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Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)

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This page is similar in name or subject to other pages.

See also Wanda Maximoff, Scarlet Witch for a complete list of references to distinguish between these closely named or closely related articles.

Character Template Help
Real Name
Current Alias

Aliases
Wanda Frank, Wanda Magnus, Ana Maximoff, Gypsy Witch, The Witch

Identity

Alignment


Relatives
Pietro (Quicksilver, twin brother), Magnus (Magneto, father), Magda Lehnsherr (mother, deceased), Anya (half-sister, deceased), Lorna Dane (Polaris, half-sister), Vision (estranged husband), Django Maximoff (foster father, deceased), Marya Maximoff (foster mother, deceased), Crystal (sister-in-law), Luna (niece), Tommy & Billy (reincarnated sons), Talia Wagner (Nocturne, alternate reality daughter)

Universe

Base Of Operations

Characteristics
Gender

Height


Eyes

Hair

Unusual Features
None

Status
Citizenship

Marital Status

Occupation
Adventurer, formerly witchcraft tutor, housewife, terrorist

Education
Unrevealed

Origin
Origin
Scarlet Witch was born a Mutant

Place of Birth


First appearance

Uncanny X-Men #4(March, 1964)


Contents

History


Scarlet Witch & Spider-Man (by Scott Hampton)
Scarlet Witch & Spider-Man (by Scott Hampton)

Born at the Wundagore base of the High Evolutionary, Wanda and her twin brother Pietro were eventually placed in the care of a Gypsy couple named Django and Marya Maximoff, from whom they were separated as teens when their encampment was attacked. They were later recruited into Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and, as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, they fought the X-Men. At the time, none of the three were aware of the siblings' paternity. They soon abandoned their terrorist activities, while Magneto was imprisoned by the Stranger, and joined the Avengers. The remaining founding members had all gone on a leave of absence, leaving Captain America to lead an all-new lineup including Wanda, Pietro, and the archer known as Hawkeye. Although she became more adept in her power's use, Wanda did not realize that she was tapping into genuine magic. It was believed that the Scarlet Witch would have been an ordinary energy manipulator or perhaps simply able to cause bad luck if not due to Chthon's attempt to use her as a pawn.

Wanda fell in love with the synthezoid Vision, an artificial being created by Avengers foe Ultron who joined the team rather than fight them. The Scarlet Witch eventually married her teammate, the android Vision, not realizing that they were manipulated by Immortus, who sought to prevent Wanda from having a child (Wanda was actually a key figure, or nexus being, to her reality, and her children would have power to shake the foundations of the universe). Wanda eventually drew on magic energy to give birth to twin sons, William and Thomas, but this energy was eventually revealed to have come from the demon Mephisto, who reabsorbed them, effectively ending their existence. Wanda had also reanimated her deceased mentor, Agatha Harkness, through whom she cast a spell to make her forget her children in order to ease her pain. Though Wanda later recalled her loss, she suppressed this memory over the long term. After his reformation, The Vision and Wanda have not had the closeness they once did.

While both were serving as members of the Avengers West Coast, Wanda also grew to love Wonder Man, the man whose brain patterns had been used to form the Vision's mind. Both were among the former AWC members who opted to form Force Works after the team's dissolution. As the leader of this new team, Wanda used a 'hex mainframe' computer designed by Iron Man. Through her powers and the computer's calculations, they could proactively determine where the team was most needed rather than react to an alarm or breaking news. Although Wanda was appointed team leader, she often clashed with Iron Man overriding her orders. She was deeply saddened by Wonder Man's death on the first mission of Force Works. After rejoining the Avengers, she used her increased powers to resurrect him, although his ionic energy likely made him able to be restored. For some time, Wonder Man was mostly a cloud of ionic energy that Wanda had to summon.

Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) & Vision (Victor Shade)
Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) & Vision (Victor Shade)

Training with Agatha Harkness increased Wanda's control of her 'chaos magic.' Even after Agatha died her astral form continued to assist Wanda. However it seems that at least some of this training may have been an illusion made by Wanda herself.

In years after, Wanda remained in her role as a longtime Avengers mainstay, salvaging her relationship with the Vision as best she could - although sparks also appeared with Captain America towards the end of her Avengers tenure - the moment she brought the team to its lowest moment ever recorded.

An unintentional remark by team-mate the Wasp about Wanda's lost children apparently drove her over the edge. Her various manipulations caused a number of her Avengers teammates to be killed. Others were injured or affected by various odd outbursts and incidents. The remaining Avengers gathered including a number of reservists. However, it appears some of them were more illusions created by Wanda. Doctor Strange appeared, sensing abuse of magic, and angry that he had not been notified of Wanda's recent problems.

Scarlet Witch - Mystic Arcana
Scarlet Witch - Mystic Arcana

The Scarlet Witch seemingly gained powerful reality-altering abilities from "Chaos Magic"; however, this proved to be an uncontrolled aspect of her mutant power and created a great mental strain on her. When vague memories of her children resurfaced, she suffered a nervous breakdown and lashed out with her new power, subjecting the Avengers to a savage assault and apparently killing Agatha Harkness and some of her teammates. Strange was forced to use the Eye of Agamatto on Wanda, which apparently showed her a memory so horrible she went into a catatonic state. Magneto suddenly appeared to collect his daughter, and brought her to Genosha so Professor X could help her.


House of M Unfortunately, Xavier refused to do so as Wanda attempted to restore her husband to life and undo the damage she had caused. Keeping Wanda in a comatose state, Xavier ultimately called a meeting between the Avengers and X-Men to decide whether or not Wanda should be killed. Quicksilver was horrified at the fact that Xavier seriously considered killing Wanda and convinced Wanda to take desperate action to keep this from happening: By using her powers, Wanda warped reality into the House of M, a world where mutants were the majority, humans the minority, and Magneto the ruler (simultaneously giving various other heroes what they wanted most, hoping this would prevent them rebelling). In this reality, Wanda was believed to be a human, due to an alternate body she created to represent her in public while she cared for her children in private.

A young mutant named Layla Miller (whom Dr. Strange believed was actually an aspect of Wanda's psyche, but later revealed to be a deformed mutant who was given a normal body thanks to Wanda's reality warp) was able to use her mutant abilities to restore several of the heroes' memories. Meanwhile Wolverine (the only person who sensed the reality's "wrongness") and a resurrected Hawkeye (who had been seemingly killed during Wanda's breakdown) and Cloak gathered these heroes into an assault force to try to restore reality. This rag-tag army headed to Genosha to attack Magneto, believing him to be the one responsible for the change. During the battle between Magneto's forces and the others, Layla was able to restore Magneto's memories; as well, Wanda confessed to Dr. Strange that it was Quicksilver, not Magneto, who had initiated the reality warp.

Enraged, Magneto confronted Quicksilver, angry that Quicksilver had done all of this in his name. Quicksilver told Magneto that he would have let Wanda die. Magneto replied that Quicksilver had only used him and Wanda. He then killed Quicksilver. Wanda revived her brother, telling Magneto that Quicksilver had only wanted him to be happy and that Magneto had ruined them, choosing the mutants over his own children. She further denounced Xavier and in three words ("No more mutants") Wanda changed the world back to its original form but adding the mass depowering of 90% of the entire mutant population, thus being responsible for many deaths as shown in the Generation M mini-series. Surviving mutants and ex-mutants now refer to this as "M-Day: The worst day in mutant history."

After the fallout, Wanda was missing and was last seen in a small, unknown European village, happy and in a state of peace.

Post-House of M

The resurrected Hawkeye/Clint Barton tracks Wanda to a small village near Wundagore Mountain, where he unknowingly saves her from a thief. Wanda has been living in a small apartment with her only relative, her "Aunt Agatha" (who is never seen, but could possibly a manifestation of Wanda's now-dead mentor Agatha Harkness). She appears to be powerless and believes that she has lived her entire life in the village, and does not recognize Hawkeye, nor does she remember being a part of the Avengers or other events. Wanda tells Hawkeye that he was her "hero" for dealing with the thief and kisses him, and they spend the night together. The following morning, while Wanda is sleeping, Hawkeye becomes curious about the next room where "Aunt Agatha" is supposedly sleeping, but the doorknob appears to shift away from his hands, a subtle reality manipulation usually associated with the Scarlet Witch. However, Clint looks back to see that Wanda is still asleep.


Powers and Abilities

Powers

Scarlet Witch (by Dave Devries)
Scarlet Witch (by Dave Devries)

Known Powers: Wanda was an Omega-Level mutant. Chaos Magic Reality Warping: Scarlet Witch's main power was the superhuman ability to manipulate chaos magic, given to her by the demon Chthon (imprisoned within Wundagore Mountain) when she was born. Her hexes were, by extension, simple, indirect manifestations of this magic, destabilizing probabilities by inducing chaos. The Scarlet Witch's powers are not fully under her conscious control, and their effects persist even after Dr. Strange shut down her mind. There seem to be no limits to her powers during House of M, as she was easily able to alter the entire Earth-616 reality at will, and is also altering reality on a multiversal scale without even realizing what she had done, though certain of her victims have claimed to be able to discern the difference between reality and her spells.

Wanda's ability to channel and wield magical energy was brought about by the demonic sorcerer Chthon. On the day that Wanda was born, the ghostly spectre of Chthon visited the newborn Wanda and "blessed" Wanda so that Wanda could channel the dangerous Chaos Magic that was the basis for Chthon's unholy might. Chthon's intentions were to create a vessel that he could possess one day, when Wanda was a full-grown adult, though his schemes to do so were foiled by the Avengers.

As such, due to Chthon's "blessing", Wanda is also vulnerable to having all of her powers disabled if Chthon is ever disrupted. During the period in which pages from Chthon's sacred tome, the Darkhold, were scattered across the globe, Wanda's powers were periodically disabled -- with her being left powerless in several dangerous battles against various super-villains -- until several of the missing pages were restored to the book. Although this particular plot thread was stated by Agatha Harkness who was reanimated by Wanda. How much of it is true and how much of it is more unconscious manifestations of the Scarlet Witch's reality manipulation is up to the reader's preference.

  • Hex Bolts: Initially, the Scarlet Witch had the ability to manipulate probability via her "hexes" (often manifesting physically as "hex spheres" or "hex bolts"). These hexes are relatively short range, and are limited to her line of sight. Casting a hex requires a gesture and concentration on her part, though the gestures are largely a focus for the concentration. Early in her career, her hexes were unconscious on her part, and would be automatically triggered whenever she made a particular gesture, regardless of her intent. These hexes would only manifest "bad luck" effects. She later gained enough control over her powers that her powers only work when she wants them to, and they are not limited to negative effects. She can use her hexes to combust flammable objects, contain or remove air from a particular volume, deflect objects, stop the momentum of projectiles, open doors, explode objects, create forcefields and deflect magical attacks.

They have been known to alter the molecular composition and physical state of physical objects, negate or distort physical laws, and to cause various forms of energy to spontaneously appear or disappear. She has an affinity with natural elements and phenomena, stemming largely from her magical training under Agatha Harkness, and has trained often at using her hexes to deflect projectiles or to cause enemies to stumble or otherwise suffer the effects of "bad luck". Writers often confuse her hex powers with psychokinesis, and have occasionally depicted them as able to generate energy blasts and to grant Wanda the power of flight. Although her hexes can cause objects to suddenly move or change course, they do not have the ability to "hold on" to objects as a telekinetic might. Ultimately, the hexes are not under the Witch's direct control, although she can influence the nature of their effects with great concentration and effort. This makes her one of the few Avengers that Ultron fears; his adamantium shell cannot repel magic. She has displayed the ability to cancel Longshot and Domino's powers of probability and has also once turned Longshot into a cat.

Abilities

Expert Knowledge of Sorcery: Wanda was trained by Agatha Harkness in witchcraft. Her sorcerous training has not given her a set of powers separate from her mutant abilities, but only honed her control over her existing abilities. She has, however, a special affinity for the natural elements and materials that witches utilize in their spells: the four alchemical elements, wood, organic substances, etc.

Expert Combatant: Wanda has also been trained in hand-to-hand combat by both Captain America and Hawkeye.

Expert Tactician: when sane, the experience and leadership skills that come from years of active duty as an Avenger.

Strength level

The Scarlet Witch possesses the normal human strength of a woman of her age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise.

Weaknesses

Perception Range: Her range of hex-casting is limited by her line of sight. (She cannot watch a live television broadcast and cause a hex-phenomenon to occur at its point of origin.)

Physical Condition: Hexes have a degree of unreliability, which is further affected by her physical condition: when well rested, in good health, and mentally and emotionally alert, Scarlet Witch can cast numerous hex-spheres in rapid succession and attain desirable results for almost an hour.

Overextension: Despite this enhanced precision, her hexes are not necessarily guaranteed to work, particularly if she has been straining herself or using her powers excessively. If overextended, her hexes can backfire, causing probability to work against her wishes or to undo previous hexes.


Paraphernalia

Equipment: Formerly Avengers Identicard
Transportation: Formerly Avengers Quinjet
Weapons: None known.


Notes

  • Scarlet Witch will be featured in the upcoming comic Mystic Arcana [1].


Trivia

  • No trivia.

Appearances in Other Media

Toys & Statues

Scarlet Witch Statue: Avengers & Adversaries by Diamond Select
Scarlet Witch Statue: Avengers & Adversaries by Diamond Select

The Scarlet Witch was part of a short-lived wave of Avengers action figures released by Toy Biz in 1996. Another figure was scheduled to be released in 2005 by Toy Biz as part of Wave 11 of Marvel Legends, this wave known as the Legendary Riders. When it came time for productions, Toy Biz executives felt the figure was not up to quality and pulled it from the line. However, some factories had already produced figures and packed them for shipment. When the line originally showed up, only the odd box contained a Scarlet Witch figure and smaller retail stores and E-Bay sellers would sell the figure at much higher prices, making it for a short time the most valuable figure in the toy line. Later, the figure began showing up much more frequently in larger retails stores (such as Wal-Mart) and the value of the figure decreased.

There is also a Bowen statue representing the Scarlet Witch.


See Also

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Links and References





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