WandaVision: 5 Scarlet Witch's Comic Characteristics The MCU Got Right (& 5 Important Things They Ignored)
The show WandaVision has now fully aligned Wanda Maximoff with her comic book counterpart, the Scarlet Witch, in name and costume. Major pieces of the Scarlet Witch's Marvel comic book history came into the show, adapted in different ways, but some key differences between the page and screen still remain.
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Some of the biggest debunked theories fans had for WandaVision have to do with the show not following the script exactly with the original Marvel comics, but Wanda's journey in the MCU may yet take her to the places she's been in the comics. And with WandaVision, the MCU has gotten more right about Wanda than it hasn't.
10 Got Right: The Costume
After years of being essentially the only member of the Avengers whose MCU look didn't correspond in some way to her comic book origins, Wanda is finally the Scarlet Witch. Her MCU costume finally incorporates her iconic head crest and dark red costume from the comics, with some alterations to make it fit in with the rest of the MCU aesthetic.
Her dark red outfit has a strong resemblance to the costume of Magneto in X-Men: Days Of Futures Past, which may be coincidental. Though considering that's the movie where the Evan Peters Fox X-Men Quicksilver appeared first, it might not be.
9 Ignored: Mephisto Connection
The overall story of Wanda creating her children through magic in suburbia has deep roots in the comics, specifically The Vision And The Scarlet Witch mini-series from 1985. This story, written by Steve Englehart and drawn by Richard Howell, seeded the involvement of the demonic Marvel villain Mephisto in the creation of the twins.
It's revealed Wanda unknowingly used fragments of Mephisto's soul to create Tommy and Billy. WandaVision doesn't involve Mephisto at all, at least not yet. There are however numerous hidden references to Mephisto throughout the series that could set up for the future.
8 Got Right: Super Powerful
Comic book fans might not have been surprised by the gradual escalation in Wanda's abilities. In the comics, the Scarlet Witch has many extraordinary powers. The show finally gets into some of them, including astral projection and the ability to alter and manipulate reality.
Her powers are based on chaos magic, and in the comics, this is due to the influence of the Lord of Chaos Chthon, one of the most powerful Marvel demons. He attempted to make her into a living vessel for his soul when she was a child. He was thwarted, but the interaction imbued Wanda with his power.
7 Ignored: A Study In Scarlet
The show takes a lot of bits and pieces from the many comics that influenced it, like House Of M. But one comic it didn't borrow from was Avengers West Coast Annual #7 in 1992. In a story in the annual, "A Study In Scarlet" by writer Roy Thomas and artist Al Bigley, Wanda creates a gateway to another timeline where her children survived.
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This heartbreaking story is perhaps the missing link to the multiverse some fans likely expected in the show, given the presence of Evan Peters. It may still be the key to the future of Wanda and her sons in the MCU, who in the comics Wiccan and Speed, members of the Young Avengers.
6 Got Right: Just Wanted Her Peace
Though the circumstances are different, Wanda's desire in the comics was very much the same as it is in WandaVision - she just wanted to live a normal life.
She and The Vision marry in Giant-Size Avengers #4 in 1975, and then in the later mini-series, leave the team to move to the suburbs to find some domestic bliss. They sadly never really find it, with their hopes and dreams turned to nightmares with consequences for the entire Marvel Universe in the decades to come.
5 Ignored: Romani Background
Wanda Maximoff comes from a Romani background in the comic books, and some were upset that this wasn't made explicit in the MCU. It still hasn't been. This issue is complicated by a series of retcons in the comics themselves. For decades in the comics, Magneto, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, was Wanda's father. Her mother had been established as Romani.
This itself was a retcon of what was originally established. The Golden Age hero The Whizzer was initially set as the father of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. The comics changed her parentage again in recent years, saying Magneto isn't her father and her powers are the result of genetic experiments by the High Evolutionary.
That final retcon was a complication of the Disney/Fox movie rights split. Both studios had a claim on Wanda and Pietro thanks to their status as Avengers and mutants. The solution to Wanda in the MCU was to make her Sokovian, and not a mutant, which didn't acknowledge her origins. Recent comic books have, including tackling anti-Roma biases in The Scarlet Witch mini-series by James Robinson and the Quicksilver: No Surrender mini-series by Saladin Ahmed.
4 Got Right: Makes Mistakes
Wanda makes mistakes in the comic books. That might be an understatement given her past actions, including erasing most mutants from existence. She also recently tried to atone for that act in the pages of the Empyre crossover from 2020.
Wanda tried to fight off an alien invasion by resurrecting - or at least trying - tens of millions of Geonoshans who had perished. She inadvertently created a zombie army that Doctor Strange had to help her undo in the most humane way possible.
3 Ignored: Making Her The Villain
House Of M is a seminal moment in Marvel Comics and in many ways the apotheosis of the Scarlet Witch. She alters reality with a simple phrase, eliminating 90% of the mutants from existence. But it wasn't her first turn as a villain. The comics made a habit of it, which the show avoided.
Right before that story, Wanda turned on the team in Avengers: Disassembled, and killed both Hawkeye and Agatha Harkness, her friend and mentor in the comics. Before that, she was also manipulated by the villain Immortus, and she turned on the West Coast Avengers a few times, including rejoining Magneto.
2 Got Right: Sets Things Right
Wanda did a lot of bad things in the comics, as she did in Westview. In both the comics and the show, she tried to set things right. She's been on a journey of redemption ever since House Of M, trying to make up for what she did in ways big and small.
Nothing seems to be enough, as she is still persona non grata among mutants in their island nation of Krakoa. But she tries, helping the Avengers and anyone else who needs it. She seems to be on the same path in the MCU, at least for now.
1 Ignored: Not Letting Wanda Process Her Pain
House Of M is a popular and important story in modern Marvel comics, but it doesn't really let Wanda process her grief. The story literally begins with Professor X yelling at Wanda to basically stop grieving.
It's an insensitive aspect of the story that the show rightfully avoids. Wanda's grief is real to the audience and many characters around her and she's allowed to process her pain and trauma naturally in WandaVision.