Wanda Maximoff is neither hero nor villain

After three episodes of funny jokes from the classic sitcom, the fourth episode of WandaVision finally revealed what it is actually happening: The Scarlet Witch has transformed a New Jersey city into a classic TV reality, where she and the resurrected vision are the stars of the show. With five episodes remaining in the season, there are still many questions to be answered – we don’t know how the mysterious Westview Anomaly came about, or whether Vision is still alive. But one thing is clear: Wanda Maximoff is no longer a superhero.

The Scarlet Witch has been something of an anomaly, especially compared to the rest of the characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She is defined by her pain, and a rare example of a villain who has become a hero. His first suitable appearance in the franchise came in Ultron era, when she and her brother Pietro fought alongside the killer robot (which evidently should be referred to as the One Who Shouldn’t Be Named around Wanda today). Seeking revenge after Stark Industries’ technology killed their parents and left them orphans, Wanda and Pietro opposed the Avengers. They only changed sides when it became clear that Ultron’s evil plans extended beyond killing Tony Stark and company to, uh, wipe out the entire planet. Since then, Wanda has never truly been a traditional heroine or villain – it oscillates between good and evil, always acting according to your human emotions instead of any bigger agenda or moral code.

Last week’s fourth illuminating episode was a turnaround for Marvel and Wanda, because although she may be launching humans through brick walls with little hesitation, that “villain” title still doesn’t seem quite right either. The MCU had a badly cited villain problem in its more than 20 films, largely because many of its antagonists were vague and simplistic, poorly drawn figures that are there to inevitably be defeated in the end. (For each Erik Killmonger, there are several Malekiths, especially in the previous phases of the MCU. Go ahead and Google “Malekith” to remember who you are, I’ll still be here.) Wanda, meanwhile, is firmly in a gray area in a universe of characters basically in black and white. Inside WandaVision, your motives don’t look malicious in any way; she’s not just another villain who wants to see the world burn. Then again, she is acting out of self-interest, seeking to heal her pain by creating a world where it does not exist in the first place. The problem with this is that it is apparently escalating thousands of real people against their will to help them cope. Really think about it: so many have been displaced, turned into characters in a sitcom series directed and starring a lost superhero.

Disney +

Wanda Maximoff has always been one of the most complex characters in comics too, one of the few for which Marvel writers have explored mental health issues. She started out as a villain there too, as a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants, a group that essentially serves as the anti-X-Men, led by her father Magneto. And like her eventual turning point in the cinema, she becomes an Avenger, although she is erratic, suffers from mental breakdowns and, ultimately, is very powerful for her own good. The first half of WandaVisionthe only season is notably influenced by Tom King’s The vision and Steve Englehart The vision and the scarlet witch 12 editions run in the 1980s. The previous series focuses on Vision, some time after he and Wanda broke up, as he tries to start a new suburban life with a family of sintezoids he created, including a new wife he built using Wanda’s brain waves. The vision and the scarlet witch, meanwhile, finds the newlyweds moving to a New Jersey suburb as they desperately try to start a normal life together away from the Avengers. And yet the comic that seems to be serving as the biggest source of inspiration for WandaVision it’s not about the superhero couple experiencing the suburbs; instead, it’s the popular crossover series House of M, which places Wanda Maximoff firmly at the center of the entire Marvel universe.

The 2005 series begins with Wanda giving birth to twins, with Vision and Doctor Strange by her side – before the X-Men leader, Professor Xavier, orders her to return to what she was. Before long, the world returns to its current state, revealing a harsh truth: Wanda is alone with only Professor X in the room, facing the fact that she recently killed Vision and several other Avengers.

Wonderful

As a subsequent recap explains, six months earlier, Wanda “suffered a total nervous breakdown after losing control of his reality-altering powers,” and in the chaos that ensued, Hawkeye, Ant-Man and Vision were dead. As Wanda sinks more and more into depression, the Avengers and X-Men come together to discuss the tragic possibility of killing her to avoid further destruction. (I recently revisited the comic, and quickly remembered how dark, and even scary, House of M and sometimes; their influences may continue to show up on the show as the MCU dips its fingers into the horror genre for the first time, as it did in the last episode with a glimpse of Vision’s walking corpse.) But when the heroes travel to Genosha, the island nation and safe haven for mutants where Wanda is rehabilitating, she is no longer there. Moments after their arrival, the heroes begin to disappear; everything goes white; suddenly, the entire universe of Marvel comics turns into an alternative reality, shaped by Wanda’s vision of a better world. Wanda reshapes the entire planet, along with the lives of every human or superhuman on it, to create a new life in which she no longer suffers.

The scope of WandaVision it’s much smaller – it’s just a city in New Jersey. And the content looks lighter – sitcoms are fun, right? But at its core, the series is so bleak and similarly at the mercy of its oscillating protagonist.

However, while it certainly appears that Wanda is taking a dark turn that only the vision may be able to stop, there is still a chance that WandaVision it is not a story about Wanda’s transition to villainy. There is a popular fan theory emerging that it may be more of a red herring, and that its breakdown may – at least in part – be the work of a demon named Mephisto. The devil is essentially little more than the devil in Marvel comics, known for making those classically malicious and soul-swapping deals with desperate earthlings. He has connections with Wanda in the comics – she used fragments of her soul to give birth to her twin children. (This didn’t go well either, as I mentioned briefly a few weeks ago). There is a potentially telling phrase from the second episode, when the power-hungry city committee leader, Dottie, says, “The devil is in the details” and, in response, Agnes silently scoffs: “This is not the only place where he it is”. (We don’t know much about Agnes yet. She is somehow one of the few Westview residents who knows what it is. really happening in the city, and also the only person Jimmy Woo couldn’t find an ID for.)

Regardless of where your path takes you, this iteration of Wanda Maximoff was a revelation. Before this series, Wanda’s most memorable moment was being owned by Thanos—Now she is becoming a fully formed character and, honestly, one of the MCU’s most complex heroes. Elizabeth Olsen herself said she was comfortable with her little MCU corner, but WandaVision it gave her the lead role, and so far she has done a captivating performance to anchor the series and awaken Marvel from its pandemic-induced numbness. After a series of small roles, Olsen finally managed to bring a complicated and intriguing comic book character to life in all its glory.

Wanda’s story will not end at the end of this series, thanks to the fact that it is linked to Marvel’s agenda on the big screen. But WandaVision is writing an exciting new chapter – both for an old character and for the entire MCU.