Scarlet Witch facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Scarlet Witch |
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Art by Russell Dauterman.
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The X-Men #4 (March 1964) |
| Created by | Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Wanda Django Maximoff |
| Species | Human mutant (originally) Human mutate (retconned) |
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| Notable aliases | Wanda Frank Queen of Chaos Empress of Magic |
| Abilities |
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The Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The X-Men #4 (March 1964) in the Silver Age of Comic Books. Originally said to have the ability to alter probability, the Scarlet Witch has been depicted as a powerful sorceress since the 1980s and on occasion has become powerful enough to alter reality by tapping into greater energy sources.
The Scarlet Witch is first depicted as a reluctant supervillain along with her twin brother, Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver, both founding members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. A year after her debut, she joined the Avengers superhero team and ever since has often been depicted as a regular member of that or related teams (such as the West Coast Avengers and Force Works). In 1975, she married her android teammate Vision. She has twin sons William ("Billy") and Thomas ("Tommy"). Stories in 1989 wiped Tommy and Billy from existence (they would later reappear as the heroes called Wiccan and Speed) and removed Vision's emotions, leading to the annulment of his and Wanda's marriage.
For most of her comic book history, the Scarlet Witch is portrayed as a mutant, a member of a fictional subspecies of humans born with an "X-gene" that grants superhuman abilities and traits. A 2015 storyline revised Wanda's origin, establishing that her superhuman traits are entirely a result of experimentation done by the High Evolutionary and inherited magic abilities. Like Franklin Richards and other characters, her genetics are such that standard X-gene tests gave a false positive, meaning she was not actually born a mutant.
The character's in-universe backstory and parentage have changed more than once. During the 1960s, she and Quicksilver were said to be the mutant twin offspring of two unnamed parents. Later, it was said the children were given to the geneticist called the High Evolutionary, leaving their true parentage a mystery. In 1974, it was said their parents are Golden Age heroes Bob Frank / Whizzer and Madeline Joyce Frank / Miss America. Wanda then refers to herself as Wanda Frank for a time. In 1979, they are revealed to have been raised by human Romani parents, Django and Marya Maximoff. In 1982, Magneto concludes he is Wanda and Pietro's father. In 2014, the AXIS crossover revealed Pietro and Wanda are not related to Magneto. In 2015, the twins discover they are not mutants and their superhuman traits are the result of the High Evolutionary's experiments combined with Wanda genetically being a Witch born with natural magical abilities. The 2015–2017 Scarlet Witch series reveals that Wanda and Pietro's adoptive parents, Django and Marya Maximoff, are biologically their aunt and uncle. Their real mother is confirmed to be Natalya Maximoff, the previous Scarlet Witch, a Romani sorceress whose father was the Scarlet Warlock.
The Scarlet Witch has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful heroes.
Since 2014, Elizabeth Olsen has portrayed Wanda Maximoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Powers and abilities
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When the Scarlet Witch was first created by Lee and Kirby, her main ability was a vaguely defined "hex power" that could cause random and unlikely things to affect her enemies or other targets, often in the form of "bad luck". These effects could be unpredictable, however, and thus not always helpful to Wanda. The vague and unpredictable nature of her power meant Wanda could use her ability in a variety of ways that helped the plot but also meant she couldn't easily solve all her problems.
Despite the character's name, the Scarlet Witch's powers stemmed not from witchcraft or magic but from being a mutant who could affect probability. Later stories gave her increased control, allowing her to release targeted "hex-bolts" that could cause enemy weapons to backfire, their abilities to fail, or the area around them to suffer sudden damage and instability. Eventually, she also became adept at casting energy blasts that could directly stun opponents. She later realizes her hex-bolts are the most basic use of chaos magic.
Writer Steve Englehart decided the character could become more powerful and formidable by living up to her name. His stories revealed Wanda had a strong talent for magic, possibly caused by the demon Chthon giving her latent magical talent as a child. Under Englehart, Wanda studies spell casting and the manipulation of magical forces under the tutelage of Agatha Harkness. Along with increasing her control over the effects of her hexes, this allows her to counter, deflect, and block a variety of magical attacks.
Writer Kurt Busiek redefined Scarlet Witch's powers, explaining that like Magneto, her mutant ability allowed her to tap into and manipulate a specific form of energy. Busiek suggested Wanda may have originally developed the power to access energy related to the electromagnetic spectrum if she had been left alone, but Chthon's interference soon after her birth influenced her genetics to tap into magical energy. Busiek depicted the sorceress Morgan le Fey remarking that while Wanda cannot fully warp time and space on her own (not since giving up her nexus being status), her ability to alter probability coupled with her magical talent meant others could use her as a conduit for multiple, powerful energies at once, and thus she could become a tool used to warp reality. Following her encounter with Morgan, Wanda learns that her hex abilities are an expression of chaos magic, the same magic Chthon used. By trusting in herself more, Wanda learns how to directly tap into chaos magic to increase her power and achieve a variety of effects, making her one of Earth's most powerful magic users. She also realized she could manipulate other forms of energy (though this required greater focus and strength). During Busiek's run, as well as the subsequent run by Geoff Johns, she was shown to be capable of large-scale spells given enough concentration and time to shape them to a specific goal, including the creation of a hurricane. Wanda's new chaos magic allows her to collect Wonder Man's near-immortal ionic energies and reconstitute them, allowing him temporary existence as an energy being and then eventually bringing him back to life as a physical being (although Wanda has been unable to resurrect normal human beings who are not energy-based life forms). The series Avengers vs X-Men confirmed that Wanda now largely relies on chaos magic.
A 2015 Uncanny Avengers story revealed Wanda was never a mutant, despite the assumption of others and what certain scientific tests indicated. Her and Quicksilver's superhuman traits, the genes that allowed her to directly access magical energy sources, were the result of the High Evolutionary experimenting on them as infants. This is in line with Busiek's explanation for her powers, with only the classification of "mutant" being changed.
In the 2016–2017 Scarlet Witch comic series, it is confirmed Wanda was always born with the ability to utilize witchcraft, a trait she inherited from other members of her family. The High Evolutionary's genetic tampering gave greater and direct access to magical energies, making her more powerful than she may have been otherwise, but was not solely responsible for her magical abilities.
Reality warping
Due to her unique genetics, Wanda is a nexus of magical energy, able to instinctively tap into different mystical power sources more easily than even highly trained sorcerers. Because of this, Wanda has temporarily grained the power to alter reality on multiple occasions by taking energy from another person or outside force.
Portrayals
The character has been adapted into different forms of media, including television series, action figures, and video games. American actress Elizabeth Olsen has portrayed Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) in a post-credits scene, Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers; Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), and the Disney+ miniseries WandaVision (2021).
See also
In Spanish: Bruja Escarlata para niños
