Scarlet Witch

**Wanda Marya Maximoff**, also known as **Scarlet Witch** is a superhero and a major character of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She is a cameo antagonist of *Captain America: The Winter Soldier*, one of the two tritagonists (alongside Quicksilver) of *Avengers: Age of Ultron*, one of the tritagonists of *Captain America: Civil War*, one of the titular tritagonists of *Avengers: Infinity War*, and a major character of *Avengers: Endgame*. She will return in *WandaVision* and *Doctor Strange: Into the Multiverse of Madness*.

She is portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen.

## Biography

### Marvel Cinematic Universe

#### Early Life

When the twins reached adulthood, Sokovia had become a warzone, with foreign forces invading their streets frequently. Wanda and her brother took part in various riots to drive the foreign forces out of their streets. What the twins did not realize was that the riots were orchestrated by HYDRA, who had taken up residence in the country and were using the riots to cover up their illegal experiments. One day, Wanda and Pietro were approached by List, a scientist at the HYDRA cell in Sokovia, who offered them the opportunity to achieve the power needed to drive war out of Sokovia. Initially skeptical, Wanda was convinced by Pietro to agree.

Along with other volunteers from the town, Wanda and Pietro underwent a series of tests where they were exposed to energy from the Scepter, which had fatal effects on the others. Wanda and Pietro, however, experienced exceedingly different effects. The power of the scepter unlocked latent supernatural powers within the pair; while Pietro achieved superhuman speed, Wanda attained a number of mental powers such as telekinesis, hypnosis, and energy projection.

#### Avengers: Age of Ultron

Soon after, the Avengers arrived in Sokovia and raided Strucker's facility, stealing the scepter and arresting Strucker. In the confusion, Wanda and Pietro escaped from their holding cells and, though inexperienced, were able to use their powers to evade the Avengers and escape. Wanda herself used her powers to distract Iron Man, tricking him into believing that a dead Leviathan specimen that Strucker had been studying was still alive, and showing him a dark vision where the Avengers are dead and Leviathans invade Earth from a wormhole.

Wanda and Pietro were soon called by Ultron to join him in his plans to destroy the Avengers, knowing that with their powers, they can tear the opposition apart. Soon after, Wanda and Pietro accompany Ultron in acquiring Ulysses Klaue's supply of vibranium. Wanda manages to knock Captain America back with her powers and began "hexing" the minds of Thor, Black Widow, and the Cap. She attempted to "hex" Hawkeye but was subdued by him. Pietro saved her in the nick of time and took her outside Klaue's base, where she caught sight of the Hulk and manages to "hex" him as well.

When the Twins arrived in Seoul, Wanda learned of Ultron's plans upon touching the Cradle and left the facility, much to Ultron's rage. The Twins then assisted Captain America in fighting off Ultron on a moving passenger train and Wanda managed to stop it when it went off the rails. Wanda and Pietro then accompanied Captain America back to Avengers Tower and tried to stop Stark and Banner from bringing Vision to life. Wanda was held back by Banner in the scuffle, but she managed to escape his hold, only to witness Thor bringing Vision to life. She reluctantly stood down as Vision introduced himself to them. She and Pietro then join the Avengers in stopping Ultron and saving Sokovia.

Wanda played a significant part in evacuating civilians from Sokovia, using her powers of mind control on dozens of innocents. When Ultron's army began their attack, Wanda tried to shield innocent civilians from enemy fire with her powers. Eventually, Ultron forced a large part of the city to levitate so that once it reached a certain height it would cause an extinction level event once it made an impact with the earth. This, along with the carnage that was falling upon her home, overwhelmed Wanda.

Hawkeye told her that she needed to make a choice, to stay hidden and wait for her brother to take her somewhere safe or get out there and be an Avenger. When Clint was surrounded by Ultron's robots, Wanda made the save. Wanda was then taken by Pietro to help rally the civilians and assisted in escorting them to the transporters sent by Nick Fury. Then, she and the rest of the Avengers stood together in defending the drill that would activate Ultron's plans for extinction and managed to wipe out a majority of his forces.

Wanda opted to stay behind to guard the key while the others went their separate ways to accomplish their objectives, making Pietro promise to come back for her when their mission is over. Unfortunately, Pietro was killed saving Clint Barton and a young boy from Ultron and Wanda senses this, causing her to cry out in pure anguish.

Wanda then left her post to avenge her brother by taking down Ultron's primary body with her powers, though she had inadvertently allowed an Ultron drone to activate the key that sent Sokovia plummeting towards Earth. Fortunately, Stark and Thor averted the cataclysm and Vision saved Wanda just in the nick of time.

Wanda was recruited into the Avengers' roster along with War Machine, Vision, and Sam Wilson as a permanent member of the team. They arrived at the New Avengers Facility and began their training under the leadership of Captain America and Black Widow.

#### Captain America: Civil War

Approximately a year after the Ultron Offensive, Scarlet Witch joined her fellow Avengers in tracking down Crossbones and his mercenaries to Lagos, Nigeria, who was planning to attack the Institute for Infectious Diseases and steal a biochemical weapon. They immediately rushed towards the IFID, with Captain America arrived first on the scene, followed by Falcon and Scarlet Witch. Scarlet Witch lifted Captain America onto the third floor to subdue Crossbones and used her powers to vent the anesthetic gas out into the open air.

Falcon and Black Widow managed to neutralize the mercenaries and secure the biochemical weapon that Crossbones and his mercenaries had obtained while they tried to escape through a busy marketplace. Captain America and Crossbones fought intensely before Captain America managed to disarm and subdue Crossbones. Rumlow taunted Captain America and claimed that the Winter Soldier had hired him to stead the biochemical weapon, once again under HYDRA mind control. Suddenly, Rumlow pulled the cord on his suicide vest in an effort to kill both him and Captain America. Scarlet Witch managed to shield the explosion around Rumlow and tried to move the blast away, but inadvertently destroyed a nearby building and killing many of its occupants, much to her horror.

The Avengers returned to the New Avengers Facility, where Wanda still was filled with guilt over the deaths caused by the explosion. When the Sokovia Accords were introduced to the Avengers, Wanda was unsure at the time whether she should sign or not. After the other Avengers left to deal with the Winter Soldier, Wanda was left under the watch of the Vision. He tried to cook her something to lift her spirits, though failed due to the fact he doesn't eat. The two Avengers have a heart-to-heart talk but when Wanda tries to leave the facility, Vision stops her, telling her the Tony Stark charged him with ensuring she didn't leave the compound until the debate with the Accords had cooled.

Later, Steve Rogers sent Clint Barton to retrieve Wanda. Barton created a distraction for Vision and tried to talk Wanda into leaving with him. Vision returned and easily overpowered Barton, but Wanda used her powers to free him and increased Vision's density, blasting him many meters beneath the facility and left with Barton.

Maximoff and Clint Barton retrieved Scott Lang and then the three met up with Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in Germany, where they were ambushed by Iron Man and his allies. Maximoff used her powers to assist her teammates, stopping enemy blows and throwing vehicles. As she used her powers to stop a falling watch tower from cutting off Rogers and Barnes' escape, James Rhodes used a sonic weapon to knock her out. Vision went to check on her, but this act distracted him causing him to accidentally strike Rhodes out of the sky.

Maximoff and the other heroes aligned with Steve Rogers were arrested and taken to the Raft, where she was outfitted with a shock collar and put in a straitjacket to prevent her from using her powers. Tony Stark visited the prison and saw her in captivity. However, Rogers broke into the Raft and freed Maximoff and the others.

#### Avengers: Endgame

After Bruce Banner used Tony Stark's own version of the Infinity Gauntlet, the Iron Gauntlet, in the Avengers Facility in New York, Wanda was brought back to life along with the other dusted heroes.

After a one-on-one brawl between Captain America and Thanos, the latter was bashed by Mjolnir but managed to gain the upper hand and breaking the former's once thought unbreakable vibranium shield with his Switchback Blade and knocking him to the ground, dozens of portals began to appear behind Rogers, opened by Doctor Strange and Wong, bringing thousands of others to the battle scene, such as those were killed by Thanos using the Infinity Stones in 2018, including Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Falcon, Doctor Strange, Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Mantis, Black Panther, Shuri, Wasp, and Bucky Barnes.

In the midst of the battle, Peter Parker was given the Infinity Stones inside the Gauntlet by T'Challa and was overrun by Thanos' troops, using the Instant Kill mode in his Iron Spider Armor to not have them get in his way. On the other hand, Maximoff confronted Thanos, telling him that he took everything from her, referring to Vision, though the latter didn't even know who she was, and stated that he will remember her momentarily, using her powers to battle the Titan with ease, even blocking his sword with her magic and breaking it with her mind, disarming him and lifting him into the air, removing his armor from his body and tearing his body apart, however, he ordered the Sanctuary II to begin a bombardment on the surface, which knocked her off her feet, However, the Sanctuary II turned its cannons toward the sky as Captain Marvel had entered the atmosphere and, subsequently, the battle as well, destroying the massive warship and taking the Gauntlet from Spider-Man who was still holding onto it, though Parker said that he didn't know how she would get through the entire army of Thanos', to which Okoye said that she had help from all her female comrades, including Scarlet Witch. Maximoff began clearing a path for Danvers to get to Luis' van, through Outriders and single-handedly held back a Leviathan with her powers.

After the battle had ended and Stark used the Infinity Stones to snap his fingers and turn Thanos and his entire army to dust, the billionaire passed away due to all the Gamma Radiation that surged through his body from the Stones, a funeral took place to say a final goodbye to the hero. The Avengers and Stark's friends, including Wanda Maximoff, attended the funeral, Wanda standing with Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. Maximoff met with Clint Barton by the lake near Stark's cabin and comforted him as he pondered on how he desired Natasha Romanoff knew that the sacrifice she made for the Soul Stone meant something and ended up causing them the victory, telling her friend that she does indeed know that it did, and that Vision also knew.

## Powers and Skills

* **Psychic Powers**: Maximoff has psychic abilities that originate from her mind. Her powers allow her to read and alter the minds of others, as well as affect the physical real world with her own mind, and alter the fabric of Reality. Her powers do require direct focus and control to maintain, and to disrupt her focus would be to prevent the use of those powers. Hawkeye was able to do this by attaching an electric device to her head, War Machine did this by shooting her with a sonic weapon, and Proxima Midnight did this by hitting her head with the hilt of her sword. Her powers often require hand gestures, and restricting her hands and arms can also prevent the use of her powers, such as when she was placed in a straight jacket on the Raft. When she uses Mental Manipulation to inflict emotional pain on others, she experiences that same emotional trauma with them, leaving her in mental anguish, as we see in Age Of Ultron. Wanda's telekinetic and psionic energy manipulating abilities increase in capability when she experiences emotional turmoil or an increase of confidence. Wanda's power increased when she grew more confident due to Hawkeye's talk to her making her an Avenger. When Pietro died, Wanda lashed out in sorrow, boosting her powers to destroy many Ultron minions around her. Wanda's powers were temporarily weakened in Civil War due to her guilt over powers accidentally causing the deaths of many. In Infinity War after her gaining more of an understanding of her abilities and more confidence, she her powers were accomplishing way more impressive feats while still not even testing the limits and capabilities of her powers. During Endgame she was enraged by Thanos aiming to take his life, amplifying her powers through a subtle confidence and a greater understanding. This granted her the capability she needed to kill Thanos with ease.
* **Telekinesis**: Maximoff has the ability to mentally move, levitate, and manipulate objects through force of the mind. She can also affect and control particles and molecules, as well as physical forces such as kinetic energy, friction, pressure, state of matter and even gravity, allowing her to fully control matter and energy at the molecular level. She demonstrated this when she moved wooden blocks around while imprisoned in Wolfgang von Strucker's secret facility. She pulled them apart with her power, and suspended them in the air, removing all motion and gravity from the pieces. Maximoff used this power to stop an off-rail train in Seoul, and tear apart Ultron Sentries. Her telekinesis is enough to break through Vibranium as she did manage to rip Ultron's primary body apart to get his central processor. Maximoff was able to telekinetically lift up and throw an armed goon of Crossbones, a knife, Vision, and Proxima Midnight. Maximoff was able to draw a copious volume of gas from a building and manipulated it by spreading her Psionic Energy through every molecule of gas making it dissipate completely, and temporarily contained an explosion and lifted it away from innocents. Maximoff threw cars and rubble at Ironman, Spider-Man, and War Machine. Wanda was able to freeze a soldier's arm when trying to grab his gun, Black Panther's arm, Black Widow's leg, and Proxima
* Midnight's blade in mid air, and hold back a collapsed Watchtower from a long distance. In Scotland, she was able to deflect Proxima Midnight's attacks and redirect the force back at her. Wanda also has shown great precision with her telekinesis, as she was able to heal Vision's wounds by telekinetically repairing it at the molecular level. In Wakanda, Wanda was able to lift multiple of Thanos' Threshers and redirect them back at Thanos' Outriders. After her Resurrection, Wanda's telekinetic capabilities had grown, allowing her to lift 2 large pieces of debris and launch them at Thanos, hold back Thanos' sword and break it, lift Thanos high in the air while crushing him and his armor, and even hold back a Levithan.
* **Psionic Energy Manipulation**: Maximoff can harness her Psionic energy from her mind that she uses to manipulate matter with to create blasts, beams, and waves of psionic energy under her telekinetic spheres of influence. This energy can still the fast movements of her targets to improve her focus on them so she can use telekinesis to input further damage, or she can use it to rip apart the matter of her targets. She used this prominently against Ultron's robots during the battle of Sokovia. Her Psionic energy was even able to destroy the Mind Stone, and hold back the other 5 Stones at the same time in Wakanda. After her Resurrection, Wanda's empowering had increased the damage of her Psionic blasts. She forced Thanos to go on the defensive side with her attacks, and her psionic energy had been able to knock back Thanos' sword made of Uru metal while her telekinesis broke it.
	+ **Levitation**: Maximoff can levitate herself from extreme height through telekinetic and psionic means. She first learned this by pushing herself into the air by blasting psionic bolts of energy into the ground, then uses telekinesis to lift herself in the air, and then she comes down by blasting psionic energy to the ground to slow down her momentum for a soft landing. She first learned this when starting off with the New Avengers, then in the events of Civil War, she could lift herself higher and for a longer period of time. This improved in Infinity War, where she could stay longer and higher, but could telekinetically lift other objects at the same time. After her Resurrection and Empowerment, Maximoff was able to Add to telekinetically lift herself in the air without the need to blast energy from her hands, just lifting herself with telekinesis and she could stay in the air in one place without needing to come back down. Her multitasking improved as well. She was able to fly and telekinetically lift 2 large pieces of debris with ease. She was even able to fly and hold back a Leviathan.
	+ **Force Field Generation**: Maximoff is able to create highly durable fields of psionic energy that can deflect incoming attacks. These durable barriers of energy can dissipate from loss of concentration or from too much force. Ultron's minions were eventually able to break through it, along with the blasts from Thanos' ship. Wanda also uses this to increase her durability to a large extent by forming an amour of psionic energy around herself to save herself from incoming blows, or to cushion extreme impact(high falls etc.). She used this when being blasted by Promixa, first into a window without a scratch, and second when falling from an extreme height.
		- **Telepathy**: Maximoff can read the minds of others, being able to sense the thoughts and emotions of others. She does this through a neuro-electric interface. With this she can also communicate telepathically and view their memories. Sometimes when she focuses on specific targets, her eyes glow a dark red color. She used this to view Tony Stark's memories and view his worst fear that she put in his mind, she tries to see into the Mind of Ultron, but failed because of his lack of a human brain, she used this to view the memories of the Avengers to show them their worst fears. She temporarily used this to merge her conciseness with Ultron's to see his plans for world destruction. Maximoff used this to when she peeked into the heads of many Sokovians in order to mind control them to get to safety away from the city. The last time she used this was her sensing the death of her brother Pietro Maximoff like she had seen it in person.
	+ **Mind Manipulation**: Maximoff is able to control the inner workings of neurons in other's heads, allowing her to manipulate their thoughts, memories, senses, and mental state as a form of hypnosis. She can also use this to make her victim hear, feel, and see whatever she wants(most notably something the person fears or a traumatic past experience) through illusions. This power is possible through a neuro-electric interface, just as her telepathy is. She was able to use this ability to cripple the Avengers, forcing them each to recall the darker events of their pasts and were put inside daydream-like visions of them that subdued them. When this ability is in use, Maximoff's reddish energy takes a more mist-like form, floating into the head of the victim in the form of neurons. The effects also distort the victim's iris coloration, causing them to shine a dark reddish color. This also allows her to control other people's actions, as she did with a considerable number of civilians in Sokovia to aid in their evacuation, causing them to experience a form of sleepwalking and making them all get up and leave the city. Maximoff's mental power is strong to reverse the effects of the Mind Stone, one of the most powerful objects in existence, as shown when she freed Dr. Helen Cho from the stone's control. She can also manipulate the memory and senses of others at will, induce sleep or pain and create illusions without any difficulty.
		- **Reality Altering**: Based on new Marvel reports, Wanda will gain the ability to alter the fabric of Reality with her own mental Psionic Energy in her upcoming show WandaVision. Detailing that her powers will change the MCU forever and that she will use this power to try to restore Vision's soul. This power may be reminiscent of her Illusion Casting, but instead of her manipulation the human mind's perception of Reality, she manipulates Reality itself through her mind.

## Relationships

### Family

* Father
* Mother †
* Pietro Maximoff - Twin Brother

### Allies

* Avengers - Enemies turned Teammates
	+ Steve Rogers/Captain America - Former Thrall turned Ally and Former Leader
	+ Tony Stark/Iron Man - Former Enemy and Thrall turned Ally
	+ Bruce Banner/Hulk - Former Thrall and Resurrector
	+ Thor - Former Thrall turned Ally
	+ Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow - Former thrall turned Ally
	+ Clint Barton/Hawkeye - Close Friend
	+ Vision - Love interest
	+ James Rhodes/War Machine - Former Temporary Enemy
	+ Sam Wilson/Falcon
	+ Bucky Barnes
	+ Scott Lang/Ant-Man
	+ Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel
	+ Peter Parker/Spider-Man - Former enemy turned Ally
* T'Challa/Black Panther - Former enemy turned Ally
* Guardians of the Galaxy
	+ Peter Quill/Star-Lord
	+ Rocket Raccoon - Ally
	+ Groot
	+ Drax the Destroyer
	+ Mantis
	+ Nebula
	+ Gamora
* Okoye - Ally
* Shuri - Ally
* Nick Fury
* Hope van Dyne/Wasp

## Trivia

* Although Wanda's comic book moniker was never spoken by anyone during the course of the film, Iron Man did disparagingly refer to her as a "witch", alluding to her Scarlet Witch moniker.
	+ The credits did, in fact, credit her as "Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch".
* In the comics, Wanda married Vision and had two sons with him.
* Wanda ultimately destroying Ultron's primary body in the film is probably an allusion to the fact that her powers in the comics are considered one of Ultron's most significant weaknesses.
* Kevin Feige confirmed that Wanda is an actual witch, with her various powers actually being her involuntarily casting magical spells.

## Gallery

Comic accurrate costume from the WandaVision teaser.Wanda demonstrates her powers.Wanda undercover on a mission.Wanda using her powers.Wanda using her powers to block attacks.Wanda using her powers to blast Darth Vader through a wall.Wanda tries to manipulate Steve Rogers.Wanda, having became evil, tries to destroy the Avengers.Wanda becomes mentally unstable and creates an alternative reality.Wanda during the Battle of the Universe.Wanda uses her powers aganist the Avengers, but eventually redeems herself.Wanda battling Doctor Strange, but he manages to turn her back to the good.