| Scarlet Witch | |
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The Scarlet Witch as drawn by George Pérez. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | X-Men #4 (March 1964) |
| Created by | Stan Lee Jack Kirby |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Wanda Maximoff |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Avengers Lady Liberators West Coast Avengers Defenders Secret Defenders Force Works |
| Notable aliases | Wanda Frank, Ana Maximoff, Wanda Magnus |
| Abilities | Probability manipulation, reality alteration |
The Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) is a fictional comic book character that appears in books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in X-Men #4 (March 1964) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. She is the daughter of Magneto, the twin sister of Quicksilver, and the paternal half-sister of Polaris.
Debuting in the Silver Age of comic books, the Scarlet Witch has featured in four decades of Marvel continuity, starring in two self-titled limited series with husband the Vision and as a regular team member in superhero title the Avengers. The character has also appeared in other Marvel-endorsed products such as animated films; arcade and video games; television series and merchandise such as action figures and trading cards.
The Scarlet Witch was ranked 97th in Wizard's "200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of All Time" list[1] and 14th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.[2]
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The Scarlet Witch debuted, together with her brother, Quicksilver, as a part of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in X-Men #4 (March 1964). After several brief appearances as a villain in issues #5 (May 1964); #6 (July 1964); #7 (Sept. 1964); and #11 (May 1965), Wanda and her brother were added to the cast of the superhero team the Avengers in Avengers #16 (May 1965). The Scarlet Witch was a semi-regular member of the team until issue #49 (Feb. 1968), and then returned in issue #75 (April 1970) and was a perennial member of both the main team and several affiliated teams (such as the West Coast Avengers and Force Works) until Avengers #503 (Dec. 2004), the final issue of the first volume.
The Scarlet Witch starred in two limited series with husband and fellow Avenger the Vision: Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1 - 4 (Nov. 1982 - Feb. 1983), by writer Bill Mantlo and penciller Rick Leonardi,[3] and a second volume of the same title numbered #1 - 12 (Oct. 1985 - Sept. 1986), written by Steve Englehart and penciled by Richard Howell.[4] A solo limited series, titled Scarlet Witch, ran four issues in 1994.[5] A one-shot titled Mystic Arcana Scarlet Witch was published in October 2007[6] and an Avengers Origins: The Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver one-shot followed in January 2012.[7]
Artist George Pérez designed a new costume with a strong Gypsy influence for the character in 1998.[8]
The character played a pivotal role in the Avengers Disassembled storyline and related limited series House of M, and appeared in the Young Avengers follow-up series, Avengers: The Children's Crusade.
Don Markstein asserted that the character was unlike another, and stated that "...The Scarlet Witch is unique among superheroes, and not just because she's the only one who wears a wimple. Her super power is unlike any other — she can alter probability so as to cause mishaps for her foes. In other words, she "hexes" them." [9]
Magda — pregnant with the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver — takes sanctuary at Mount Wundagore in Transia, the home of the High Evolutionary, after seeing her husband Magnus use his magnetic powers for the first time. The twins are born, and as Mt. Wundagore is the prison of the Elder God Chthon, his residual energies alter Wanda and will later give her the ability to use magic in addition to her mutant abilities. Fearing that Magnus would discover the children, Magda leaves the sanctuary and dies of exposure to the elements. The twins are attended by Bova. Bova soon assists the World War II superheroine Miss America through labor, but the birth results in a stillborn child and Miss America loses her own life in the process. These complications are thought to be due to radiation poisoning deliberately caused by the villain Isbisa, the enemy of Miss America's husband Robert Frank, a.k.a Whizzer. Bova hides the truth from Frank and claims that only the mother has died, and that he now has twin children. Frank is shocked at the death of his wife and flees at super speed.[10] As Wundagore was no place for human infants, the High Evolutionary places them in the care of the gypsies Django and Marya Maximoff, who raise the twins as their own children. The twins are forced to flee a mob when Wanda uses her powers to protect herself and accidentally causes a fire that kills their adoptive gypsy mother.[11]
Once Pietro (Quicksilver) and Wanda (The Scarlet Witch) reach adolescence, they discover that they are in fact mutants. Pietro possesses superhuman speed, while Wanda learns that she can control probability. When the pair display their powers in public, and are again attacked by a superstitious crowd, they are saved by their father — now the supervillain Magneto — although neither Magneto nor his children are aware of their connection. Magneto then recruits the pair for the first incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The Brotherhood battles the X-Men on several occasions,[12] and the twins become reluctant members of the Brotherhood and only remain because of their obligation to Magneto. When Magneto and his lackey Toad are abducted by the cosmic entity Stranger, the Brotherhood dissolves and the twins declare that their debt to Magneto has been paid.[13]
Soon after Magneto's abduction, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are recruited by the hero Iron Man to join the Avengers. Along with Captain America as leader, and former villain Hawkeye, the four become the second generation of the Avengers and are later dubbed as "Cap's Kooky Quartet".[14]
Wanda becomes close friends with Hawkeye and a loyal member of the team until she is accidentally shot on a mission against Magneto. Quicksilver then flees from the Avengers with his wounded sister.[15] The pair accompany Magneto back to his mid-Atlantic base,[16] and Wanda spends the next few weeks recovering from her wound. She watches as Magneto captures the X-Men[17] and Pietro skirmishes with Cyclops, one of the X-Men,[18] and later Spider-Man.[19] After these encounters, the twins finally realize that Magneto is the true villain. Wanda and Pietro are then kidnapped along with several other mutants by the Sentinels, but are subsequently freed by the X-Men.[20]
Quicksilver later returns to the Avengers and advises them that Wanda has been kidnapped and taken to another dimension by the warlord Arkon.[21][22] After being rescued, Wanda — together with Pietro — rejoins the team. The Scarlet Witch then falls in love with teammate Vision, an android originally created as a weapon by Avenger's foe Ultron. Before long, the two develop a romantic relationship.[23] Their relationship has a tumultuous start as both Quicksilver and Hawkeye object — Quicksilver cannot accept the idea that his sister loves a robot while Hawkeye loves Wanda himself.[23] Despite this, the pair eventually marry with the blessing of the entire team.[24]
The Scarlet Witch begins to become frustrated with the fluctuating level of her mutant ability, and is tutored by a true witch, Agatha Harkness. The training allows Wanda even greater control over her hexes[25] and this proves invaluable in battle against foes such as Ultron.[26] Wanda and Pietro also met Robert Frank, who briefly joins the Avengers, believing them to be his children.[27] This is later disproved when Wanda and Pietro are abducted by Django Maximoff and taken to Wundagore. Wanda is temporarily possessed by the demon Chthon, but after being released is advised by Bova that neither Frank nor Maximoff is their biological father.[10] Soon after, while trying to track down Magda one last time, Magneto would learn that he was the father of the twins. He immediately informed them of their relationship shortly after the birth of Pietro's daughter Luna.[28] The Scarlet Witch and Vision take a leave of absence from the Avengers,[29] settling in the town of Leonia, New Jersey,[30] and courtesy of Wanda's enhanced power conceive twin boys named Thomas and William.[31] Wanda gives birth,[32] and, with Vision, eventually leaves the east coast to join the West Coast Avengers,[33] needing some time away from the main team after Vision becomes unbalanced and tries to take over the world's computers.[34]
Their relationship is almost ended when fellow Avenger Mockingbird betrays the team and helps a coalition of the world governments kidnap and dismantled Vision, having viewed him as a threat to humanity. Although rebuilt, Vision is recreated as a colorless, emotionless synthezoid. Wanda's agitation is increased when Wonder Man - whose brain patterns were the model for the Vision - refuses to repeat the process and "humanize" Vision, as he is secretly in love with the Scarlet Witch and sees an opportunity for himself.[35] Now desperate, the Scarlet Witch consults a Dean of Robotics in the state of Texas, who secretly manages a mutant research facility. The Scarlet Witch is bonded with a sentient symbiotic substance, with the Dean intending to use Wanda as a prototype to replace mankind. Wanda is, however, rescued by her teammates with the assistance of Captain America and She-Hulk.[36]
Another personal setback follows when it is revealed that Wanda's children are in fact two missing shards of the soul of the demonic entity Mephisto. Absorbed back into Mephisto, Wanda's mentor Agatha Harkness temporarily erases Wanda's memories of her children from her mind in order to ensure that she can temporarily disrupt Mephisto's physical form.[37] Combined with Wanda being captured and mind controlled as a bride of the serpent god Set,[38] Vision announcing his intent to relocate to the East Coast Avengers,[39] and Magneto seeking to recruit Wanda into a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants,[40] Wanda begins to go into and out of various catatonic states. It is then ultimately revealed that Immortus was behind these attacks on Wanda, as he sought to destroy Wanda's life so that he could steal her away and transform her into a power source, tapping into the temporal nexus energy she possessed. The Avengers ultimately rescue Wanda, who regains her memories of her children in the process (Avengers West Coast #61-#62).
However, Immortus's actions leave Wanda's hex power drained and highly unreliable as far as not working most of the time .[41] Turning to Agatha Harkness and Doctor Strange for help, Wanda eventually discovers a way to reignite her powers.[42] Wanda is ultimately nominated as leader of the Avengers West Coast team [43] and during a fight with Satanish and the Hangman, Mockingbird (in truth a Skrull imposture) is killed, taking a blast meant to kill Wanda.[44]
When the West Coast team is dissolved by the main team due to internal disputes[45] Wanda goes on to lead a breakaway team called Force Works.[46] The team suffers several setbacks, including the death of Wonder Man on the first mission.[47] When the team splinters after the last mission involving Kang the Conqueror,[48] the Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye return to the main team.[49]
As Wanda attempts to reconcile with Vision, the Scarlet Witch sought out help from Doctor Doom to see if he can help her restore her children to life. To do so, they summon a mysterious cosmic entity which merges with Scarlet Witch and resurrects her children into new bodies. However, the entity opts to hide the children from Wanda as it hides within her body [50]
Vision and Scarlet Witch reconcile shortly before sacrificing themselves with the other Avengers and the Fantastic Four to stop the mutant villain Onslaught.[51] Due to the intervention of Franklin Richards, Scarlet Witch and her teammates exist in a parallel universe for a year,[52] until being returned to the mainstream universe by Franklin.[53]
Shortly after the heroes return, Scarlet Witch is kidnapped by the sorceress Morgan le Fay, with the intention of using Wanda's powers to warp reality in le Fay's image. Although successful, Wanda retaliates by restoring Captain America's memories, who in turn is able to restore several Avengers' memories. Wanda also accidentally resurrects Wonder Man, who assists in her escape. Although the Avengers defeat le Fay, Vision is damaged in the final battle when Le Fay destroys the lower half of his body. Vision is placed in a surgical repair device, and via hologram communicates with Wanda and asks her not to visit him while he heals.[54][55][56][57]
An upset Wanda visits Agatha Harkness and learns that she is now able to channel chaos magic, which will allow her to change reality. In truth though, the entity that resurrected her children has boosted her magical powers to the point that she can now rewrite reality itself as well as harness the unstable chaos energy.[50] After much deliberation and still hurting from Vision's rejection, Wanda resurrects Wonder Man and the two become lovers.[58] Vision is eventually repaired and once Wonder Man breaks up with Wanda,[59] Vision resumes a relationship with her.[60] Her ability to channel chaos magic culminates when the villain Scorpio splits the cosmic entity the In-Betweener into his separate order and chaos personas and Wanda has to reassemble the entity.[61][62][63]
The entity inside Wanda slowly begins to dominate her mind, as it tries to begin a relationship with Captain America only to be rejected by him.[64] The entity later overhears Wasp mock Wanda's ambitions for motherhood, which drives her to confront Agatha Harkness to find her resurrected but missing children. Murdering Harkness for being unwilling to help her, Wanda (under the influence of the entity) launches a campaign of terror against the Avengers for their failure to save her children. In the end, Vision is destroyed and Hawkeye is killed (Scott Lang is presumed to be killed too, but is saved by Wanda's future self, who arranges for him to be teleported to the future seconds before dying) before Doctor Strange and the Avengers defeat Wanda, by way of using the Eye of Amagetto to cause Wanda to fall asleep. However, Magneto arrives and forces the Avengers to turn his daughter over to him.[65]
Realizing that the Avengers and the X-Men are seriously contemplating killing his sister, due to her unstable powers, Quicksilver convinces Scarlet Witch to use her powers to create a world where everyone has their heart's desire fulfilled, complete with a world ruled by Magneto and one where the entire Maximoff family is together.[66] Although the reality warp succeeds, several heroes (Hawkeye, Wolverine, and Layla Miller) regain their memories and gather Earth's heroes to stop the "House of M".[67] When the heroes (who think Magneto is responsible for the warping of reality) and Magneto discover what Quicksilver did, Magneto murders his son only for Wanda to resurrect him and denounce her father and his dreams as causing nothing but misery for his children and the people he claims to want to help. As a result, Wanda uses her powers to depower 90% of the mutant population, with the proclamation of "No More Mutants".[68] For added insult, Wanda also depowers her father and brother as she retires to Wundagore to live a normal life away from everyone.[69] Her final act though is to resurrect Hawkeye, who begins a frantic search for Wanda as the mysterious entity within Wanda claimed her body for itself, plunging Wanda into an amnesiac state. Hawkeye ultimately finds Wanda but after having sex with her, opts to keep her true identiy a secret from her [70] The mutant Beast later finds Wanda and seeks her help to deal with the aftermath of Decimation, but she has no memory of him.[71] Young Avengers members Wiccan and Speed attempt - unsuccessfully - to find her, though the issue depicts her continuing to lead a normal and secluded life in Wundagore.[72] Loki has masqueraded as Scarlet Witch to form and subsequently manipulate a new team of Avengers.[73]
The Scarlet Witch resurfaced in the 2010-2011 miniseries Avengers: The Children's Crusade. In the series, it is revealed that the Scarlet Witch that has been seen was actually a Doombot, which prompted the Young Avengers and Magneto to journey to Latveria with the Avengers and Quicksilver following behind him. Wiccan eventually finds the real Wanda, apparently devoid of her powers, amnesiac and engaged to be married to Doctor Doom. With Wolverine and the Avengers behind them in pursuit, the Young Avenger Iron Lad rescues the team and Wanda, teleporting them into the past where Wanda slowly regains her memory as she witnesses the corpse of Jack Of Hearts (who she reanimated into becoming a suicide bomber) approach Scott Lang, ultimately distracting the creature long enough for her children and their teammates to rescue Lang and bring him into the future. When the group returns to the present, Scarlet Witch is shown in a depression where she thinks that she killed her father, her brother, and the Avengers. She vows to kill herself with Kree ships and Ultron clones which the Young Avengers destroy. During that time, Beast and X-Factor Investigations arrive, and Beast learns that the Scarlet Witch he previously encountered was actually a Doombot. Wiccan tells her that her father, her brother, and her "sons" are still alive. Wanda acknowledges Wiccan and Speed as her children as she recruits them to undo the damage she caused to the mutant community. Beast asks her if she can reverse the "No more mutants spell". She is unsure a reverse spell would work. They meet up with X-Factor Investigations who has many clients who are depowered mutants. Rictor volunteers and has his powers restored. The X-Men show up and Wanda tells X-Factor Investigations that she will give the X-Men whatever they want.[74] However, a battle ensues between the X-Men and the Avengers over what to do with Wanda forcing her and the Young Avengers to flee back to Doctor Doom. It is revealed that Wanda's enhanced powers were a result of her and Doctor Doom's combined attempt to channel the Life Force in order to resurrect her children. This proves to be too much for Wanda to contain and it overtook her. With Wiccan and Doctor Doom's help, they seek to use the entity that is possessing Wanda to restore mutantkinds' powers. This is stopped by the Young Avengers (who are concerned at the fall-out that would ensue if the powerless mutants are suddenly repowered) only to find out Doom's real plan: to transfer the entity into his own body and gaining Wanda's god-like powers for himself.[75] Doom becomes omnipotent with powers surpasing those of beings as Beyonder or the Cosmic Cube.The Young Avengers confront him, but Doom kills Cassie just before Wanda and Wiccan stole his newfound powers.[76]
The Scarlet Witch is a mutant who had the ability to manipulate probability via her "hexes" (often manifesting physically as "hex spheres" or "hex bolts"). These hexes are relatively short range, and are limited to her line of sight. Casting a hex requires a gesture and concentration on her part, though the gestures are largely a focus for the concentration and despite this precision, the hexes are not necessarily guaranteed to work, particularly if Wanda is tired or using her powers excessively. If overextended, Wanda's hexes can backfire, causing probability to work against her wishes or to undo previous hexes. Early in her career, her hexes were unconscious on her part, and would be automatically triggered whenever she made a particular gesture, regardless of her intent. These hexes would only manifest "bad luck" effects. She later gained enough control over her powers that her powers only work when she wants them to, and they are not limited to negative effects. She can use her hexes to light flammable objects, contain or remove air from a particular volume, deflect objects, stop the momentum of projectiles, open doors, explode objects, create force fields and deflect magical attacks etc. The effects are varied but almost always detrimental to opponents, such as causing the artifact the Evil Eye to work against inter-dimensional warlord Dormammu,[77] the robot Ultron to short circuit,[26] or a gas main underneath the Brotherhood of Mutants to explode.[78] Wanda is an expert combatant having been trained by both Captain America and Hawkeye, as well as being an adept tactician due to her years of experience working as an Avenger and her experience in a variety of combat situations. The Scarlet Witch also has the potential to wield magic and later learned that she was destined to serve the role of Nexus Being, a living focal point for the Earth dimension's mystical energy.
Writer Kurt Busiek redefined the Scarlet Witch's powers, and maintained that it was in fact an ability to manipulate chaos magic, activated when she was born. Busiek's redefinition upgraded Wanda's powers substantially, and she is shown as being capable of feats such as the resurrection of Wonder Man. She was here described as the "nexus being" of the Marvel Universe, capable of birthing children with power enough to challenge avatars of Eternity.[79]
Writer Brian Michael Bendis revamped Wanda's powers yet again, with Doctor Strange stating that there was in fact no such thing as chaos magic, and that Wanda had been altering reality all along. Her power was here depicted as sufficient to rewrite her entire universe,[80] and cause multiverse-threatening ripples.[81]
When the Elder god and primeval demon Chthon was summoned to Earth Dimension by the power of the Darkhold and took Quicksilver as his host, he revealed that there is in fact Chaos Magic, a form of magic so dreaded and horrific that all of Earth's sorcerers made a pact to end Chthon's reign with a lie, that there is no God of Chaos and no Chaos Magic which is the basis for Chthon's unholy might. Later on after Chthon was exorcised from Quicksilver, he mentioned that he found in the Darkhold a leading text on Chaos Magic, the power which he believes is the source for his sister's insanity.[82]
Wanda's power to alter reality was spawned from the combination of her natural mutant abilities to affect probability and Chaos Magic. Because of the nature of her powers, she does not possess certain limitations such as other reality warpers such as Mad Jim Jaspers who needs existing reality to use his powers. Her powers which stemmed out from the ability to manipulate probabilities suggest that she does not need existing matter to warp reality, only possibilities which are endless. It must also be noted that the Scarlet Witch is responsible for the resurrection of Mad Jim Jaspers which happened when her powers altered reality.
During the Age of Apocalypse storyline, the Scarlet Witch is a member of Magneto's version of the X-Men, dying to defend the X-Men's base on Wundagore Mountain and the students within it from an attack by Nemesis while the rest of the team was busy thwarting Apocalypse's attempts to take control of a nuclear missile stockpile, her last words being to ask the newly-arrived Rogue to take care of her father.[83]
The title Exiles features an alternate version from Earth-8823 with the call sign "Witch". The character joins the inter-dimensional superhero team[84] but is killed in action, and is replaced - without the knowledge of her team mates - by yet another alternate version of herself.[85]
The Scarlet Witch is one of the Avengers participating in the defeat of the entity Onslaught, and is subsequently trapped in the Heroes Reborn universe. In this artificial reality, with her mutant heritage non-existent, Wanda was raised by Agatha Harkness, with the Asgardian sorceress the Enchantress falsely claiming to be her mother.[86]
In Marvel 1602, Sister Wanda and her brother, Petros, are followers of Enrique, High Inquisitor of the Spanish Catholic Church.[87]
In the limited series X-Men Noir, Wanda Magnus is a wealthy socialite and the daughter of Chief of Detectives Eric Magnus.[88]
In the Marvel Zombies storyline, an alternate universe version of the Scarlet Witch helps Ash find the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. Wanda is eventually attacked and infected by zombified vigilante the Punisher.[89] The character reappears, still "zombified" in the third installment in the series, Marvel Zombies 3. She works with the Kingpin, using the Vision - who was still in love with her - to block enemy radio signals.[90]
An older version of the Scarlet Witch appears in the MC2 title A-Next, having been placed in a coma during the original Avengers final battle as part of an attempt to save Iron Man.[91] She was captured, revived, and brainwashed by Loki as part of his plan to corrupt various heroes to avenge himself upon the Avengers, but eventually returned to her normal mindset.[92] She has made sporadic appearances in the MC2 universe since then.
In the Ultimate Marvel imprint title Ultimates, the Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver defect from Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy, to the Ultimates in exchange for the release of imprisoned Brotherhood members. The siblings also share an incestuous relationship. In the third volume of Ultimates 3, Scarlet Witch is killed by a lovesick Ultron which later turned out to be orchestrated by Doctor Doom. She is shown to be alive in Wundagore together with Quicksilver and Mystique.[93]
The Ultimate version's powers differ from the mainstream version in that the character has to "do the math" in order to use her powers — she must calculate the mathematical probability that the effect she intends to create will actually happen, with the more unlikely the effect, the more complex the mathematical formula.[94]
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