlet Witch able to "feel and see what they feel and see" by projecting visions that they have never seen. Olsen expanded upon this, saying, "What I love about her is that, in so many superhero films, emotions are kind of negated a bit, but for her everything that someone else could feel—like their weakest moments—she physically goes through that same experience with them, which is pretty cool".[30] Olsen drew on her relationship with her older brother and hersisters to prepare for the role,[29] as well as looking to the comics for inspiration.[31] Olsen revealed that Whedon was inspired by dancers as a way to visually represent how the character moves. As such, Olsen mostly trained with dancer Jennifer White in lieu of traditional stunt training.[32][33]
InCaptain America: Civil War, Wanda allies withSteve Rogers against theSokovia Accords.[34][35] According to Olsen, the character is "coming into her own and starting to understand and have conflict with how she wants to use her abilities".[36] As such, Wanda's costume was "relatively casual" and "more clothes-based than superhero-based" according to Makovsky, since theRusso brothers believed Wanda was not a full-fledged Avenger yet.[37] When asked about the relationship between her character and the Vision compared to the comics, Olsen said, "You learn a little bit more about what connects [Scarlet and Vision] in this film. And I think there's some really sweet moments between Paul and I, and it's more about how they relate to one another and their similarities just based on their superpowers".[38]
InAvengers: Infinity War, Olsen explains that Wanda and Vision have maintained a romance while Wanda remains in hiding and are "trying to within that time find points of meeting in different places in order to try and forward our relationship". Paul Bettany described it as the most emotional arc for the characters.[39] In early drafts ofInfinity War andEndgame, the screenwriters had Wanda survive the snap and participate more substantially in the events ofEndgame, while still mourning Vision, but this angle was ultimately dropped because "she'd gotten so much mileage and story in the first movie that she didn't really have anything that equaled that in the second".[40]
InWandaVision, Olsen said the character is brought more in line withthe comic book version, including depicting her mental illness,[41] while introducing the "Scarlet Witch" moniker that was not previously used in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) outside of promotional material.[42]Marvel Studios executive producerKevin Feige said the series explores the extent and origin of Wanda's powers.[41] Olsen felt her "ownership" of Wanda was strengthened during development of the series,[43] which allowed her to explore new parts of the character's personality such as her humor and sassiness.[44]: 30 She was thrilled thatWandaVision focuses on Wanda rather than making her a supporting character as in the films, and was sold on joining the series when Feige mentioned the specific Scarlet Witch comic storylines that inspiredWandaVision.[45] Olsen was influenced byMary Tyler Moore,Elizabeth Montgomery, andLucille Ball for her performance.[46] Michaela Russell portrays a young Wanda.[47]
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness continues Wanda's "ownership of what makes her unique and the accountability of her life experience" that began in the seriesWandaVision (2021),[48] with an example of this being a return to an accent that is more true to herSokovian heritage after some of the previous MCU films had moved to an Americanized version.[49] Olsen was largely unaware of theMultiverse of Madness story while filmingWandaVision and tried to ensure Wanda's role in the film honored the events of the series rather than having the series be affected by the film.[50] Olsen also portrays the character's Earth-838 counterpart.[51][52]
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The full extent of Wanda's powers has yet to be fully unlocked in theMarvel Cinematic Universe. Wanda is a naturally-born sorceress with the ability to harnesschaos magic presenting in reality warping, conjuration, time and illusion manipulation, and even life creation.[53] Later, when she obtains the Darkhold, her power is greatly amplified, as the book serves as an amplification totem. Through it, she is able to access further chaos magic, draw energy from other dimensions of the Multiverse, and Dreamwalk into alternate realities.[5][54] Wanda's psionic abilities were said to be enhanced byHYDRA's experimental exposure to theMind Stone.[55][56] Wanda's psionic abilities present in psychic energy manipulation, telekinesis, mental and emotional manipulation, telepathy and levitation. The combination of these powers and abilities make her one of the most powerfulAvengers.[57][58]
Wanda's psionic abilities are due to the exposure toLoki's scepter that contained theMind Stone.[59] It emanates as an energy projection from her hands and body as a red vapor mist, which she can use her telekinetic abilities to manipulate her natural bornchaos magic.[53]
Throughout Wanda's onscreen appearances her abilities develop drastically. InCaptain America: Civil War, Wanda's powers have advanced and her telekinesis is strong enough to let her hold up the debris of a falling building as well as fly for brief periods of time. Later, she is able to fly for greater lengths in battle inAvengers: Infinity War.[59]
Mental manipulation is one of Wanda's first shown powers after her exposure to the Mind Stone. InAvengers: Age of Ultron, Wanda uses this ability to create fear inTony Stark.[53] Wanda later induces nightmarish-like images into the heads of four Avengers, inspiring nightmarish visions inCaptain America,Thor andBlack Widow, as well as provokingBruce Banner to transform into a rampaging Hulk.[60] Mental manipulation is used against Vision, overriding the power of the Mind Stone.[59] Her powers allow her to forcibly manipulate his density by controlling the Mind Stone. Wanda is the only one capable of destroying the stone, singlehandedly holding Thanos at bay, who was already wielding five Infinity Stones, while simultaneously destroying the Mind Stone inAvengers: Infinity War.[59]
Wanda uses telepathy to read minds and communicate telepathically, which she does with her brotherPietro inAvengers: Age of Ultron before he is killed.
Wanda's magical abilities are first seen in the miniseriesWandaVision.Agatha Harkness tells Wanda that she is the only person who is able to engage in chaos magic, making her the infamous and mythicalScarlet Witch.[61][62] According to Agatha, Wanda was born with chaos magic and is what she used unknowingly to hex the Stark missile to not explode in her apartment inSokovia when she andPietro were only ten years old.[63]WandaVision explores Wanda's ability to warpreality like hercomic counterpart.[64] After being overwhelmed with grief afterVision's death, Wanda releases waves of chaos magic which accidentally creates a reinforcedCMBR force-field (known as "The Hex") over the town ofWestview, New Jersey.
Chaos magic gives the wielder the ability to warp time and reality, and works only if reality is altered by instability resulting in chaos.[65] In Westview, Wanda is so stricken with grief that her emotional instability lets her dictate reality in "The Hex", altering the objects and people around her.[63]
Chaos magic is the most powerful form of magic. At the end ofWandaVision, Agatha reveals that the Scarlet Witch's magic exceeds that of theSorcerer Supreme. InDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda defeats most of the sorcerers inKamar-Taj.[63] At the battle at Kamar-Taj, Wanda is able to absorb energy from a cannon that was shot at her. Later, she is able to absorbAmerica Chavez's powers and would have succeeded twice without Doctor Strange's interference.
TheDarkhold, also known as theBook of the Damned,[5] is a powerful magical tome that came into Wanda Maximoff's possession after her confrontation with Agatha Harkness. Following her victory, Wanda retreats to a remote location, where she lives in seclusion while using astral projection to study the book.[66] The Darkhold contains transcriptions of dark magic spells originally engraved by the demon Chthon on Mount Wundagore. Serving as both an amplification totem and a repository of chaos magic, the Darkhold allows practitioners to draw energy from other dimensions and to Dreamwalk, which involves possessing alternate versions of themselves across the Multiverse.[5][54]
Agatha Harkness warns Wanda of the potential destruction that can come from wielding such power. The spells in the Darkhold carry a hidden cost, which varies by user and only becomes apparent after they are cast. When Wanda delves deeper into the Darkhold in search of answers about a prophecy identifying her as the Scarlet Witch, it begins to corrupt her. Her fingers turn black, and she becomes obsessed with reuniting with her children across the Multiverse.[5] This obsession ultimately drives her to cause widespread chaos in her pursuit of them.[67][68]
InDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda has learned to dreamwalk, which involves transferring her consciousness to her alternate-self from another universe. Wanda successfully takes control of her variant from Earth-838, using her to pursue Strange and Chavez, invade the Illuminati headquarters, destroy waves of Ultron drones, and kill most of the members of the Illuminati.[61]
Wanda eventually experienced qualms of conscience when she realized that in one universe, her own children were afraid of her. She then broke free from the Darkhold's influence and turned the Darkhold's dark magic upon itself, destroying the Darkhold throughout the Multiverse so that others would be spared the disaster and never be tempted by it.[5]
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In the comics, Wanda and her brother Pietro's parentage has had a complicated history having believed multiple character to be their parents. Despite Disney's acquisition of Fox and the X-Men franchise in 2019, as of 2025, the supervillainMagneto has not yet been introduced into the MCU, and therefore no mention has been made of Wanda's traditional depiction as his daughter, nor of her being a mutant.[69] Unlike some incarnations of their comic counterparts, the MCU iteration of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff have not been depicted as having Romani heritage, though it also has not been outright disproven by anything in the MCU canon, making their specific ethnic background unestablished. In the MCU, Wanda and Pietro's parents are named Olek and Iryna Maximoff.[70][71]
In the MCU, Wanda initially "possesses a drastically different powerset to her comic book counterpart", having been described less as a wielder of actual magic and more as "aJean Grey analogue, gifted with both telepathic and telekinetic powers", with her abilities in the MCU being derived at least in part from experiments in which she was exposed to the Mind Stone.[72] InWandaVision, however, Wanda is revealed to be a powerful sorceress, the only being currently capable of wielding chaos magic. The series explores her ability to manipulate reality like her comic counterpart. While it is maintained that her abilities emerged from the Mind Stone, in the MCU she is retconned into having possessed the latent ability to wield chaos magic since birth, and the Mind Stone simply unlocked these dormant abilities, and her subsequent persistent use of basic telekinesis, telepathy and hypnosis were seemingly an unwitting result of the same unique magical source.[citation needed]
Following the release ofAvengers: Endgame, Rachel Leishman of the feminist "geek site"The Mary Sue wrote that Wanda "isn't the most fleshed out of characters because she is often tied down to a male character and very rarely does anything but kill people accidentally," but thatAvengers: Infinity War provided "the Wanda who understands her placement among the Avengers and her abilities", and byAvengers: Endgame, Wanda is "taking on her position as one of the new leaders of the Avengers".[73] Jen Chaney ofVulture reviewedWandaVision positively, stating that "Olsen and Bettany's characters were often treated like benchwarmers on an all-star team in the Avengers movies. Here, they really shine".[74] Eric Deggans ofNPR state of the character that "a confused and grief-stricken product of experimentation, saddled with powers she doesn't understand and struggles to control, becomes the Scarlet Witch – one of the most powerful figures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe".[75]IndieWire praised Elizabeth Olsen's performance as Wanda, stating, "her work onWandaVision which showcases her tremendous dramatic talent and, even more impressive, introduces her as a true comic delight".[76]The Ringer complimented the evolution of the character through all of her appearances, explaining, "She's gone from a mysterious figure that even Thanos treated as an afterthought to one of theMCU's most compelling characters".[77]
For her performance inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Olsen received critical acclaim, with some film critics stating it could lead the actress to receive her firstAcademy Award nomination.[78][79][80] Davis Caballero ofScreen Rant referred to Olsen as the "definitive shining star" of the MCU'sPhase Four for her performance acrossWandaVision andDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, writing, "No one comes close to what Olsen achieved inWandaVision andMultiverse of Madness; indeed, the actor has set the bar too high".[81] Rachel Leishman ofThe Mary Sue wrote that Olsen managed to understand and portray the pain felt by her character through the movie, calling her a "powerhouse".[82]Richard Roeper of theChicago Sun-Times praised the performance of Elizabeth Olsen inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, even commenting that he believed the character of Wanda had the most compelling of the film's character arcs.[83] Chris E. Hayner ofGameSpot ranked Wanda Maximoff 7th in their "38 Marvel Cinematic Universe Superheroes" list, stating, "Even beforeWandaVision, Wanda proved time and again how powerful she was and what she was willing to do for those she loved. She may have taken that too far in the latestDoctor Strange movie, but she made the right choice in the end, proving she's ultimately a hero".[84]
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby decided to try their hands at a pair of reluctant super villains when they created Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver inThe X-Men #4.
Critics have singled out Elizabeth Olsen as a shining plus, with Smash Cut's Karl Delossantos going so far as to call it the beginning of her Oscar campaign.
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