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"You break the rules and become a hero. I do it, and I become the enemy. That doesn't seem fair."
―Scarlet Witch[src]

Wanda Maximoff is the Scarlet Witch, an extremely powerful sorceress who utilises Chaos Magic and the power to manipulate reality itself.

Wanda was a native Sokovian, who grew up with her older twin brother, Pietro. Following the death of their parents caused by the explosion of Stark Industries bomb, the twins became radicalised and agreed to undergo experiments with the Scepter containing the Mind Stone under the supervision of Wolfgang von Strucker's HYDRA cell, which has unlocked her ability to harness Chaos Magic and amplifies it.

When HYDRA fell, the twins allied with Ultron to get their revenge on Tony Stark, but eventually switched sides and joined the Avengers when they discovered Ultron's true intentions. Although Pietro was killed during the fight, Wanda survived and became a member of the Avengers. During the Avengers Civil War, she sided with Steve Rogers and was briefly imprisoned in the Raft before Rogers freed her along with his teammates.

Over the next few years, Wanda started a romantic relationship with Vision and started living off the grid in Europe. But they came under threat from Thanos and the Black Order, who sought the Infinity Stone in Vision's head. After coming under attack by the Black Order, the two Avengers reunited with their teammates and sought refuge in Wakanda. Wanda partook in the city's defense when the Black Order launched a major assault against it, and during the battle, she managed to destroy the Mind Stone in attempt to stop Thanos, killing Vision in the process. The Mad Titan completely overpowered Wanda and used the Time Stone to reverse Vision's destruction. He then took the stone from Vision destroying him in the process and completed the Infinity Gauntlet. After he snapped his fingers, Wanda disintegrated into ashes along with half of every civilization in the universe.

Five years later, Wanda was restored by Bruce Banner along with everyone else lost in the Decimation and joined the Avengers in the Battle of Earth against the Thanos of 2014's army. Following Thanos' defeat, Wanda tried to locate Vision's body, but she realised that he was truly gone. She went to Westview, New Jersey where she and Vision had bought the deeds to a property. Her grief manifested in a huge surge of power and created the Westview Anomaly and a construct of her lost love.

Biography[]

Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude - This Scepter'd Isle[]

As HYDRA was harnessing the power of the scepter for a variety of effects, such as powering paraphernalia ranging from their own technology to Chitauri tech recovered from New York, Strucker approaches a group of Sokovian rioters, offering them the power needed to save their country. Among the rioters are twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. The Sokovians agree and each undergo a number of tests where they are exposed to the scepter's energy. Out of all of the test subjects, only the Maximoffs survive.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier[]

Wolfgang von Strucker led a HYDRA scientist to "the twins", and declared it was the "age of miracles". Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were held in separate cells in a HYDRQ outpost in Sokovia.

Avengers: Age of Ultron[]

Scarlet Witch and her brother are seen in the building in Sokovia that the Avengers are attacking in order to take back Loki's Scepter. The twins, against Strucker's wishes, help out HYDRA against the Avengers. While Quicksilver went into the field, Scarlet Witch stayed behind and manipulated the mind of Iron Man when he infiltrated the building. She made him see a dark setting set in space where the rest of his teammates were either deceased or dying, with Captain America pointing out that Stark could have saved them. Scarlet Witch then allows Iron Man to steal the Scepter with the hopes that his inner thoughts would consume him.

Upon arrival to Avengers Tower, Maria Hill debriefs Captain America on the twins they encountered and the powers they used. Stark and Bruce Banner analyze the Scepter and deem it an appropriate mechanism to jumpstart their global peacekeeping program, Ultron. Ultron eventually goes rogue and the artificial intelligence escapes, bringing the Scepter with him.

At an abandoned building in Sokovia, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are summoned by Ultron, who is now in a rudimentary body made up of resources found in Strucker's former base. The twins, having opened up about their hatred for Iron Man, join Ultron's crusade. They travel to Wakanda and apprehend Ulysses Klaue for access to his vibranium stockpile. The Avengers arrive and a short battle ensues. The team is rendered unable to fight due to Scarlet Witch's mind manipulations and the Ultron escapes with the vibranium. Captain America sees a vision of what his life could have been if he was not frozen, with Peggy Carter asking him to dance. Thor is startled by an aggravated Heimdall who yells at Thor for not saving Asgard. Black Widow envisions her former life at the KGB and recalls the extreme tactics that were employed to make her the perfect assassin. Having been subdued by Hawkeye, she leaves the shipyard with her brother, and she then decides to manipulate Banner. Banner's vision is unseen but it causes him to turn into a hyper-aggressive Hulk that destroys the neighboring city.

Ultron and the twins travel to Seoul and force Avengers ally Dr. Helen Cho to use her technology to generate a new body for Ultron made of the stolen vibranium and organic matter. As Ultron uploads his programming into the new matter, Scarlet Witch is able to read the mind of his new body - being made out of synthetic tissue instead of pure inorganic matter - and discovers his scheme to bring about human extinction. Horrified by this revelation, she and her brother turn on Ultron and decide to join the Avengers who have arrived in Korea to save Cho, take back the Scepter, and claim the organic-metal body. After the Avengers fight amongst themselves in Avengers Tower, the team, now joined by the twins and the newly-formed Vision, travels to Sokovia to stop Ultron.

In Sokovia, Ultron has built an anti-gravity machine that would allow the city to rise above the Earth and then impact the Earth, satisfying his goal. The Avengers fight Ultron's army and help the Sokovian citizens get to safety. Quicksilver is killed by Ultron and this causes a vengeful Scarlet Witch to abandon her post and attack Ultron. This allows a drone to activate the machine and the city quickly plummets. Scarlet Witch destroys Ultron's body, rendering the robot obsolete. The city is destroyed by Iron Man and Thor, and the Vision destroys the last drone.

At the new Avengers base in upstate New York, Scarlet Witch is seen as one of the new recruits to the team after the roster shifts.

Captain America: Civil War[]

"We can't control their fear, only my own!"
―Wanda Maximoff[src]

With her powers of mental manipulation and telekinesis, Wanda brings a new dimension to the newly formed Avengers team. Just as Wanda begins to feel like she is no longer an outsider, she is unwillingly at the center of the controversy over government regulation of the Avengers. Following Hawkeye, the one Avenger that she knows will always have her back, Wanda joins Cap's team.

Avengers: Infinity War[]

In the two years since the Avengers Civil War, Wanda and Vision became lovers and moved to Scotland together to explore their relationship. The other Avengers lost contact with them, as Vision turned off his transponder. They were concerned that Vision was in danger from Thanos, who wanted the Mind Stone that powered him. When he and Wanda were attacked by Thanos' forces, Captain America, Black Widow and the Falcon came to help them beat Thanos' people back.

They returned to the New Avengers Facility to confer with War Machine, who inexplicably refused to arrest them as ordered. He joined them in protecting the Vision from further Thanos attacks. Captain America took them to Wakanda in hopes that Black Panther's sister Shuri could remove the Mind Stone from Vision while preserving his personality. Wanda would then destroy it to keep it from Thanos.

While Shuri worked frantically to accomplish her goal, Thanos sent his forces to attack Wakanda. Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian led a horde of Outriders to overpower Wakanda's warriors and take the Vision for Thanos. The Avengers joined Wakanda's warriors (the Dora Milaje, the War Dogs and the Jabari) to repel the attack. Scarlet Witch stayed behind to protect Shuri and the Vision and to destroy the stone when it was time.

When the battle turned against Wakanda, Wanda left her post and saved the lives of General Okoye and a host of Wakanda's finest warriors. They were overrun by the Outriders when Wanda scattered them with one powerful blast, causing Okoye to quip "Why was she in there all this time?"

With Wanda gone, Corvus Glaive broke into the lab and tried to kill Shuri to get the Vision. Vision got up from the lab table and attacked Glaive to save her. During the fighting, Wanda destroyed the Mind Stone while it was still in Vision's head to keep it from Thanos. He promptly used the Time Stone to bring Vision back to full function with the Mind Stone intact- and then ripped it out of Vision's head, seemingly killing him again.

With all six stones in his possession, Thanos accomplished his goal and decimated half the universe with a snap of his fingers. Wanda was among the half and crumbled into dust.

Avengers: Endgame[]

"You took everything from me."
"I don't even know who you are."
"You will.
"
―Scarlet Witch and Thanos[src]

When Bruce Banner used the Infinity Stones retrieved from the past to restore everyone that Thanos had disintegrated, Wanda was resurrected along with Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Groot, T'Challa, and Shuri and arrived through one of Stephen Strange's portals to help. Enraged by the loss of Vision, Wanda took on 2014 Thanos, but was eventually defeated before 2014 Thanos was destroyed by Tony Stark using the Stones at the cost of his own life.

Wanda later attended Tony's funeral, still devastated by the loss of Vision, who was not restored. Clint Barton, grieving the loss of Natasha Romanoff, spoke with Wanda about those that they had lost.

WandaVision[]

"Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience"[]

To be added

"Don't Touch That Dial"[]

To be added

"Now in Color"[]

To be added

"We Interrupt This Program"[]

To be added

"On a Very Special Episode..."[]

To be added

"All-New Halloween Spooktacular!"[]

To be added

"Breaking the Fourth Wall"[]

To be added

"Previously On"[]

To be added

"The Series Finale"[]

To be added

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness[]

To be added

The Marvels[]

"When did you get powers?"
"I walked through a radiation shielding barrier of a witch hex, and now I can manipulate and see all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.
"
Monica Rambeau and Captain Marvel[src]

To be added

Character traits[]

Wanda and her brother Pietro have Eastern European accents.

Having dealt with tragedy and turmoil at such a young age, Wanda desired to free her country from the terrors of war. This desire grew to such a point that she volunteered to be experimented on by HYDRA, eventually gaining the formidable powers she now possesses. Compared to her brother, Pietro, Wanda is quieter and less aggressive. Despite that, she appears to have full control of her power and would not hesitate to use it on her enemies to achieve her goals. She was not the type to face a foe in direct combat, opting to disable her foes with her powers when their guard is down.

Despite her desire to destroy the Avengers, she ultimately chose to betray Ultron after learning his true intentions and sided with the very people she tried to take down. This shows that Wanda is willing to set aside her personal grudges for the common good, as she ultimately joined the Avengers in evacuating Sokovia and opposing Ultron.

Her hatred for Tony Stark's role in the destruction her country endured and the death of her parents motivated her to implant visions of a bleak future into his mind, thus setting up the events that led to the eventual destruction of Sokovia. Wanda acknowledges this to Clint Barton, sordidly blaming herself for the carnage and questioning why she let such chaos happen.

However, after being encouraged by Clint, Wanda displayed great courage and selflessness, aiding him in fighting off the Sentries and protecting and escorting civilians to safety before standing alongside the Avengers in wiping out most of Ultron's forces. This is paramounted by how she chose to stay behind and guard the key, reiterating that it was her job, and making Pietro promise to come back for her only when everyone else is safe.

Wanda and Pietro share a deep, emotional bond, though they would occasionally bicker like normal siblings. Wanda was looked after by Pietro and she would always rely on him for support. Pietro's death by Ultron's hands unleashed a fury within Wanda that pushed her to leave her post and rip out Ultron's central processor to make him feel the pain he inflicted, avenging her beloved brother by ripping out the robot's heart.

Despite the pain of losing her brother and the loss of her home, Wanda still chose to join the second incarnation of the Avengers, led by Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff.

After committing a grave error in a mission in Lagos, Wanda has experienced yet another emotional blow as her actions inadvertently lead to the creation of the Sokovia Accords. She has spent a great amount of time in the Avengers headquarters as she feels that she has caused enough trouble. Fortunately, after being convinced yet again by Clint (who came out of retirement to join Steve's cause) she mustered up the courage to join the battle.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

  • Master Sorceress: As revealed by Agatha Harkness, Wanda was born with latent magical powers that were later amplified through her exposure to the Mind Stone. According to Agatha, Wanda's mystical powers exceed that of even the Sorcerer Supreme.
    • Mystokinesis: Able to harness Chaos Magic, Wanda was the realisation of the myth of the "Scarlet Witch", a being capable of spontaneous creation.
    • Telekinesis: Scarlet Witch can telekinetically move objects or other individuals without physically touching them. She can affect and control molecules and particles, as well as physical forces such as kinetic energy, friction, pressure, density, state of matter, gravity pressure, vectors, etc. Wanda's telekinetic energy is a visible red color.
      • Flight: Using telekinesis Scarlet Witch is able to fly by levitating her own body.
    • Telepathy: Scarlet Witch can telepathically read minds, communicate, experience memories and thoughts of other individuals or project her own thoughts through a neuro-electric interface. When Scarlet Witch utilizes her telepathic powers both of her eyes glow dark red, especially when she concentrates it on certain targets.
    • Hypnosis: Scarlet Witch can manipulate the minds of other individuals, often as a type of illusory hypnosis, using the same neuro-electric interface that is the basis of her telepathic powers.
      • Phobikinesis: Scarlet Witch can manipulate other individuals' fears. She can elicit fear or emotional pain in an individual in the form of nightmarish hallucinations that can stun and weaken even an individual as powerful as Thor.
    • Flyrogenesis: Scarlet Witch can generate, create and project bright red force fields from both of her hands.
    • Flyrokinesis: Scarlet Witch can manipulate force fields. She she can shape and conform the force fields as much as she needs to.
    • Energy Blasts: Scarlet Witch can generate, create and project bright red energy blasts from both of her hands. Scarlet Witch can also project energy orbs, waves and bolts, by projecting her own psionic and kinetic energy or gathering particles, molecules and physical forces into a contained space, allowing her to either blow, destroy, push/pull or direct her hits at her opponents.
    • Tychokinesis: From a young age, Scarlet Witch was able to manipulate probability. Using one such probability hex, she was able to prevent the detonation of a missile during two days.
    • Realitokinesis: Scarlet Witch can manipulate reality itself. Using this power, Scarlet Witch was able to take control of Westview by placing a hexagonal force field around the town called the Hex. Inside the Hex, Scarlet Witch has absolute power and can change anything to suit her thinking, being able to create a perfect world based on classic sitcoms, as well as use her powers to change reality and make any individual or any object adapt to the time in which they were live in Westview.
    • Chronokinesis: Scarlet Witch can manipulate time within her created reality. She used her powers to first overcook a chicken and then revert it back to egg stage. She also was able to rewind time when it was interrupted by S.W.O.R.D. agent Franklin and reverting a broken bookshelf back to it's original state after being broken by the ejected Monica. While expanding the Hex to save Vision, Scarlet Witch caused time in Westview to completely stop.
    • Conjuration: Within the Hex, Scarlet Witch was able to create wedding rings for herself and Vision simply by pointing at their fingers. During the magic show, Scarlet Witch conjured a small crane to cover up Vision's flight. Later, she was created a dog collar for Sparky. She was able to bring back Vision, conjuring a copy of her deceased lover within Westview with chaos magic, as well as creating a house for them to live in.
    • Teleportation: During "Illusion"'s magic box trick, Scarlet Witch teleported Monica Rambeau from back stage into the box.
    • Morphokinesis: Scarlet Witch transformed a real piano into a cardboard cutout. She also combined her and Vision's single beds into a double. When dealing with pain from her contractions, Wanda inadvertently changed her coat several times. Wanda was also able to change Monica's S.W.O.R.D. uniform into 1950s appropriate clothing and remained that way while leaving the Hex.
    • Electrokinesis: Scarlet Witch can manipulate electricity. While suffering from Braxton Hicks contractions, she caused a power surge that created a power outage that affected the whole block.
    • Atmokinesis: Scarlet Witch can manipulate the weather. When her water broke, a rainstorm flooded the house. Once the rain had stopped, Scarlet Witch generated intense winds to pour in from outside to dry everything.
    • Astral Projection: Scarlet Witch is powerful enough to project herself astrally whilst still carrying on like normal in the real world, a feat that even the Sorcerer Supreme could not achieve.

Abilities[]

  • Master Hand-To-Hand Combatant: Scarlet Witch is a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant. Initially, she had poor combat skills, due to the fact that she did not have any formal training, but after becoming a member of the Avengers and receiving extensive training from both Captain America and Black Widow, Scarlet Witch's combat skills improved overtime, to the point that she was able to overpower and most definitely would have killed the 2014 Thanos, if it had not been for the air strike that knocked her back. Also, almost two years after the Westview Anomaly, Scarlet Witch's combat skills have further greatly improved, to the point that she was able to go head-on against Captain Carter for long periods of time, who was a far more experienced hand-to-hand combatant than Scarlet Witch herself, but she was ultimately forced to use her telekinetic powers to redirect Captain Carter's own vibranium shield right back at her, in order to kill her, proving that Scarlet Witch only uses her mystical powers as a last resort against opponents that she cannot overpower with her combat skills alone. Scarlet Witch's combat skills combined with her mystical powers powers, makes her a formidable opponent alone in single combat.
  • Master of Stealth: Dut to receiving extensive training from Black Widow, Wanda is highly skilled in the art of stealth. After becoming a fugitive of U.S. government, following the events of the Avengers Civil War, Wanda evaded capture and remained under the radar for the last two years, making her extremely difficult to track down. But after becoming a fugitive of the United States once again, following the events of the Westview Anomaly, Wanda remained under the radar for almost two years, even other government agencies and law enforcements respectively, with all their connections and resources, could not track her down.
  • Multilingual: Wanda's native tongue is Sokovian, but she can also speak at least English and Spanish fluently. Wanda initially spoke English with a thick Sokovian accent, but this gradually lessened over time.

Weaknesses[]

  • Emotional State: If Scarlet Witch becomes too overwhelmed by her emotions, she will temporarily lose control of her powers, as demonstrated when Scarlet Witch was overwhelmed by her grief over Vision's death and accidentally created the Hex via her chaos magic.
  • Hand Gestures: Most of Scarlet Witch's powers can only be activated, if she has the use of her hands, including energy blasts and telekinesis. If her hands are bound, Scarlet Witch is unable to activate these powers. When she was held on the Raft she was forced to wear a straitjacket to keep her subdued and prevent her from using her powers.

Equipment[]

Former Equipment[]

  • Avengers Suit: During Wanda's time as an Avenger, she wore a black leather suit with a red corset and a red leather jacket over it that had two strips down the front. As of WandaVision, Wanda has stopped wearing the suit.
  • Darkhold: Wanda retrieved the Darkhold from Agatha Harkness, after she had defeated her. Wanda started to use the Darkhold, to study her chaos magic, in order to refine and gain control over her magic, becoming more powerful than before, but she was ultimately corrupted by the book's dark influence, turning Wanda into a corrupt version of herself. The Darkhold was destroyed by Sara Wolfe, who sacrificed her life in the process. After Wanda realized that the Darkhold had corrupted her, she destroyed all the other Darkholds throughout the entire multiverse, in order to prevent other innocent individuals from ever being corrupted by the Darkholds.

Relationships[]

Appearances/Actresses[]

Behind the scenes[]

  • The film's character is based off of the Ultimate Marvel version.
  • Due to 20th Century Fox's ownership of the X-Men and all associated film rights, Wanda Maximoff was only available to Marvel Studios as an enhanced human, not a mutant. Following the Fox/Disney merger this could be modified.
    • In the Marvel Visual Dictionary, it was implied that Wanda's powers could be the result of Strucker's experiments triggering "something latent" inside of her, which may have been done to open up the possibility of her possessing a latent mutant gene.

Trivia[]

  • Elizabeth Olsen took the role after Saoirse Ronan passed on the offer.
  • Lindsay Lohan auditioned for the role.
  • Elizabeth Olsen's role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier was uncredited.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn revealed that the both the twins were originally going to appear in the film's post end credit scene.
  • Wanda is the first female character to be introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a film to have super-powers.
  • Wanda's screen time in Avengers: Age of Ultron is 20:59.

Gallery[]

Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude - This Scepter'd Isle[]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier[]

Avengers: Age of Ultron[]

Promotion, Filming and Concept Art[]

Captain America: Civil War[]

Promotion, Filming and Concept Art[]

Avengers: Infinity War[]

Promotion, Filming and Concept Art[]

Avengers: Endgame[]

Promotion, Filming and Concept Art[]

WandaVision[]

"Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience"[]

"Don't Touch That Dial"[]

"Now in Color"[]

"We Interrupt This Program"[]

"On a Very Special Episode..."[]

"All-New Halloween Spooktacular!"[]

"Breaking the Fourth Wall"[]

"Previously On"[]

"The Series Finale"[]

Promotion, Filming and Concept Art[]

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness[]

Promotion, Filming and Concept Art[]

Videos[]

Promotion, Filming and Concept Art[]

See Also[]

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