Scarlet Witch is quite the character, and most people now know her from the MCU adaptation instead of the comics. I’ve never been too keen on the MCU version of Wanda but instead of complain about that I’m going to reveal her to you all in a respect thread, with examples of what she really can do in all her glory.
Wanda Maximoff is the Scarlet Witch, a mutant with probability manipulation and reality-warping abilities. The Scarlet Witch is Quicksilver’s twin sister, the mother of Wiccan and Speed, and the ex-wife of the Vision. She’s also infamously known for causing the Decimation which is otherwise known as the infamous ‘M-Day’. Scarlet Witch has appeared on both the Avengers and the X-Men, one of her most devastating arcs was Avengers vs. X-Men. During Avengers vs. X-Men, Wanda finds herself on the side of the Avengers, her powers being the only thing capable of hurting the Phoenix Five. As the Phoenix avatars grew stronger, however, Wanda’s hex bolts became less and less effective. Tony Stark deduced that it would require the efforts of both Wanda and Hope Summers to stop the Phoenix.
The Scarlet Witch possesses the mutant power of affecting probability fields. The Scarlet Witch possesses the mutant power of affecting probability fields. By a combination of gestures and mental concentration, she creates a hex-sphere, a finite pocket of reality-disrupting quasi-psionic force, which upon reaching its intended target, causes disturbance in the molecular-level probability field surrounding the target. Thus, unlikely phenomena will occur. Scarlet Witch is one of the most powerful mutants ever existed, in terms of raw potential there are very few who can contend with her; she has been shown to tangle with the likes of Hope Summers, the Phoenix Force, Doctor Strange, the Avengers, Professor Xavier and more. On top of already being vastly powerul, she is often in a mentally unstable state of mind and this only increases her damage output for she has been known to lose control completely and cause universe-altering events. Among the many phenomena she is able to cause are: the sudden melting of gun barrels, the spontaneous combustion of any flammable object, the rapid rust or decay of various organic and inorganic materials, the poltergeist-like deflection of an object in flight, the sudden evacuation of air from a given volume, the disruption of energy transmissions and fields, and so on.
In the events before House of M, which will very much be of key focus in this post, during the events of Avengers: Disassembled Wanda resurrected Jack of Hearts and made him blow up the Avengers mansion without being anywhere near.
These phenomena occur practically instantaneously after the completion of her hex, but they are limited (for the most part) to line-of-sight range. Scarlet Witch’s hex-casting ability had a 20% unreliable factor and she is limited in the range of sight, although she has been able to overcome the latter limitation on occasion via extreme concentration and magical enchantment. Wanda is a living focus point for magic on Earth, she has trained with Professor X, Doctor Strange, Agatha Harkness to calm her mind and on how to use magic effectively, this practice is separate to her mutant power but the mixture of the two is what makes her so incredibly dangerous, and powerful. She has a special affinity for the natural elements and materials that true witches utilise in their spells: the four elements of alchemy, wood, organic substances, etc.
In House of M we get probably the best look at what a unhinged Wanda is capable of. A brief summary of House of M – Wanda is struggling with her mental state, family issues with her father, and her longing for a peaceful life with a husband and children. After an… incident… Wanda re-creates the universe into the World of M; wherein mutant kind are the dominant species over homo-sapiens (so the roles are reversed), and the mutant kind control and dominate the world. Wolverine however, wakes up the morning after the universe and time-line changed only to remember fragments from the old universe. Slowly but surely he manages to convince others that this new timeline is a false one, and their memories of this one are also false.
Inside this new timeline and universe Scarlet Witch is found by Doctor Strange who tries to reason with her in his astral form, but Hawkeye intervenes and threatens Wanda’s children (which are part of this world she created) and Hawkeye… well, Hawkeye was erased from existence and Doctor Strange was powerless to stop it.
After a confrontation of the resistance against Magneto, Wanda and the others, Scarlet Witch has an emotional breakdown and causes the world to revert to normal with the one detail changed… No More Mutants.
Scarlet Witch’s powers have shown to actually evolve, allowing her to surpass any limitations and effect reality with her magic. In House of M we saw that her limitations were removed altogether as she broke the fabric of reality, this time attempting to rid the world of the mutant gene. 91.4% of the world’s mutant population lost their powers overnight with just 3 words.
If you haven’t read House of M, you really should. Like, really should.
Hope you enjoyed this post! Next respect thread will be the Punisher, along with a Punisher Easter Egg list from the TV series, and blth will be posted next Tuesday. Stay tuned.
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