Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)

Scarlet Witch
Name	Wanda Djanga Maximoff
Current Alias	Scarlet Witch
Aliases	Ana Maximoff, Emperor of Magic, Fine Sorceress, Little Witch, Pretender, Queen of Chaos, Wanda Frank, Wanda the Witch, Wendy, Witch
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Romany, Avengers, Strange Academy staff; formerly Avengers Unity Division, Hydra's Avengers, Axis, Avengers West Coast (part of Shi'ar delegation during Operation Galactic Storm), Force Works, Secret Defenders, Lady Liberators, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Brides of Set, Queen's Vengeance
Relatives	Scarlet Warlock (maternal grandfather, deceased); Natalya Maximoff (mother, deceased); Django Maximoff (maternal uncle and foster father, deceased); Marya Maximoff (maternal aunt and foster mother); Pietro Maximoff (twin brother); Luminous (alleged sister); Ana Maximoff (cousin and adoptive sister, deceased); Mateo Maximoff (cousin and adoptive brother, deceased); Vision (ex-husband); Tommy Maximoff (son, deceased); Billy Maximoff (son, deceased); Tommy Shepherd (reincarnated son); Billy Kaplan (reincarnated son); Crystal Amaquelin (former sister-in-law); Luna Maximoff (niece); Scarlet Witch (clone, deceased)
Marital Status	Divorced
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Height	5′7″ (1.7 m)
Weight	132 lbs (59.87 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Green
Hair	Auburn
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human genetically altered by the High Evolutionary, Human of magical birthright, sorceress; formerly disguised as a mutant
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Serbia
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	American, Serbian
Occupation	Adventurer, formerly witchcraft tutor, housewife, mutant terrorist
Base of Operations	Wanda Maximoff's Tower, Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York Formerly Avengers Mansion, Manhattan, New York City, New York; Castle Doom, Doomstadt, Latveria; The Works; Avengers Compound, California; Scarlet Witch and Vision's Home, Leonia, New Jersey
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
First	X-Men #4 (January, 1964)
First	X-Men #4 (January, 1964)

 While I live... and until I die... I am an Avenger! 

—Scarlet Witch

Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch is a Romani Transian Sorceress and the younger twin sister of the speedster Quicksilver. She and her brother were once believed to have been Mutant children of Magneto the "Master of Magnetism". She was in truth an orphan who was enhanced by the High Evolutionary at Mount Wundagore becoming a conduit of Chaos Magic allowing her to manipulate probability and warp reality itself. Wanda was trained by Agatha Harkness to become one of the most powerful magic wielders on Earth. She joined the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants fighting for her "father's" cause, alongside her brother, though this was short-lived and she was later recruited into the Avengers, becoming one of their most prominent members alongside her brother. She fell in love with the Synthezoid, Vision, but due to his artificial nature they were unable to have children. She used her reality altering powers to create two twin boys; Tommy and Billy. The spell was later broken, erasing the boys from existence, but not before they were reincarnated into Wiccan and Speed whose powers matched hers and her brothers. The stress of losing her children broke her mind, causing her to create her own reality known as the House of M in which everyone's desires came true, whilst also making mutants the dominant lifeform on Earth. The heroes of Earth returned reality to normal but not before she declared "No More Mutants" wiping out 91.4% of the X-Gene, in an event that became known as the Decimation.

History

Early Life

Wanda Maximoff was kidnapped from Serbia and brought to Wundagore Mountain, base of the High Evolutionary. For years, she and her twin brother, Pietro, believed that they were the children of Romany couple, Django and Marya Maximoff, later revealed to be the twins' maternal uncle and aunt. The High Evolutionary supposedly abducted the twins when they were babies, experimented on them, and after becoming disgusted with the results, he returned them to Wundagore, disguised as regular mutants.

When Wanda was still young, her magical power was detected by a coven of powerful Eastern European witches; Margali Szardos, Maria Russoff and Lilia Calderu. Lilia was also known as the "Gypsy Queen" and was able to get Marya Maximoff to bring Wanda to her, at which point Lilia took her to Castle Russoff to meet with the others. They hoped to bring Wanda into their coven as an apprentice but a servant of Chthon, Taboo, interfered with Wanda's initiation, hoping to recover the the Serpent Crown from Lilia and to seize Wanda for Chthon, who wanted Wanda under his power, and not that of Set who was connected to the crown. Taboo, and another servant known as Damballah, arrived to interrupt the ceremony and fight the witches. This attack only ended once Wanda was able to manifest her hex powers for the first time, accidentally allowing Chthon to reach out and make it known that Wanda was not allowed to join any coven. The witches then allowed Wanda to return to her family.

As adolescents, Wanda and Pietro discovered that they had unusual superhuman abilities. When Django began to steal food to feed his starving family, enraged villagers attacked the Romani camp. Using his phenomenal speed, Pietro fled from the camp with his sister. The circumstances of their separation from their family were so traumatic that not until well into adulthood could they remember anything but the barest details of their childhood. For the next few years, Wanda and Pietro wandered central Europe, living off the land.

Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

Wanda accidentally set fire to an unnamed village with her powers, and was attacked by villagers. One of them proclaimed her to be "a Scarlet Witch," which would later become her codename. Magneto arrived at the scene, and rescued Wanda from the villagers. Due to this rescue, Wanda felt indebted to Magneto. She was willing to serve him until her debt was repaid.

Wanda and Pietro were later recruited into Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and, as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, fought the X-Men on several occasions. Throughout her tenure, Wanda fended off romantic advances from fellow member Mastermind. She proclaimed that she would rather die, than become his wife.

In their initial battle with the X-Men in Santo Marco, the Scarlet Witch knocked out Angel, who had incapacitated her brother, in retaliation and brought the captured X-Man to Magneto. But the X-Men forced them to abandon their prisoner and even the entire country. At their next scheme, Scarlet Witch disagreed with Magneto's plan to kill the X-Men. During his attempt to kill every X-Man except the captive Angel, Scarlet Witch used one of her hexes to short-circuit Magneto's control panel. She injured one of Magneto's hands in the process. Before Magneto could "teach her a lesson," Wanda hid behind her protective brother Quicksilver. Subsequently, Wanda was nearly injured by debris created by one of Cyclops' blasts.

At their next conflict with the X-Men, Quicksilver was easily captured by Marvel Girl. Wanda was worried about her brother's safety, and asked Magneto to save him. She instead learned that Magneto was about to fire a deadly weapon against the entire group of X-Men, willing to sacrifice Quicksilver's life to gain victory. Wanda tried to stop him, but Magneto threatened to kill her for defying his decisions. Namor intervened on Wanda's behalf, and destroyed the equipment before it could be used.

When Magneto, Mastermind, and Toad fled from X-Men's attacks, Wanda chose to stay behind. All by herself, she demanded that the X-Men release her brother immediately, but she was in no position to impose demands. Namor, however, came to her aid and started to fight the X-Men. He easily defeated the Beast and the Angel, but was immobilized by Cyclops' blasts. Before their fight could escalate further, Professor X intervened, revealing to Wanda that he had placed Quicksilver under mind-control. He was willing to release him to Wanda's custody, as he didn't consider the twins anything more than Magneto's pawns.

To have her brother returned to her, Wanda convinced an angry Namor to back down. Upon leaving the scene, Namor remarked upon his attraction to the Scarlet Witch. But her beauty reminded him of Susan Storm, and he feared that this potential relationship would be similarly doomed and he would end up being rejected, so he departed.

Avengers

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. By then, the Scarlet Witch would have rather become an actress, but she never had a chance to pursue such a career. They left the Avengers after the Scarlet Witch lost her powers and Quicksilver was shortly influenced by Magneto again.

The Scarlet Witch then began a quest to recover her powers by studying grimoires, with Quicksilver and the Toad supporting her. Her studies accidentally summoned extra-dimensional caudillo Arkon, who kidnapped the Witch to make her his bride, the Toad when he opposed, and then a number of Earth-born scientists in an attempt to use atomic power to save his own world Polemachus even by destroying Earth. Quicksilver gained the help of the Avengers, the Avengers managed to save Polemachus without damaging Earth, Arkon ceased any further violence against Earth and renounced to the Scarlet Witch because she had convinced him of the importance of small things. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch then resumed their membership with the Avengers. The Toad chose to remain at Polemachus.

Not long after the birth of Quicksilver's first child, Wanda and Pietro learned a secret about their parentage, that Magneto was allegedly their true father.

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 & the Avengers

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 being manipulated by Immortus, who sought to prevent Wanda from having a child under the belief that Wanda was actually a key figure, or nexus being, to her reality, and her children would have the power to shake the foundations of the universe.

Wanda eventually drew on magic energy to give birth to twin sons, Tommy and Billy, but this energy was eventually revealed to have come from the demon Mephisto, who reabsorbed them, effectively ending their existence. Agatha Harkness 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 no longer shared the closeness they once had.

Force Works

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.

Rejoining the Avengers

After rejoining the Avengers, she used her increased powers to resurrect Wonder Man.

Training with Agatha Harkness increased Wanda's control of her 'Chaos Magic'. Even after Agatha died her astral form continued to assist Wanda. However, 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.

Breakdown

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. An unintentional remark by teammate Wasp about Wanda's lost children apparently drove her over the edge. 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. Others were injured or affected by various odd outbursts and incidents, including Vision, who was killed by She-Hulk after he attacked the Avengers due to Wanda causing him to lose control of his actions. The remaining Avengers gathered including a number of reservists.

Mystic Arcana

Doctor Strange appeared, sensing abuse of magic, and angry that he had not been notified of Wanda's recent problems. Strange was forced to use the Eye of Agamotto 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 was unable 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 (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.

"No more mutants"

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 added the mass de-powering of 90% of the entire mutant population, thus being responsible for many deaths. Surviving mutants and ex-mutants referred to this as "M-Day: The worst day in mutant history."

Post-House of M

After the fallout, the resurrected Clint Barton tracked Wanda to a small village near Wundagore Mountain, where he unknowingly saved her from a thief. Wanda was living in a small apartment with her only relative, her "Aunt Agatha" (who was never seen, but could possibly have been a manifestation of Wanda's now-dead mentor Agatha Harkness; Wanda also mentioned this to Beast, saying she was stuck out here for purposes of looking after an "elderly relative" who would worry if she got home late, indicating that this aunt indeed existed in some form). She appeared to be powerless and believed that she had lived her entire life in the village. She did not recognize Hawkeye, nor did she remember her life with the Avengers or other events. Wanda told Hawkeye that he was her "hero" for dealing with the thief and kissed him, and they spent the night together. The following morning, while Wanda was sleeping, Hawkeye became curious about the next room where "Aunt Agatha" was supposedly sleeping, but the doorknob appeared to shift away from his hands, a subtle reality manipulation usually associated with the Scarlet Witch. However, Clint looked back to see that Wanda was still asleep.

The mutant Beast later found Wanda at the same village and sought her help to deal with the aftermath of M-Day. She had no memory of him either, and claimed that she did not believe in magic.

The Young Avengers Wiccan and Speed decided to find Wanda, as Wiccan wanted to know once and for all if she was indeed their mother. They traveled to several places connected to Wanda and themselves in their search, but Wiccan was unable to detect any sign of Wanda's magic. Wiccan and Speed united to search for her around the planet, but both ultimately failed, though they were told by Master Pandemonium that they had to cease their quest to seek her, lest risk unleashing the darkness of the Witch's past yet again.

Later, the Asgardian god Loki, concealed in an astral form by simple spells and illusions, disguised herself as Wanda and assembled a new team of Mighty Avengers to be led by Hank Pym to oppose Chthon. Chthon was eventually banished back to his own dimension, and his human vessel Quicksilver was released from his control. Loki's goal was to prevent another god of chaos from laying siege to the Nine Worlds and cracking Norman Osborn's armor to quicken his fall. She continued to assemble the Mighty Avengers, who remained unaware of Loki's involvement.

None were aware that the true Wanda had yet to reemerge from seclusion, as only Clint Barton, Beast and higher powers than they, such as the Living Tribunal or Uatu knew of her status. Quicksilver, having joined the Mighty Avengers, sought to use his position on the team to find her, a desire not missed by the impassive Loki. Pym also wanted to use Pietro in turn to solve the mysterious return of Wanda Maximoff.

Agamotto later detected her presence and displays her as one of thirty possible candidates for the role of Sorcerer Supreme through his Eye, but due to her apparent lack of magic and past instability refrained from selecting her, instead choosing Brother Voodoo to fill the position.

The Children's Crusade

The Children's Crusade

Wanda was found in Latveria by her alleged son Wiccan. She seemingly lost all her memories and powers and was engaged to Victor von Doom. Wiccan told her about who she was, and what she did. He also told her about her twin sons, and almost told about his suspicions that he and Speed were actually her reincarnated sons. His story was interrupted by the battle between the Avengers, the Young Avengers, Magneto and Doctor Doom. Wolverine tried to kill Wanda, but was stopped by Iron Lad, who teleported the Young Avengers and Wanda into the timestream.

They all went into the past, and met reanimated Jack of Hearts, who exploded. After that Wanda remembered who she is, and regained her powers and returned herself, the Young Avengers and Scott Lang to the present. She then finally confirmed that Billy and Tommy were indeed her reincarnated sons.

Realizing that her sons are alive Wanda met with X-Factor and re-powered Rictor, planning to restore powers of all depowered mutants who wanted it.

It was revealed that Wanda's ability was brought about when Doctor Doom assisted her in becoming a conduit for Life Force itself, in an effort to recreate her children. The power was too great for her to control, leading to her breakdown. Doom stole Wanda's power and became omnipotent, but while battling the Avengers and the X-Men, his powers overloaded, leaving him with his scarred face again and powerless. Unable to continue the battle, he teleported himself away. The X-Men agreed to leave her be, Magneto and Quicksilver both wished to spend time with her as a family and Captain America offered her a spot in the Avengers but Wanda declined saying she needed to be alone.

Avengers vs. X-Men

Wanda played a key role during the events featured in AvX. After defeating both M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. with the help of Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman, she visited Avengers Mansion but was not welcomed by Vision. She then began to have visions of the Phoenix Force; and during one of those visions, she foresaw a future in which the Phoenix killed the original Avengers.

Believing the Mutant Messiah to be the key to defeating the Phoenix Five, which consisted of the Phoenix Avatars Cyclops, Emma, Namor, Magik, and Colossus, the Avengers launched an operation to extract Hope from Utopia. If it wasn't for Wanda, they would have been defeated by Cyclops. Wanda convinced Hope to go with the Avengers, as Cyclops vowed that he would no longer tolerate the Avengers.

After a confrontation between the Avengers and the Phoenix Five, in which Wanda defeated Magik, she began to train Hope with Spider-Man's help in Wakanda, but the Phoenix Five decided to take Hope back with them. Hope revealed that Wanda was the only Avenger the X-Men feared and respected. Doctor Strange gave Amulets of Illusion to different Avengers to make them appear as Wanda when she wasn't present, in hopes of scaring the Phoenix Five. It worked to a degree and bought the other Avengers time to complete missions across the globe. The Phoenix Five began to suspect the many-Wandas were an illusion, so Namor decided to attack one of them. Much to his disappointment, she was the real Scarlet Witch and she defeated him. Namor then led the Atlanteans into war against Wakanda, and nearly defeated all of the Avengers, until Wanda showed up and defeated him.

Meanwhile Iron Fist had taken Hope and Wolverine to K'un-Lun to hide and prepare for a confrontation with the Phoenix Five.

Hope Vs. Wanda

When Cyclops learned of their location, he decided to travel there and take Hope back with him, but Hope used Wanda's and Shao Lao the dragon's power to send him to the Moon. After a brief confrontation between Hope and Wanda, which was stopped by Captain America, the Avengers came to realize Cyclops had become the sole-wielder of the Phoenix Force. Cyclops took the title Dark Phoenix after killing Professor X.

The Dark Phoenix began to burn the world so Wanda and Hope decided to join forces in order to stop him. Together, they managed to take down Dark Phoenix. The Phoenix escaped Cyclops's body and entered Hope's. Hope used its power to reverse the damage and destruction caused by Dark Phoenix and restore the mutant population. Then, as Wanda had once used her powers to wish away mutants by uttering the words, "No more mutants," Wanda and Hope joined their powers and wished, "No more Phoenix." It is unknown if Phoenix was destroyed or merely banished from the Earth by the spell.

Uncanny Avengers

While visiting Charles Xavier's grave, Wanda was approached by Rogue who tried to make her leave. The two wound up fighting, when they were captured by the Red Skull. The Red Skull also took Xavier's corpse and cut out his brain, claiming his vast telepathic powers for himself. The Red Skull then used his powers to brainwash Wanda into helping him de-power mutantkind once again. While tracking down Rogue who had escaped his custody, Wanda encountered Xavier's corpse which snapped her out of the Skull's control. Scarlet Witch and Rogue were mentally controlled into allowing being executed by the mentally-controlled mutant-hating crowd Red Skull gathered, but snapped back once the Avengers Unity Division appeared to fight Shmidt. After Red Skull and his S-Men escaped, Wanda and Rogue joined the Avengers Unity Division.

During a mission involving the Apocalypse Twins, Wanda was killed by Rogue who thought she had betrayed the team. Her death was undone when Havok and the surviving members of the Unity Squad were sent from the future by Kang to stop the twins from destroying Earth, their minds projected back into their past selves so that they could transfer most of their powers to Rogue and give her the strength to fight back. After the crisis was over, Rogue was in the process of being driven mad by all the heroes she had absorbed. The Scarlet Witch cast a spell to return those powers to their owners, although Rogue still retained the powers and the very essence she absorbed from Wonder Man.

AXIS

Months after the battle against the Twins, Wanda, Rogue and Alex were abducted by Red Skull's S-Men and taken to his re-education camps in Genosha. After escaping, they encountered Magneto also trapped in there. They broke him free and confronted the Red Skull and the S-Men.

Fueled by MGH, Magneto killed the S-Men, and beat the Red Skull to death, accidentally unleashing the Red Onslaught, the merging of the Skull with the dark and powerful Onslaught. They were soon aided by the Avengers, X-Men, and allies of both teams, who arrived to Genosha upon learning about the Red Onslaught's existence. However, the Red Onslaught deployed their own version of the Sentinels made specifically to battle heroes. In the ensuing battle against the Sentinels, the Scarlet Witch was neutralized along with numerous other heroes. After being broken free by a group of super villains gathered by Magneto to fight the Sentinels, Wanda and Doctor Doom performed a spell to invert the moral compass of the Red Skull in order to defeat him. The spell worked and the Red Onslaught was defeated, but the spell also accidentally affected everyone in Genosha, turning heroes into villains and vice versa.

Under the influence of the inversion spell, the Scarlet Witch set out to kill Doctor Doom in revenge for his manipulations. Magneto and Quicksilver joined forces to prevent Wanda from crossing the line, but failed. Using a spell meant to affect those with blood ties to her, Wanda seemingly killed Quicksilver. To her surprise, the spell didn't affect Magneto, revealing that the Master of Magnetism wasn't actually her father.

Doom briefly fled from the fight, to bring back Doctor Voodoo, who used the spirit of his brother Daniel to possess Wanda so she could "cooperate" in the conjuration of a reinversion spell, which successfully brought almost everyone back to normal, including the Scarlet Witch. In the wake of the conflict, the Avengers Unity Division was reassembled.

Counter-Earth

Wanda and Pietro returned to the Wundagore Mountains to find out their true parentage, and they were brought to the reformed Counter-Earth, which the High Evolutionary used to test and try to create his perfect New Men. The twins encountered the Low Evolutionary, the leader of a resistance formed by the High Evolutionary's rejects.

After being tracked down and defeated by Luminous, a new creation by the High Evolutionary with both Quicksilver's and Scarlet Witch's powers, Wanda and Pietro were brought to the High Evolutionary himself. He revealed to them that Django and Marya Maximoff were their true parents, as well as the truth that the twins were supposedly not mutants but they had been experimented on by the High Evolutionary. After escaping from the Evolutionary's experimentations, Pietro and Wanda located the Avengers Unity Division, who had traveled to the Counter-Earth looking for the twins, and helped the inhabitants of Lowtown, a refuge for the High Evolutionary's rejects, from their creator's assault. After the High Evolutionary was forced to flee through a portal once he was defeated, the Unity Division returned to Earth.

All-New, All-Different Marvel

Seeking to find her place after all the revelations of her true past, Wanda found herself investigating a recent disruption in magic, as well as meeting the spirit of her biological mother, Natalya Maximoff (Django Maximoff's sister), who was apparently the Scarlet Witch before Wanda. When the second superhero Civil War began, Pietro came to ask Wanda for help, but Wanda refused, because she and Pietro disagreed on which side was right—Pietro not liking the idea of profiling people based on what they might do and Wanda feeling that thinking about the future would have prevented many of their more dangerous mistakes in the past. Past precedent made Wanda feel that introducing her powers to a conflict of this nature could make the situation more dangerous (plus she distrusted Tony Stark), and she resented Pietro for trying to tell her what to do as though she was a child, bluntly informing him that his refusal to learn from his mistakes marked him as a sociopath.

Secret Empire

When Captain America launched a plan of conquest after having been secretly turned into a Hydra sleeper agent by a sentient Cosmic Cube, the Scarlet Witch joined other superheroes in Washington, D.C. in trying to stop Hydra from taking control of the capital. They ultimately failed, and in the process Hydra neutralized Wanda by having her become possessed by Chthon once again. Under possession, Wanda joined Hydra's Avengers. She was eventually freed from Chthon's possession by Doctor Strange during the final battle against Hydra. After the fall of Hydra's regime, Scarlet Witch rejoined the Avengers Unity Division and helped them defeat an out-of-control Graviton.

Empyre

Still feeling guilty for her past transactions against mutants, Wanda decided to try and reverse another of the genocides that mutants had suffered, namely the devastation of Genosha by Cassandra Nova, shortly before Wanda's own mass depowering of the mutant population. Doctor Strange advised against her efforts, but Wanda spent a year attempting to resurrect these dead mutants, unaware of Xavier and the Five being able to achieve this themselves. The spell that Wanda cast did not work, causing the mutants she raised on Genosha to instead be brought back as the undead. Wanda sought help from Doctor Strange, who gave her aid while also holding her accountable. Strange was able to counter Wanda's spell but as it would take 30 days to fully return all the dead, a barrier was placed around Genosha to prevent any of the dead from leaving. This barrier didn't stop the living from entering the island though, as the Cotati proved when they set up a base on the island as part of an attempted invasion of Wakanda, leading to them being attacked by the mutant zombies. When the Gateways on Krakoa were affected, a team of X-Men were sent to investigate and wound up under siege until the spell took effect and the dead returned to death. The X-Men remained unaware that these events had been caused by Wanda.

Wanda would then be chosen as part of a team by the Black Panther to investigate the Savage Land, alongside Brother Voodoo, the Black Knight, Ka-Zar, the ruler of the Savage Land, and his sabretooth tiger Zabu. While investigating the dead body of a Tyrannosaurus rex, Wanda sensed that the group had been surrounded, moments before they came under attack from the Cotati. One of the Cotati, Veltri, unleashed a controlled Man-Thing against the team and also revealed that they had Ka-Zar's wife, Shanna, under their control as well. Shanna attempted to convince her husband to join the Cotati while Wanda and the rest of the team were imprisoned or immobilized. Wanda was able to employ her magic to take Ka-Zar into his wife's mind to learn more about what was going on as well as freeing her from the Cotati. After Ka-Zar was stabbed by the Black Knight's Ebony Blade, Wanda and Doctor Voodoo worked together to remove Ka-Zar's soul from the blade while Shanna utilized waters that had been used to resurrect her, on Ka-Zar.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Chaos Magic: Wanda's main power is the superhuman ability to manipulate the powerful magic known as Chaos magic which allows her to alter reality and control various forms of mystical energy. Wanda received the "blessing" of the old God of chaos, Chthon, who came to her, the day she was born, which would allow her to use his chaos magic as her own and this would increase Wanda's natural ability to magic. It was later revealed that Chthon has never wanted to "bless" Wanda with his magic, but to use her as a "vessel" that he could one day possess, when she was a full-grown adult and reached her full potential, though his schemes to do so were foiled by the Avengers.

Magic: Wanda also possesses the ability to manipulate magic. Wanda has inherited her witchcraft powers from her true mother, who is the original Scarlet Witch, who hails from a long line of sorcerers, meaning that Wanda was born a human with the affinity to control magic, allowing her to use the witchcraft she was born with and that her powers were never gave to her by the High Evolutionary as it was believed rather, he had altered her so Wanda is more receptive to magical energy. She stated that her magic is far from chaotic, and that her witchcraft powers and intensity are linked to the energy of earth and womankind. She's feared and famed as one of the most powerful magic users on the planet. She was even chosen to be one of the candidates as the next Sorcerer Supreme.

Wanda's magic

She is actually considered the very Nexus Being of the central universe of Earth-616, serving as the entity that personifies the realm's character and serves as the focal point or anchor of that reality (Uatu described a nexus-being as one of the "rare individual entities with the power to affect probabilities-and thus the future"), making her along the scales of class and power as the other known nexus-beings. As a Nexus Being, Wanda is also a living focal point for earth's mystical energies and she belongs equally to all possible timelines -- all realities and divergences. The Scarlet Witch was trained by Agatha Harkness, who taught her how to control and use her powers for many mystical purposes.

Spells and Phrases: Wanda has a vast knowledge of mystical spells and incantations invoking names and aspects of various extra-dimensional objects, beings and sources of power. Although Wanda has shown the ability to cast "spells" by only saying or focusing on what she wants to happen, this could be related to the nature of her powers. Wanda has casted and used many different kind of spells and phrases including, but not limited to:

• Astral Projection: She is able to project her spirit or astral form out of her physical body in order to travel into the spirit world or the astral plane. She still can use her powers in her astral form and can do this even while unconscious.

• Binding: Wanda has the power to bind and stop someone from moving with her magic and she has used this to stop someone as strong as Colossus.

• Biological Manipulation: Her sorcery allows her to manipulate life on cellular level as well as control all aspects of living creature's biological make-up. For an instance, she can heal different kinds of injures and wounds She once tries to age Jennifer's gamma radioactivity until it's inert. She also has linked the Hulk and a bunch of other Hulks, allowing Banner to merge with them.

• Bond Manipulation: Can manipulate and induce bond of others. She is able to strengthen the bond between the Bloodwraith and the Slorenia itself, to its boundaries as well as its people, trapping the Bloodwraith within the country.

• Chaos Manipulation: Maximoff has the ability to control chaos and manipulate chaotic forces, like she did against the In-Betweener, restoring him to a whole being, after he tapped her powers.

• Clairvoyance: Wanda Maximoff has the ability to receive information about a person or an object even though she has never directly seen them before. She also has the ability to predict the future. She has used a divination spell to search Hope Summers' location and she has had a dream about Black Knight's fate when he was in another dimension.

• Energy Constructs: As an experienced magic user, Scarlet Witch has performed the ability to turn her magical energy into tools, objects, weapons, and other items to suit her needs. She has created a shield, sword, knife, sharp whip and other projectiles, weapons and constructions of mystical energy.

• Energy Manipulation: Wanda is capable to manipulate various forms of energy.
  • Energy Absorption: Wanda was capable to absorb and channel energy. Wanda once absorbed Wonder Man's ionic powers as a power source and used it to teleport all of mutantkind into a spaceship.
  • Energy Projection: Wanda was capable to release and project powerful energy blasts of various shapes and/or intensities, such as bolts, beams, bursts and waves, that can knock, destroy, and annihilate her targets. Wanda has shown that her energy blasts can knock out god-like beings. This ability becomes the most frequently she uses in almost every fight.
  • Energy Transferal: Wanda was capable to take energies from one target and put or transfer it into another several targets or beings. Wanda once returned so many energies Rogue has borrowed back to their previous owners.

• Flight: Maximoff has also proven to be able to fly at will. She can also give others the ability to do so. The full extent of this ability is unknown, but she was capable of fighting an enemy while flying. She has also shown the ability to levitate, as she has done while meditating in the lotus position.

• Force Field: As one of the most powerful witch on the planet, Wanda Maximoff has shown to be capable of projecting powerful fields and shields of mystical energy that she can use for many different purposes. She was capable to protect herself and her allies against many destructive attacks such as bullets, blasts, or explosions. She was also capable to use her force field to contain many items, as well as to prevent someone from teleporting, like she did to Voyager. Not only that, she was also capable to defend herself automatically, meaning her powers can defend her against attacks without her conscious will.

• Gravity Manipulation: In a rare occasion, the Scarlet Witch has proven to be able to alter and control gravity. She has diminished the effect of gravity itself.

• Illusion Casting: Wanda has demonstrated the power to generate and cast realistic illusion. With this power, she was able to fool her enemies like she did to Emerald Warlock. Wanda has also demonstrated the power to create and shape holograms to entertain or to help her explain about any event or incident better.

• Invisibility: Maximoff possesses the ability to make objects or people unseen, casting an invisibility spell on Wonder Man.

• Magical Awareness: Scarlet Witch has displayed the ability to be aware of almost anything that affects her and her surroundings. She can track people and objects easily over any distance or conditions. She once traced where Dr. Strange last used his magical energies.

• Mechanical Manipulation: Can control and manipulate machine as well as mechanical objects. As seen for example, she is able to freeze up, control, and damage Alkhema's internal molecular rearranger.

• Nature Manipulation: Wanda has shown to be capable to manipulate and command nature at her will. She also has an affinity with nature due to her witch training.
  • Elemental Manipulation: Wanda can control and generate the elements. She stated that power over natural or classic elements comes more easily to her.
    • Aerokinesis: Able to magically manipulate air and oxygen.
    • Chlorokinesis: Able to magically manipulate plants.
    • Cryokinesis: Able to magically manipulate ice.
    • Electrokinesis: Able to magically manipulate electricity.
    • Ferrokinesis: Able to magically manipulate metal.
    • Geokinesis: Able to magically manipulate earth and rocks.
    • Geo-Thermokinesis: Able to magically manipulate lava.
    • Hydrokinesis: Able to magically manipulate water.
    • Photokinesis: Able to magically manipulate light.
    • Pyrokinesis: Able to magically manipulate fire.
    • Typhokinesis: Able to magically manipulate smoke.
    • Umbrakinesis: Able to magically manipulate darkness.
  • Organic Manipulation: Wanda can manipulate and control all things organic. She has manipulated wood and cotton thread against Moondragon.
  • Thermokinesis: Wanda can control and manipulate temperature. She has used her power to cool the lava which Dormammu needed for his regeneration.
  • Weather Control: Wanda can manipulate and influence the weather, creating rain in a certain area.

• Necromancy: Maximoff can contact and communicate with the deceased. She has done it to make contact with the Slorenian dead.

• Non-Physical Interaction: Wanda Maximoff has the power that allows her to affect and harm intangible beings, such as ghosts, intangible demons, spirits, and Vision.

• Portal Creation: The Scarlet Witch is able to open magical portals and gates to another location, gaining the ability to move tremendous distances instantaneously.

• Power Resistance: She has resistance to certain attacks, abilities, and powers that can affect and harm her. She is resistant to various types of magic and energy. She also has resistance against reality warping, probability manipulation, elemental forces, and even the Phoenix Force.

• Protection: Wanda can cast the spell of protection so that she and her teammates can be protected against certain danger. She has casted protection hex to herself, Thor, and Odin to keep them safe from knee-deep acid. She also has maintained protective aura around the Avengers and the civilians, keep them safe from the ruins.

• Purification: During her time as a mystic, Maximoff has demonstrated the ability to purify any kind of objects. She has magically purified a lake and thrown a demon, who at the time possessed 2 people, in it to protect the victims. She used spell in this case.

• Reality Warping: One of the most well known powers that Wanda Maximoff has is her ability to shape, warp, defy and bend reality itself. She has been stated as one of the world's greatest and most dangerous reality warpers. She can use this ability to create anything and everything from nothing and can disintegrate as well as erase person or object from existence. She can also combine her physical combat with her reality warping power, as she did against Hope Summers.

• Replication: The Scarlet Witch is capable of replicating and multiplying herself and others. She has used this power to multiply germs in the Wrecking Crew’s bodies, incapacitating them with sickness.

• Scanning: She was capable to invoke Thoth's Gaze to examine an area within the Savage Land and see what non-native beings had been there. Also, while using this spell, she could see that she and her teammates were in the middle of an ambush.

• Scrying: Wanda can hear, view, and observe people's location by making projection image that shows event that is happening in faraway place.

• Soul Manipulation: Maximoff has proven to be capable to manipulate soul. She can use her magic to summon spirits from the afterlife and can resurrect the dead and bring them back to life. She was also capable to practice exorcism as well as read other people's aura so that she could determine if they are align with good or evil.

• Superpower Manipulation: Wanda Maximoff has demonstrated the power to manipulate superpowers of others by various means. Her magic allows her to control, absorb or steal, and boost or enhance any kind of superpowers that her targets have. Her magic also allows her to cancel, block, or negate the effect of her enemies' powers and reflect or redirect any power that is projected against Wanda herself.

• Telekinesis: Scarlet Witch possesses the power to move, stop, and manipulate objects. She has reacted and stopped Sabretooth who tried to catch her as well as thrown a truck at Thor.

• Telepathy: Wanda has demonstrated the ability to enter, manipulate, and alter people's mindscape with or without the targets' agreement. She was able to take herself and Ka-Zar into Shanna's mind in order to free her from mind control. She was also able to induce other people to sleep, control the minds of others, and create realistic illusions in the minds of others to trick her opponents, like she did to Maynard Tiboldt. And not only that, she was even able to communicate and torture other people mentally, as well as read the mind of other beings.
  • Emotion Manipulation: Wanda has demonstrated the ability to affect and control the emotion of others. She is capable to feel the pain and anger of the Slorenian dead. She is also capable to induce fear of others.

• Teleportation: Maximoff can teleport herself and others to any place she/they want across large distances. She was able to travel interdimensionally. Also, she can summon/teleport persons or objects to her or any other people's location and can banish/teleport away person or objects from her location.

• Time Manipulation: Wanda Maximoff has proven to be capable of manipulating and controlling time. As a nexus being, Wanda also has the ability to alter the probabilities of cosmic timelines. She was able to stop and slow down time. She once conjured a spell that causes a person’s body to rapidly break down as if it has endured five thousand years of "wear and tear" over a period of a mere five seconds.

• Transmutation: The Scarlet Witch can transform or transmute anything into anything else, such as when she change her clothes in an instant. She also has transmuted ice and snow into steam as well as transmuted Thor's lightning into butterflies.

• Witch Sight: Wanda can see things beyond what normal humans can. For example, she was able to see an enhanced and invisible Man-Bull. She was also able to see Agatha Harkness's spirit and Moondragon's psychic assault which had been stated that no human eye could.

• Probability Manipulation: Wanda has been stated as a probability manipulator of the highest order. Initially, Wanda had the ability to manipulate probability via her "hexes" (often manifesting physically as "hex spheres" or "hex bolts") which manipulated energy fields and matter to varying degrees, and could disrupt time. These hexes were initially short range, and were limited to her line of sight. Casting a hex would initially require a gesture and concentration on her part, though the gestures were largely a focus for the concentration. Early in her career, her hexes were unconscious, and would be automatically triggered whenever she made a particular gesture, regardless of her intent. These hexes would only manifest as "bad luck," triggering negative effects. She later gained enough control over her powers that they only worked when she wanted them to, and they were not limited to negative effects. Wanda can use her hexes to cause a wide variety of phenomena, including, but not limited to:
  • Spontaneous combustion or melting.
  • Rapid or spontaneous decaying, breaking, healing, or fixing.
  • Molecular destabilization.
  • Energy control, transference, disruption, amplification, transmutation, and absorption.
  • Inertia redirection, amplification, disruption, and transference.
  • Lighting flammable objects.
  • Containing or removing air from a particular volume.
  • Cancelling others powers and abilities.
  • Stopping the momentum of projectiles.
  • Blocking, unlocking, closing and opening doors, objects and technological devices.
  • Exploding and summoning objects.
  • Creating force fields.
  • Deflecting normal, physical and magical attacks.
  • Negating or distorting physical laws and manipulating physical forces.
  • Altering, affecting, and controlling matter, the molecular composition and physical state/form of physical objects.
  • Causing various forms of energy to spontaneously appear or disappear.
  • Altering size and gravity, as well as manipulating weather and technology.
  • Animating stuff and sustaining the atmosphere.

Her powers, while beginning to unveil a higher potential, appeared capable of prevailing against the mastered mystical power of Dormammu in his own Dark Dimension when she and the Avengers fought against him for Avalon's Evil Eye, albeit indirectly by disrupting the energies of Dormammu and the Eye. She has trained often at using her hexes to deflect projectiles or to cause enemies to stumble or otherwise suffer the effects of "bad luck." This makes her one of the few Avengers that Ultron fears as his adamantium shell cannot repel magic. Wanda can also project very powerful blasts, orbs, waves, and beams of hex energy for a different purpose, such as to destroy or hit objects or people with a great force, illuminate an area, etc, as well as, generate energy constructions such as force fields or screens of hex energy.

Former Powers

Life Force & Telepathy Resistance: While acting as a conduit for the planet's Life Force, Wanda's powers were further amplified and not always under her conscious control; their effects persisted even after Dr. Strange's Eye of Agamotto shut down her mind. Even the combined efforts of the Sorcerer Supreme and Earth's most formidable psychic mind were unable to fully inhibit such effects for long.

While she served as a conduit for the Earth's Life Force, her power was so great that, she was able to generate armies from nowhere and had also altered the entire Earth-616 reality at will, and permanently shifted the nature of all possible futures without realizing what she had done. Wanda was also shown to easily bring and wipe any in her own illusory reality from existence with but a thought. In the "House of M" reality that she created, her chaos wave was so powerful that even Meggan, who absorbed the power of the Beyonders, could only stop it for a few seconds. Wanda even cast one "spell" that caused the loss of most of the mutant population their powers, leaving only around three hundred powered mutants left, through the deletion of the Mutant Genome created by the near-omnipotent Celestials on a planetary scale. It was revealed by Doctor Strange to Beast that this lasting spell was of such complexity and strength that it had woven itself into reality and the world of magic itself, and that if he were to even to try to reverse it, all of reality would implode. Wanda was even able of heal the severely damaged legs of Charles Xavier while all his Earth and alien friends, allies, and colleagues efforts (including even giving Xavier a new body) apparently failed for countless years. Wanda was also able to resurrect and reanimate the dead (as she did with Wonder Man, Jack of Hearts, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Agatha Harkness, and Mad Jim Jaspers).

Abilities

Aviation Intuition: Wanda has great and proficient skill in piloting aircraft.

Dancing: Maximoff has proven herself capable of doing one of the traditional dances of her childhood in front of many people.

Expert Combatant: The Scarlet Witch has been trained in hand-to-hand combat by Captain America, Hawkeye, and Bobbi. She was able to combine her physical combat with her magic.

Expert Tactician & Leadership: Wanda is skilled in the planning and execution of tactics, when sane, with this coming from the experience and leadership skills gained through years of active duty as an Avenger.

Horse Riders Aptitude: Wanda Maximoff has great amount of knowledge in horse riding. She once rides alongside with Wonder Man, impressing him.

Meditation: Maximoff has shown capable of meditating. By doing this, she can develop and train her abilities as well as practice her magic. Through meditation, she is also able to be more focused to cast spell better.

Multilingual: Scarlet Witch is fluent in several languages include English, French, and German, with at least some knowledge of Greek and Slorenian, however, in the case of the latter, she admits to being more comfortable speaking English. It is possible that she knows other language as well: for example, since she was born and raised in Serbia, it is likely that she knows Serbian and, since her foster parents were members of the Romani community, she may know one or more dialects of Romani as well. Her brother speaks fluent Russian and seems surprised that the other Avengers don't, suggesting that Wanda may also speak it.

Occultism & Magical Knowledge: Due to her mystic lore, Wanda is taught magic and witchcraft by Agatha Harkness and Doctor Strange. She also recently learns with her mother. Because of her power, knowledge, and experience, she is often the Avengers' go-to person for all things involving magic or the supernatural. Wanda taught Pixie a sleeping spell and taught the students of Strange Academy about the Elements of Chaos. She is considered to be one of Marvel's most prominent mystics.

Swimming: Maximoff has displayed the ability to swim and fight in the water.

Yoga: The Scarlet Witch has the ability to utilize Yoga. She can use yoga to help relax herself as well as rein in her darker thoughts.

Weaknesses

Former Weaknesses

Mental Illness: Although she appears to be currently sane, her mental stability is still questionable. Wanda has undergone mental breakdowns, episodes of mental illness, and severe suicidal depression relating to her powers and personal traumas. Even so, Wanda has admitted that her mental health is better.

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

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

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

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Avengers Identicard

Crystal Ball: Wanda has used the crystal ball in order to communicate with Agatha.

Falcon: Early in her career, Maximoff has shown to have a trained Falcon. But now, it is still unclear, whether if she still has it or not.

Former Equipment

Magical Scepter: Formed by combining the World Tree Root, the Tri-Crown of the Chaos Godhead and the Eye of Alak-Rah, it was capable of resurrecting beings albeit in form of zombies.

Transportation

Avengers Quinjet

Notes

• Scarlet Witch was featured in Mystic Arcana [1].
• Scarlet Witch designed Goliath's first costume (blue & yellow).
• Wanda frequently suffers from possessions of evil and magic. This means that her body will be evil for a time, while her soul is not. Past possessors include: The Life Force, Chaos Magic, the demon Chthon, and once, accidentally, a spell cast by herself and Victor von Doom.

Relationships

• Wanda briefly dated Angel.
• Wanda was briefly engaged to Doctor Doom.

Trivia

• Wanda is a vegetarian and doesn't drink alcohol.
• In the first flashback to Transia, Wanda receives her codename when an unnamed villager claims that she is "a Scarlet Witch." It is left unclear at the time if she is the only Scarlet Witch, or even the first one which the villagers have encountered (it was later revealed that her birth mother was also known as the Scarlet Witch).
• While Wanda agreed to help Magneto in his plans of conquest, she protested against murdering their opponents. She pointed to Magneto that he had never told her that the Brotherhood would ever descend to murder.
• According to Wanda herself, there are other two women that happen to share her name living in Manhattan. They sometimes get calls meant for each other.
• Charles Xavier has claimed that Wanda is unable to have children.
• In Tarot #3 the two halves of Scarlet Witch merged with the halves of Doctor Strange and Namor the Sub-Mariner to create Scarlet Strange and Imperius Hex.

See Also

• 1287 appearance(s) of Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)
• 31 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)
• 252 minor appearance(s) of Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)
• 179 mention(s) of Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)
• 29 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)
• 1448 image(s) of Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)
• 73 quotation(s) by or about Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)
• 6 victim(s) killed by Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)
• 10 item(s) used/owned by Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Wanda Maximoff on Wikipedia.org
• Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616) at comicbookdb.com
• uncannyxmen.net Spotlight On... Scarlet Witch
• Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616) at the Second String Sanctuary