Yet another Stan Lee and Jack Kirby creation brought to life on screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen, Wanda Maximoff – the Scarlet Witch – is among the most powerful members of the Avengers, as well as one of the most powerful Mutants in Marvel comics. After beating down Thanos like an oversized purple punch bag, vaporising Ultron drones in Age of Ultron, and attempting to destroy the Mind Stone, WandaVision showed us even more of Scarlet Witch’s tremendous power, doing more justice to the character than her previous appearances by fleshing out her character and manipulative powers. That and giving her the coolest superhero costume in the MCU, of course. Now the show has finished and we’re waiting eagerly for her next appearance alongside Doctor Strange, thankfully she has a rich history of comics to dive into: Thor and Hulk might clash over who gets to be called “Strongest Avenger,” but we all know who really deserves that codename…
Obviously Squirrel Girl. She did take down Galactus, after all.
Whereas Wanda and Pietro Maximoff came from Sokovia in the MCU, making their cinematic introduction in 2015’s (disappointing) Age of Ultron, the mutant duo made their debut in X-Men #4 (March 1964) as founding members of Magneto’s rather transparently named Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and came from the fictional Eastern European country Transia. However upon deciding they were incompatible with Magneto’s extremist ideologies and his plans to subjugate mankind to mutant dominance, they left and later joined Captain America to reform a new Avengers team, alongside a recently reformed Hawkeye, in Avengers #16 (May 1965). She became a regular member of the team, more closely associated with the Avengers than the X-Men despite being a mutant, forged some significant relationships – perhaps most infamously with the synthezoid Vision, for all those WandaVision fans – and to say she’s had some emotionally distressing storylines would be a mild statement.
During her tenure as one of the self-proclaimed Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, writers began to flesh out her backstory and established power set more, exploring the origins of her magic abilities. Her unparalleled mastery of chaos magic and ability to warp reality have made her one of the most powerful mutants in Marvel comics, classed as a Level-5 mutant by the likes of Tony Stark and Professor Xavier. Though her status as a mutant has been retconned and complicated over the years thanks to the involvement of the High Evolutionary. She has the ability to reshape reality around her to varying levels of extremity, which she learned to master over time: basic beginners things like… resurrecting the dead or restructuring the entire world. However she also trained under other magicians and spell casters, such as Doctor Strange and Agatha Harkness, to become quite the proficient magic-user, making use of incantations and spells to become not only a powerful mutant, but a deadly sorceress. Hence “Scarlet Witch” – though we learn in her 2015 solo series that the “Scarlet Witch” name is a title handed down from her real mother, Natalia Maximoff, the previous Scarlet Witch, adding more confusion to her family story…
Naturally as an Avenger, our favourite red themed mystic has had her fair share of antagonists. From the genetic genius High Evolutionary, who claimed responsibility for her abilities and confusing the true identity of her and her brother’s parents, to the Master of Magnetism, Magneto – who was revealed to be the Maximoff’s real father, until the 2015 Scarlet Witch series retconned this once again. Though if there’s one thing these foes in particular share in common it’s the role they played in the breakdown of Wanda’s mental state, the ramifications of which were felt in later storylines which lead to House of M and Decimation.
The story of Scarlet Witch is admittedly a little complex, and involves uncovering her father’s identity, which has been the subject to retconned stories thanks to manipulative characters over the years, the loss of her twin sons, who have been brought back into the narrative, and an ancient god hellbent on using her as a vessel. While she has had her own limited series from time to time, she never actually starred in an on-going series, rather appearing in self-titled mini-series and starring most prominently in the pages of the Avengers.
Following the story of Scarlet Witch can be more than a little difficult given how many times her history has been changed. Hopefully the following recommendations will break down her key story arcs:
1 Avengers #185-187 “The Witch of Wundagore Mountain”
While her first appearance was in X-Men #4, “The Witch of Wundagore Mountain” explores the origins of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, explaining how Wanda’s powers are tied to a ritual performed to allow an ancient Lovecraftian god called Chthon to posses her body – something that comes back to haunt the character in later Avengers stories. The three issue story arc is crucial to fully exploring the Scarlet Witch’s origins and to better understand her powers.
It also explores the close relationship between the twins, which plays an important part in Elizabeth Olsen’s on-screen character. There can be no doubt that two of the most consistently important characters to Wanda are her twin brother Pietro (Quicksilver) and Vision. With that in mind, probably best to heed the warnings of anyone who has read the Ultimates comics and completely ignore their Ultimate Universe counterparts: they’ll ruin your perception of Wanda and Pietro. It’s gross.
2 The Vision and Scarlet Witch
Naturally if you’re on the WandaVision hype train, you’re more than likely invested in the relationship between Vision and Scarlet Witch, so it stands to reason that a series dubbed The Vision and the Scarlet Witch would be an easy recommendation. The Disney+ series is, after all, named after their ultimate ship name, diving into the relationship between Wanda and Vision, while the comic also retconned Magneto as her father. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch happens to be one of their most important stories, where one of the main plots that this series introduced involved a married Wanda and Vision realise that, shockingly, a human and an android, no matter how advanced, can’t have children. But thanks to Wanda’s mystic mastery, she magics herself pregnant – perhaps a little like WandaVision – and in the second issue, the happy couple have twins!
However because comics, of course it would be wrong to allow our then favourite power-couple to be, well… happy. In the 1989 West Coast Avengers #52 (collected in West Coast Avengers: Epic Collection: Tales to Astonish and West Coast Avengers: Epic Collection: Vision Quest) it turned out the twins were linked to the demon Mephisto, an antagonist recognisable to Doctor Strange fans, forcing Scarlet Witch to make a sacrifice that would play a crucial role years later, during the lead up to Avengers: Disassembled and House of M. For those interested in diving into House of M, The Vision and the Scarlet Witch and West Coast Avengers #52 are key storylines referred to in Avengers: Disassembled which leads directly into the cataclysmic event. For WandaVision fans, Agatha Harkness, who trained Scarlet Witch in the ways of magic and mysticism, also features prominently.
3 Avengers: Disassembled
Avengers: Disassembled was a crossover event from 2004, starting with a (literal) bang as the Avengers Mansion gets invaded and partially destroyed, with a rogue She-Hulk going ballistic and beating down the likes of Vision, Wasp, Captain Britain, and Captain America. We learn, however, that the scarlet mistress of mysticism is tied directly to these events, and the cause of her involvement can be traced back to the events in The Vision and the Scarlet Witch and West Coast Avengers #52, thanks to Mephisto, Agatha Harkness, and her twins. As this acts as a prelude to the climactic House of M, Avengers: Disassembled is something of an emotionally distressing story that sets up the distraught Wanda’s extreme actions.
4 House of M
When it comes to discussing defining moments in the Scarlet Witch’s history, House of M is nearly always at the top of the list and influenced Marvel comics for years after. It’s infamously recognised as the story where the Scarlet Witch warped reality into a world where mutants are the majority and humans the minority, ruled over by Magneto while giving various heroes what they most desired. Naturally Wanda’s false reality was stopped, but it shows how powerful her abilities over reality are and that, as she has shown in the past, she can pose a very potent threat to the world if she is compromised or in a disturbed state of mind.
The lead-up and fallout caused by its iconic conclusion, where the infamous line “No more mutants” de-powered 90% of the entire mutant population, make it more than worth picking up – especially for new Scarlet Witch acolytes!
5 Avengers: Children’s Crusade
The Children’s Crusade is set after Scarlet Witch’s disappearance at the end of House of M. Since Wanda Maximoff vanished, Avengers and Mutants alike have been desperately searching for her since – including Young Avengers twins, Tommy (Speed) and Billy (Wiccan). Wiccan in particular, struggling to control his reality warping powers, seeks her out hoping that she can help him, believing her to be his mother. This, however, pits him against the Avengers, the X-Men, and even his fellow Young Avengers…
It’s also worth reading the Young Avengers series to explore Wiccan and Speed more, though it isn’t strictly key readership for the Scarlet Witch.
6 X-Men #4
The first appearance of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, this issue introduced the twins as members of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, alongside the likes of Toad and Mastermind. However it became evident that they did not share the same ideologies or sense of belonging with the group, and upon voicing their intent to leave, Magneto reminded them that they were indebted to him. During a flashback, we learn how Magneto saved them from an angry mob intent on killing the Scarlet Witch for her mutant abilities, though at this point, no one suspected he was their father.
7 Scarlet Witch (2015)
The 2015-2017 Scarlet Witch not only features some Wandafully stylish covers, but has the titular witch travel the globe on a mission to investigate disruptions in magic while finding her own place in the world. It’s a more personal story that explores her character more, as she uncovers hidden truths about her complicated family, and while it doesn’t culminate in the world being reshaped in her image – though that would be cool to see – it’s a great series that offers a more intimate presentation of a character who has been through some more than challenging times. What with resurrecting dead friends and family, restructuring reality around her, and causing untold mayhem as a result…
8 Vision Quest (West Coast Avengers #42-45)
Written and illustrated by John Byrne, West Coast Avengers #42-45 (March-June 1989) “Vision Quest” is, as the title suggests, more of a Vision story than it is a Scarlet Witch one. However, during the story Vision’s memory was wiped and his marriage to Wanda (which happened in Giant Sized Avengers #4) ended, with the revelation that their children were, essentially, imaginary. For WandaVision fans, imagery and story elements from episode 8 drew directly from the final pages of this story.
