Scarlet Witch vs. Superman: Who Would Win In A Fight?
Superman has beaten many powerful foes in the DC Universe, from the nearly-unstoppable Doomsday to the planet-destroyer Brainiac. Meanwhile, the Avengers’ Scarlet Witch has been both a great hero and a great villain in the Marvel Universe, with abilities that allowed her to alter events on a universe-wide scale. But which one of these overpowered characters would win in a fight?
Which means absolutely nothing when going up against the Scarlet Witch. Although Wanda Maximoff’s body is basically human, she still wields a force that Superman is very vulnerable to – magic. Moreover, the Scarlet Witch’s reality-altering magic is one of the most powerful forms of magic in the Marvel Universe. Known as “Chaos Magic,” Wanda’s powers range from simply altering probabilities in a given situation, to resurrecting the dead, to creating entirely new realities that span the known universe.
The Scarlet Witch’s powers are so great that one of Marvel’s most powerful entities – the Phoenix Force – is said to be scared of her. Considering the Phoenix Force is capable of eating entire suns (the source of Superman’s power) and wiping out alien civilizations on a whim, this makes Wanda a very powerful force, one easily capable of taking on the Last Son of Krypton. Indeed, given Wanda’s incredible feats over the years, the question isn’t whether or not the Scarlet Witch can beat Superman but how she would choose to beat Superman. At the very least, Wanda could overwhelm the Man of Steel with physical force much like she did with Thanos in Avengers: Endgame by wrapping the Mad Titan up with metal plates and using her magic to crush him. Even without the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos was powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with the Hulk and Captain Marvel, indicating Wanda was able to exert tremendous physical power if Thanos was scared for his life.
Wanda could also choose to simply depower Superman and render him completely mortal. She did this to most of the mutants of the world during Marvel’s “Decimation” event simply by uttering the words, “No more mutants.” In an alternate version of the tale shown in What If --? House of M, Wanda instead utters the words, “No more powers,” and depowers every superpowered being including Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. As Superman has frequently lost his powers due to magic in the DC Universe, he would be very vulnerable to such an attack.
Alternately, Wanda could alter all of reality and create a universe where Krypton never exploded, Kal-El grew up on his home planet, and Superman never came to be. She did something similar during the “House of M” event when she created a world where mutants were the dominant population. Superman was neutralized in a similar way by the alien warlord Mongul in the classic story “For the Man Who Has Everything” when an alien flower called the Black Mercy caused Kal-El to live a dreamlife on Krypton, ignorant of the fact that he was ever Superman. Since the Scarlet Witch would actually be altering reality itself, however, Superman would have a much harder time escaping this prison.
Despite the fact that he has bested several magic-powered foes in the past, Superman has no real defense against the Scarlet Witch. While Wanda’s human form could allow Superman to best her in a purely physical fight, her ability to alter probability and use magic inevitably puts the odds in her favor. Sorry, Superman.