Scarlet Witch's New Costume Is a Jaw-Dropping Tribute to Her Power Upgrade
For a long time, the Scarlet Witch has been associated with immense power and dangerous reality-altering abilities. From her role as secret manipulator in Avengers Disassembled to her massive purge of mutant powers on M-Day during House of M to her role in stopping an out-of-control Phoenix Force in Avengers vs. X-Men, Wanda Maximoff has shown herself to be one of the most powerful figures in the Marvel Universe. Recently, she has become even more powerful, reaching new heights that her Hellfire Gala costume hints at in its design.
In the wake of the Hellfire Gala, Wanda was found dead with Magneto as the prime suspect. As the mystery unraveled, it turned out the Scarlet Witch's murderer was the Scarlet Witch herself, in a ploy to help Krakoa vastly expand its ability to resurrect dead mutants. Roughly around the same time, Wanda assembled a team of Avengers to handle the threat of the Chaos God Chthon. Eventually, she fused with Chthon's tome - the Darkhold - and used its power to absorb Chthon himself and gain his power. These two incidents leave nothing to the imagination: the Scarlet Witch is now a god-level figure in power.
It is clear that Wanda knows it as well, given her new Hellfire Gala design, recently shared on Twitter by artist Russell Dauterman. In a variant cover for Moon Knight #12, Dauterman reveals a new outfit for the Scarlet Witch that incorporates a star-like effect on her top, heels, and hair. The tweet in which Dauterman debuted the cover art explicitly ties her new look to the upcoming 2022 edition of the Hellfire Gala, the same event that previously kicked off her plan to resurrect more mutants. The design is one of 12 that will be featured in variant covers drawn by Dauterman for various Marvel titles.
The use of stars on a character's design is an often-used trope by Marvel to convey cosmic-level powers. Characters such as Eternity, the Silver Surfer, and various holders of the Captain Marvel mantle have been drawn with a stellar effect on them to present their power level on a literally cosmic scale. To give the Scarlet Witch a similar effect is to suggest she has entered a whole new arena of power. Happily for a character who has spent so long ashamed of her darkest moments, the costume also suggests Wanda is embracing her true power as a positive part of her identity - as well she should, having saved the multiverse from Chthon and allowed countless mutant to return to life in the paradise of Krakoa.
Whether the Scarlet Witch will use her newfound cosmic-level powers for good, bad, or something in between is currently unknown. History has shown the more powerful Wanda gets, the more dangerous she becomes, but her Trial of Magneto self-acceptance seemed to mark a turning point. What is known is that whatever she'll be doing, she'll certainly look good while doing it. Moon Knight #12, the issue for Dauterman's variant cover with the Scarlet Witch's new design, will release June 15, 2022.
Source: Russell Dauterman