Scarlet Witch: The MCU’s Most Interesting and Underutilised Character

Fair warning before we get into this, this article contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War. Big ones. The ones at the very end. Not that anything major happens at the end of that film or anything. Except for basically all of it. So, yeah. You’ve been warned.

Marvel Studios have done something astounding with their Cinematic Universe. They’ve managed to translate countless comic book superheroes and stories on to the big screen, from iconic characters such as Captain America and Spider-Man, to the more offbeat likes of the Guardians of the Galaxy. They’ve received critical and box office success for the vast majority of their films, and now they’ve released their biggest film yet with Avengers: Infinity War. It’s an awesome balancing act, juggling a massive ensemble cast, but amidst all the action there will be characters who get somewhat lost in the mix, those who could really use more exploration in terms of character. And no character has suffered from this more throughout their entire run in the MCU than Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch.

She has only appeared in Marvel’s biggest ensemble pieces, making her debut in Avengers: Age of Ultron before appearing in Captain America: Civil War and of course Infinity War, but she has one of the most tragic story arcs of anyone on the Marvel lineup. When she was introduced in Age of Ultron, she had lost both her parents, and had been experimented on by Baron Strucker. The person she survived all that with, the only one she cared about, her brother Pietro (Quicksilver), was killed at the end of that movie. In Civil War, she is held responsible by the media and the world’s governments for an incident during an Avengers mission in Nigeria that killed several civilians, prompting the creation of the Sokovia accords that lead to the violent disassembling of the Avengers.

It is the human relationships she makes along the way that help her get through it all, and evolve. In Clint Barton, she saw someone to look up to, and it was through him that she found the courage to fight back against Ultron and to, not join, but become an Avenger. And this happens again in Civil War, where through him she learns to care less of what people think of her, and not letting that get in the way of doing what she thinks is right.

But it’s her relationship with Vision that is most important, and yet so frustrating. In Vision, she finds a kindred spirit. Someone who feels out of place, not understanding what they’re capable of, or where they belong in the world. He cares for her, and as time goes on, she grows to care for him as well. After the loss of her brother, Wanda finally finds someone who cares about her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1LNLRw7d_c

This leads to a major storyline in Infinity War, where she is the only one who could destroy the Mind Stone, as her power is derived from it. She flat-out refuses to even talk about it, as destroying it while it’s on Vision’s head will kill him. They go to Wakanda with the rest of the available Avengers for Shuri to remove it, but in the end Thanos’ arrival forced Wanda’s hand. She must kill the man she loves to save the lives of half the universe.

What’s frustrating about this is that both Wanda and Vision have only appeared as side characters in Marvel’s biggest event ensemble pieces in Civil War and the two Avengers sequels, and they barely shared screen time in Age of Ultron. There are always bigger conflicts and bigger characters with their own problems to focus on. Basing off not very much shown in Civil War, the two year time jump to Infinity War shows the two of them already sneaking off on holiday together. That scene of Wanda destroying the Stone on Vision’s head is the big dramatic moment in Infinity War, but it’s undermined by how little this and Civil War have done to establish this character and her relationship with Vision.

Which is why Marvel can count themselves lucky to have a wonderfully talented actress to rely on bringing Wanda to life in Elizabeth Olsen. Despite the movie telling us very little about how much Vision matters to Wanda, Olsen’s performance shows exactly how much. Most of the characters in Infinity War have their own emotional journey they go through in the movie, and Wanda’s is told almost entirely implicitly through Olsen’s performance.

The way Marvel have handled her superpowers have made for a compelling part of her story, but it highlights just how much they struggle to fit her into these movies. Her powers are least well defined compared to other Avengers, mainly because she herself isn’t completely aware of the extent of her power. As she attempts to find her feet in the world, she also learns of the nature of her power. It’s part of her character development.

And then we see just how powerful she is at the end of Infinity War. Thanos arrives in Wakanda with five of the six Infinity Stones on his gauntlet. He brushes off attacks from nearly all of the Avengers, including Captain America, Falcon, Groot, Black Panther, and Bruce Banner wearing the Hulkbuster armor. And when he gets to Wanda, she holds him off with one hand, as she destroys the Mind Stone with the other.

Marvel has this impressively powerful character in their arsenal, but doesn’t know what to do with her most of the time. Her only role in the airport scene in Civil War is seemingly to stop other characters from getting hurt, instead of a more proactive role, and in Infinity War she’s kept away from most of the battle in Wakanda. She finally gets her own action scene in this one, as she takes on Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive in Scotland, but when help arrives in the form of Captain America, Falcon, and Black Widow, she’s sidelined immediately.

I don’t have the slightest clue where Marvel are planning to take Scarlet Witch next, if they have any plans at all, given how Infinity War ended. But we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg with Wanda, and there is a wealth of material to be gained from putting more focus on her.