Scarlet Witch is easily one of the most fascinating characters in Marvel history. This is due to a variety of reasons, but first and foremost, it has to do with the fact that she and her twin brother Quicksilver have crossed-over from the X-Men to The Avengers in ways that other characters haven't. In short, they're vital to both superhero teams.
Though you can say that Wolverine has crossed over from the X-Men to The Avengers, you can't say that he's just as important to Charles Xavier's team as he is to Captain America and Iron Man's. No way. In both the comics and in film and television, he belongs to the X-Men universe above any other. The same can't be said to the Maximoff twins. Scarlet Witch, especially, has a long history with both. Due to this, she's experienced a variety of incredible events and unleashed awe-inspiring powers that the world has never before seen.
Scarlet Witch, AKA Wanda Maximoff, may not have the awesome robotic suit of Iron Man, or the lightning fast speed for her brother, Pietro, but there's an assortment of weird and surprising things about her.
Beware, there are many spoilers ahead. If you're worried about finding out something you don't know about Scarlet Witch from the comics, TV shows, or films, go catch up and come on back. You won't want to miss the astonishing details the surround this highly mysterious Marvel character.
Without further ado, here are 20 Weird Details About Scarlet Witch's Body.
She Was Raised By A Cow
That's right, in the comics, Scarlet Witch was actually raised by a cow. When Pietro and Wanda's mother, Magda, was on the run from Magento, she brought them to a small village in the mountains where a bunch of humans who evolved from modern-day animals lived.
To be fair, these creatures didn't just do this on their own. A character called The High Evolutionary was experimenting on them in order to create a new race.
He did manage to make Bova, the cow who ended up taking care of the two twin babies after their mother abandoned them. Eventually, the Maximoff family adopted them, but they did spend some of their earliest memories under the loving care of a human-sized, talking cow. No wonder the MCU changed their backstory.
She's Strong Enough To Completely Disassemble The Avengers
If the MCU used the full extent for Scarlet Witch's powers, there would hardly be a need for her to be on a team to begin with.
She's far too powerful to have to deal with "lesser" beings such as Captain America, Black Widow, or even Spider-Man.
In one storyline in the comics, Scarlet Witch, under the influence of a couple of supervillains, uses her witch-like abilities to completely dismantle all of the Avengers. Sure, they are all brought back together later on, but she single-handedly is able to do this. That's a pretty outlandishly powerful thing to do, especially when you think of the abilities of some of the other members of the team, such as Thor, The God of Lightning.
If she could do something like that, does anybody really believe she needs someone like Hawkeye by her side?
A Demonic Sorcerer Put His Essence Inside Of Her At Birth
When Wanda Maximoff was born, an ancient demonic sorcerer, Mephisto, cursed her by transferring some of his evil essences inside of her.
This is where she receives her power to manipulate reality itself. She learns of this power at a young age and trains to be able to harness its strengths. At a later date, the Avengers help her destroy the ancient sorcerer that transferred his essence into her. Though this causes Wanda to lose a chunk of her power to manipulate reality, she also gains her freedom from his influence.
Luckily for her, she had saved up enough of the powers he gave her so she didn't lose her ability to alter reality fully. This is yet another reason why Scarlet Witch is just so unbelievably powerful.
She is Romani
The exact whereabouts of the birth of Pietro and Wanda Maximoff really depends on the comic, film, or show you're watching. In the main storyline of the comics, it has been revealed that the twins grew up in a Romani camp. It has also been revealed that their birth are Django and Marya Maximoff, both of whom are of Romani background. This would make both Wanda and Pietro Romani.
The Romani have faced a great deal of discrimination, as have the mutants -- Wanda and Pietro, in particular.
This choice makes perfect thematic sense for the characters and further ties their heritage to their hearts. It's unfortunate that Avengers: Age of Ultron, their identity was tied to Sokovia instead.
She's way too close with her Brother
In both the comics and movies, it has been mentioned that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver have an incredibly deep, if not supremely intense, relationship. The Ultimate version of their characters take it to a new extreme.
In this storyline, it is heavily implied that the two twins actually had an intimate relationship. Yes, much like Cersei and Jamie in Game of Thrones.
It's not just the readers who know; Wolverine is also shown to have seen the two getting way too close.
He is just as weirded out by this as the rest of us.
Clearly, the writers of this newer version saw something a bit strange in the original relationship between the two and decided to take it a step further.
She's Way Weaker In The MCU
If the MCU chose to give Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch all of the powers that she has in the comics, there would be hardly a struggle with Thanos at all. In some storylines she is just that powerful.
In the movies, we've seen Wanda unleash some pretty incredible powers, such as destroying a bunch of Thanos' weapons in Infinity War or sinking Vision through the floor in Civil War. But, for the most part, her powers are pretty tame. In some instances, she struggles just to bring down a single person. It's a very different story in the comics.
In one storyline, Scarlet Witch is responsible for the de-powering 90% of the world's mutants. She does this by uttering three simple words, "No more mutant."
A sorceress trained her in most of her skills
While every mutant is born with a set of abilities that they have to learn how to master, Wanda actually learned a number of them herself. Well, to be more specific, she was taught how to use magic by a sorceress. Her mutant gift was that she could create hex spheres, but her knowledge actually did something with them.
In short, she wouldn't have been able to do everything we've seen her do in the comics and films if she was simply born with it. This gives her an incredibly interesting edge over her other mutant companions, as well as the Avengers, who were either born with or gifted powers. For instance, her ability to use telekinesis wasn't given to her by birth, as it was for Jean Grey.
Her practice of witchcraft allowed her to harness her powers in a way that she could use them to create or destroy practically anything she saw fit to. The only downside to this is that she cannot always control her learned skills. In fact, they can even get the better of her.
She Is Also A Wiccan
No, Scarlet Witch is not just a mutant/super-powered individual who has powers very similar to a witch. She's not just someone who calls herself a witch. She actually is an ordained Wiccan.
Scarlet Witch is far more than just a title.
After her mother, Magda abandoned her and her brother in the Wundagore Mountains in the care of their cow-mother, Bova, Wanda decided that she wanted to be part of the Wiccan community.
She then went into training with the renowned witch, Agatha Harkness, who has been featured in many Avengers and X-Men comics and even in the TV shows.
Wanda's found love of all things witchcraft led her to learn new powers that she could use her natural mutant abilities to harness.
Her Powers Changed From Chaos Magic To Reality Warping
In a famous Scarlet Witch storyline in the main canon of the comic books, she returns after being captured by the dark magician Morgan La Fey. She visits her magical mentor, Agatha Harkness, who tells her that her abilities are still evolving and that she can control chaos magic; a very dangerous ability that most fear.
As she began using chaos magic more and more, the chaos energy would develop inside of her. Cut to a dramatic incident involving the destruction of a Kree ship, after which Doctor Strange declared Wanda insane when she started she altered reality.
He also tells her there's no such thing as chaos magic at all, and that she is simply warping reality. She was tricked into thinking she had a power that didn't even exist due to her fluctuating sanity.
Magneto Is Only Her Father Sometimes
The question surrounding the identity of Scarlet Witch's father is complicated, to say the least. In some versions of the comics and T.V. shows they make it utterly clear that Magneto is the father of both her and her twin brother, Pietro Maximoff. This is due to the relationship that Magneto had with their mother, Magda.
In those versions, Magda always runs away from Magneto and has the babies in secret as she fears that Magneto would hurt them.
In other versions, it's revealed that Magneto isn't the father at all. In fact, it could be a number of people, including Wolverine, who is said to have had an intimate relationship with Magda.
The superhero Wizzer is also believed to be the true father of the twins.
Another option is Django Maximoff. It's all very confusing, but one thing's for sure, Marvel just can't seem to make up its mind what the real history of these characters is.
She's not always a mutant
This is a tricky topic because the truth varies depending on which canon you're consuming. Of course, for legal reasons, the MCU hasn't been allowed to refer to Wanda or Pietro as "Mutant.s. This may change with the possible integration of the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But in almost every X-Men television show, both Wanda and Quicksilver are born mutants.
In Uncanny Avengers #4, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver find out that they weren't mutants to begin with. They learn that The High Evolutionary stole the twins from their birth parents and performed experiments on them.
The experiments genetically modified their genetic structure, which caused them to develop their abilities.
No one told them the truth beforehand, causing both of them to believe they were born as mutants like the rest of the characters in X-Men.
She Can Fire Neurons Into People's Brains
One of the most fascinating powers that Scarlet Witch, AKA Wanda Maximoff, has is the ability to control people's actions, even if only for the moment.
The way she's able to do this has to do with the magic she was taught by Agatha Harkness.
She learned how to fire neurons into other people's brains.
The specific neurons swarm inside of them and then she can manipulate them as she sees fit, which, in turn, causes the victim to do as she commands.
This is one of the many unbelievably powerful abilities she was able to learn from her witchcraft mentor. It's yet to be seen if Wanda can use some of these powers on the big villains in the MCU. One could imagine her trying to control the mind of Thanos - if she ever gets the chance to do so again.
She Can Create Hex Fields Of Bad Luck
Since the inception of her character, Scarlet Witch's powers have been vague, to say the least. The span of her abilities have been greatly explored, but with little explanation. This makes it incredibly difficult for most viewers to understand.
Even in the MCU, where her powers have been dumbed down, it's still slightly unclear what she can and cannot do. This may be a design flaw on the fault of the writers, but it also creates a level of intrigue that a lot of the other characters lack.
What's been consistent across almost all of the versions of this character is that she can cast hexes. Though one could say that her hexes essentially control the probability of an outcome, another way to put it is that they essentially create bad luck.
Her Hex Ability Is Limited To Her Range Of Sight
Scarlet Witch's probability affecting hexes, and thus all of the learned magical forces that are channeled through this ability, have an unreliable factor of about 20%.
First and foremost, she is limited to a range of sight. If she can't see what or who she plans to use as a target for her powers, she has a very hard time being effective.
This includes television broadcasts, which she cannot affect unless in the room with the subject.
There have been a couple of instances where she can change these rules, however. Most of the time they involve incredible concentration, the likes of which has hardly been seen in the main canon.
This is only one of the rules the writers have set in regards to her powers. Otherwise, we'd be dealing with a practically unbeatable character with no weaknesses, making her somewhat uninteresting.
She Is Most Powerful When Healthy, Emotionally Stable, and Well-Rested
Another one of the limitations to Scarlet Witch's powers is the fact that she must be at her best in order to use them most effectively. Like all of us, Wanda is most powerful when she's in good healthy, well-rested, and calm.
This character is one who can let her emotions get the better of her.
Let's face it, she has a harder life than a great deal of other characters in the Marvel Universe.
After all, she was cursed as a kid, after she was abandoned by her birth parents and brought up by a cow. Additionally, she has always struggled in the love department and lost her two children.
If she lets all of this pain and sorrow take her, she cannot properly channel her power in the way she wants.
Her Immaculate conception
When the MCU started to develop a romantic relationship between Wanda and Vision, many felt a bit thrown off. In all fairness, the relationship between the two didn't have the same punch as others in the MCU, such as that of Tony Stark and Pepper, or whatever is going on between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. The truth is, the relationship between the Scarlett Witch and the synthetic android actually goes back to the comics.
In the comics, Vision, and Wanda even got married and had a pair of kids of their own. Wanda had to use her unbelievable abilities to create these twin boys since Vision was incapable of having children due to his robotic nature.
She Lost Her Twin Sons
Scarlet Witch's life has been marred by tragedy, but perhaps the darkest moment in her comic book history has to do with the lossof her twins.
Being a twin herself, it must have felt extra special to be able to have created twin sons. But her two boys weren't able to breathe life for too long.
When she created them, she unknowingly transferred the dark essence of the sorcerer Mephisto, that had been placed in her, into them. Mephisto finds out about this and decides that he wants that essence back.
Once he takes it from her sons, they perish instantly. This destroys her in so many ways and unleashes a fury that's almost unmatched in comic book history.
She Lost All of Her Memories
There are a couple of iterations where Wanda loses her memories. One of the most famous is after the famous House of M incident where she destroys 90% of mutant abilities with just three words.
This event also seemed to wipe her memory clean and take away her powers.
Hawkeye tracks her down in a village somewhere in Europe where she believes she has lived all of her life.
Eventually, it takes Magneto, Beast, the remaining Avengers, and Wanda's two supposed children to convince her of who she is and reverse the events of M-Day.
In another instance, Wanda wakes up with her memories completely gone, only this time she is living with Doctor Doom in a house in Latvia
She's Earth's "Nexus Being"
One clue that Scarlet Witch may be the most insanely powerful being in Marvel history is that she is considered the "Nexus Being" of the central universe of Earth-616.
"Nexus Beings" are rare individuals with the ability to change the future due to their ability to effect probability and reality.
These beings act as keystones of the Multiverse. They create stability within each parallel universe. They watch over the cosmic forces and are aware of any temporal changes.
Scarlet Witch is supposed to be one of these beings, which puts her among powerful entities such as Jean Grey/ The Phoenix and Kang The Conquerer.
One thing is for sure, this Marvel character is unbelievably powerful, and has some surprising characteristics that make her unlike any other in the world of superheroes.
She Has Some Resistance To The Phoenix Force
The Dark Phoenix is undeniably one of the most famous characters in Marvel history. This cosmic force spends most of its time inhabiting the body of the X-Men character, Jean Grey. It increases Jean's already magnificent powers and makes her unpredictable and dangerous. Although we have yet to see this character truly be explored properly on the big screen (fingers crossed for next year's X-Men: Dark Phoenix), most Marvel fans seem to know all about it.
What they may not know is that Scarlet Witch is powerful enough to fight back against this cosmic force.
She can withstand its energy for far longer than most other characters in the universe.
This alone proves how underpowered Scarlet Witch is in the movies compared to the comics.
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