There's a reason Marvel retconned Scarlet Witch so she isn't a mutant any more - and it's going to stay that way. In 2014, Marvel Comics published an event called "AXIS." The story saw a magic spell go out of control, with heroes and villains inverted - the good guys turned evil, and the bad guys turned good. It was hardly the most auspicious storyline, and it had few longer-term effects.

One side-story saw Scarlet Witch confront Magneto and Quicksilver, who were fighting to protect the Earth. A furious Scarlet Witch unleashed a curse upon her own bloodline, but to Wanda's surprise it only affected Quicksilver. "You can't know how liberating it is to know there is no blood connection between us," the inverted Scarlet Witch declared. The X-Men fanbase was shaken to its core, especially when later issues revealed Wanda Maximoff isn't even a mutant at all - rewriting her entire comic book history.

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To this day, X-Men fans still frequently demand Marvel rewrite history again. But - however much they refuse to admit it - that simply isn't going to happen.

Why Marvel Retconned Scarlet Witch's Backstory... Again

Scarlet Witch using her magical powers from Marvel Comics

Oddly enough, Marvel has a history of retconning Scarlet Witch's powers and backstory. Although she was introduced as a mutant, Marvel increasingly treated her as a sorceress. Sometimes those two aspects of Wanda's powers were intertwined, but on other occasions they were treated as entirely distinct. On one occasion, Scarlet Witch broke free from the Elder God Chthon, the source of her magic, by using the mutant aspect of her abilities - an aspect it did not control. Meanwhile, the publisher retconned her backstory several times as well; at one point Wanda and her brother Quicksilver believed they were the children of two classic superheroes, the Whizzer and Miss America.

The AXIS retcon, however, appears to be linked to a period when Marvel Comics seemed to sideline the X-Men - and mutants in general. The film rights for the X-Men were owned by Fox, a fact Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter is believed to have strongly resented, and as a result the publisher began focusing on properties they owned the rights to. Between 2014 and 2017, the X-Men were pushed to the background in favor of the Inhumans, and classic X-Men tropes - such as the battle against prejudice - were grafted into that franchise, both in the comics and in Marvel Television's Agents of SHIELD. The film rights for Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver were a little more complex; they were shared between Marvel and Fox, due to her being both a mutant and an Avenger. Thus, rather than sideline Wanda along with the X-Men, Marvel retconned her out of Magneto's family and ultimately revealed she had never been a mutant at all. It was a heavy-handed tactic, and - for all Marvel insisted it was done for story purposes - it really wasn't hard to sense it was done at the request of the editors.

Why Marvel Won't Retcon Scarlet Witch Again

Scarlet Witch using her chaos magic in Marvel Comics

But here's the catch; the best writers can make a good story out of the worst retcon. That is exactly what has happened for Scarlet Witch; because modern Marvel Comics treat Wanda Maximoff as a sorceress, not as a mutant. This approach began with James Robinson's excellent Scarlet Witch series, in which Wanda learned her true heritage. She discovered she was the latest in a long line of Scarlet Witches and Warlocks, and swore to uphold their legacy. Since then, she has done just that, gradually becoming an essential part of Marvel's magical line. She's even a teacher at Strange Academy.

Related: What Makes Scarlet Witch The Strongest Marvel Hero

The X-Men are rising to new prominence in Marvel Comics right now, largely thanks to the creative genius of writer Jonathan Hickman. He's taken the entire mutant race to the living island of Krakoa, where they are building their own mutant community. It seems the mutants essentially view Scarlet Witch as the Devil; not just because of her role in the Decimation of the mutant race back in the mid-2000s, but because they view her as the Pretender, the one who deceived the world into thinking she was a mutant. Hickman clearly has a long-term plan in mind, most likely culminating in another clash between the X-Men and the Avengers, and Scarlet Witch's role as a former mutant looks to be an integral part of this. Marvel initially tried to defend this Scarlet Witch retcon by claiming it was done for story purposes; in an ironic twist, it looks to be working out well in narrative terms after all.

In truth, it's probably best not to do another retcon. Scarlet Witch's story has been retconned far too many times already, and is frankly bewildering in its complexity. Comic book readers would be wise to accept Scarlet Witch's place in their world has changed forever.

Will Marvel Studios Make Scarlet Witch A Mutant?

Scarlet Witch Avengers Age of Ultron

Oddly enough, there's some evidence Marvel Studios is preparing to retcon Scarlet Witch as well. In the MCU, Scarlet Witch gained her powers after she was exposed to the power of the Mind Stone. But how exactly did the Mind Stone trigger Scarlet Witch's powers? A hint was provided in the Marvel Studios Visual Dictionary; "Whether [the Mind Stone] altered her or merely unlocked something latent inside Wanda, the Infinity Stone on Loki's scepter bestowed incredible powers of the mind." Naturally, this was seen as a hint Scarlet Witch will be retconned as a latent mutant, but frankly Marvel Studios seem to be going in a very different direction - the same one as the modern comics.

Marvel looks set to retcon Scarlet Witch as a sorceress, not a mutant. Kevin Feige has compared her to Doctor Strange, suggesting her powers work the same way as Doctor Strange - but with one crucial difference. "She's never had any training," he pointed out. "She's figuring it out. Arguably, you could say that that's why her powers are much more chaotic and much more loose in the way that we showcased those light effects." Given Feige's comments, it's no surprise Scarlet Witch will play a major role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness; she's presumably being incorporated into the magical side of the MCU. The latent potential triggered by the Infinity Stone was probably her ability to weave magic.

Fundamentally, then, it looks as though Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios are on the same page when it comes to Scarlet Witch. In the comics, she was a mutant but now she's a sorceress; in the MCU, she was granted power by an Infinity Stone, but is now being retconned as a sorceress. There's absolutely no reason for Marvel to retcon her back as a mutant, and thus introduce a new divergence between the comics and the films.

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