Several different versions of Wanda Maximoff's Scarlet Witch have been introduced to the MCU. Since her debut in 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff has become one of the most popular characters in the MCU, and has proven time and again that she is one of the most powerful beings in the franchise. Following her starring role in WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the Scarlet Witch's popularity has only increased, spurring hopes that she'll return to the MCU despite her emotional sacrifice.
|
Scarlet Witch's MCU Project |
Year |
Role |
|---|---|---|
|
Captain America: The Winter Soldier |
2014 |
Earth-616's Scarlet Witch |
|
Avengers: Age of Ultron |
2015 |
Earth-616's Scarlet Witch |
|
Captain America: Civil War |
2016 |
Earth-616's Scarlet Witch |
|
Avengers: Infinity War |
2018 |
Earth-616's Scarlet Witch |
|
Avengers: Endgame |
2019 |
Earth-616's Scarlet Witch |
|
WandaVision |
2021 |
Earth-616's Scarlet Witch |
|
What If...? Season 1 |
2021 |
Zombie Scarlet Witch |
|
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness |
2022 |
Earth-616 & Earth-838's Scarlet Witch |
|
What If...? Season 2 |
2023 |
Wanda Merlin |
|
Marvel Zombies |
2025 |
Zombie Scarlet Witch |
Wanda Maximoff has been central to some of the MCU's biggest storylines, having been featured as an Avenger during battles against Ultron and Thanos, and having opened the door for the multiverse to be explored in Phase 4. Her official evolution into the Scarlet Witch will be remembered as one of the MCU's most impactful moments, but her demise has created the opportunity for new variants to be developed. Elizabeth Olsen will return to the MCU to voice the Scarlet Witch in a 2025 Marvel Animation show, which will release prior to Wanda Maximoff's much-anticipated live-action return.
Earth-838’s Wanda Maximoff
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)
The only other live-action version of Wanda Maximoff introduced to the MCU alongside Elizabeth Olsen's original character helms from the alternate reality of Earth-838. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness marked tragedy for 838-Wanda Maximoff, as the Scarlet Witch from Earth-616 dream-walked into her body in an effort to track down multiversal traveler America Chavez and her protector, Doctor Strange. This leads her to the headquarters of Earth-838's Illuminati team, most of whom are brutally murdered by the Scarlet Witch in 838-Wanda Maximoff's body.
While Wanda Maixmoff returned home to her children, Billy and Tommy, after the Scarlet Witch ceased her dream-walking, Earth-838's Maximoff family was once again met by the Scarlet Witch when America Chavez opened a portal to this reality. Giving the Scarlet Witch exactly what she wanted, a way to reunite with her children, who were both created and ceased to exist in WandaVision, America Chavez forced Earth-616's Wanda Maximoff to see the error of her ways. She was comforted by Earth-838's Wanda Maximoff before returning to Mount Wundagore and sacrificing herself.
Following the events of 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there has been speculation about the MCU revisiting Earth-838 to reveal what happened in the wake of the Scarlet Witch's attack on the Illuminati. While it was Wanda Maximoff's body that attacked the superhero team, it's unlikely the citizens of Earth-838 would blame her, as it was Earth-616's Scarlet Witch's doing. This could lead some formidable 838 heroes to travel to the MCU's Sacred Timeline seeking vengeance, which could be a crucial storyline in Marvel Studios' upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars.
Wanda Merlin
What If…? Season 2 (2023)
Wanda Merlin is the most recent version of the Scarlet Witch introduced to the MCU, debuting as the version of the character originating from the medieval-themed universe of 1602 from What If...? season 2. Wanda Merlin used her Chaos Magic to open a portal that allowed Captain Carter to arrive in 1602, tasked with tracking down a Forerunner whose existence in the time period was causing a devastating incursion event to grow exponentially. Wanda Merlin wasn't the focus of What If...? season 2, episode 8, "What If... the Avengers Assembled in 1602?," but still had a crucial role.
Wanda Merlin played a pivotal role in returning Rogers Hood, a time-displaced Captain America, back to his original timeline and preventing an incursion. It's unclear whether Wanda Merlin will return in the upcoming What If...? season 3, or whether even more variants of the Scarlet Witch will appear, as she wasn't featured in the series' first trailer. Scarlet Witch-related characters, including Agatha Harkness and Vision, will seemingly have a large role, however, so it's very possible new variants of the Scarlet Witch could debut in What If...? season 3.
In Marvel Comics' Marvel 1602 storyline from 2003, Wanda Maximoff is not the magical Merlin-like character, but rather a nun and a follower of Enrique, the High Inquisitor of the Spanish Catholic Church and this universe's version of Magneto. Sister Wanda and Petros are secretly Enrique's children, a fact he hid from them, just as they were in the main Marvel Comics universe prior to 2015's retcon which established Wanda and Pietro Maximoff as genetic experiments of the High Evolutionary. Wanda Merlin's role in What If...? season 2 was very different to her Marvel Comics counterpart.
Zombie Scarlet Witch
What If…? (2021-23) & Marvel Zombies (2025)
The zombified version of the Scarlet Witch was first seen in the MCU in What If...? season 1, episode 5, "What If... Zombies?!" This iteration helmed from a reality that found itself overridden by a zombie virus brought back from the Quantum Realm by Janet Van Dyne and Hank Pym at the time of 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp. This virus infected many of Earth's most powerful heroes, including Wanda Maximoff, who was kept hidden and fed by Vision before breaking free when Spider-Man, the Black Panther and Ant-Man's disembodied head took the Mind Stone.
Zombie Scarlet Witch is later transported to an uninhabited universe along with a horde of other zombies to distract Infinity Ultron during his rampage across the multiverse, and she becomes the only survivor of Infinity Ultron's planetary explosion before being captured by Doctor Strange Supreme and held captive in his Sanctum Infinitum in What If...? season 2, episode 9, "What If... Strange Supreme Intervened?" During battle against Captain Carter and the Tesseract-empowered Kahhori, the zombified Scarlet Witch was sent back to her own universe, where 2025's Marvel Zombies series may pick up.
Marvel Zombies will mark Elizabeth Olsen's return to the MCU, as she will reprise her voice role as Zombie Scarlet Witch in the animated series. Since heroes and villains retain their superpowers even when transformed into zombies, the Scarlet Witch as a zombie is an even more terrifying prospect who has been theorized to be leading the other hordes of zombies. She will be opposed by new teams of heroes in Marvel Zombies, which is expected to span four episodes and premiere on October 3, 2025, developing this variant of the Scarlet Witch more than others.
Wanda Maximoff’s Scarlet Witch
Earth-616’s Scarlet Witch Debuted In Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
The most developed and most well-known version of Wanda Maximoff's Scarlet Witch is Earth-616's original version of the character. Portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen in seven live-action MCU projects, Wanda Maximoff is one of the most troubled but powerful beings in history. Wanda was born a witch, and inadvertently used her probability-based abilities to stop a Stark Industries bomb from exploding and killing her and her brother, Pietro, when they were children. This kick-started a vendetta against Stark, which led the Maximoff twins into the arms of HYDRA.
HYDRA's experiments with the Mind Stone in Sokovia enhanced the Scarlet Witch's natural abilities, giving her access to Chaos Magic, while Pietro Maximoff was given super-speed abilities. The twins initially fought against the Avengers, but helped the superhero team defeat Ultron after learning his true intentions, culminating in Pietro's sacrifice and Wanda's recruitment into the Avengers team. She formed a romantic bond with Vision, who she was forced to kill in Avengers: Infinity War before Thanos turned back time and killed him again.
All this loss amounted to a huge amount of grief bubbling inside Wanda Maximoff, who inadvertently unleashed her Chaos Magic powers, shortly after Thanos' defeat in the Battle of Earth, to erect her Hex around the sleepy New Jersey town of Westview, where she and Vision had planned to live. WandaVision saw Wanda hold Westview's residents hostage, forcing them to play out sitcom-style scenarios in an effort to have a happy life with Vision and their kids, but this all came to a head when Agatha Harkness revealed herself and attempted to steal Wanda Maximoff's power.
WandaVision saw Wanda Maximoff officially embrace her role as the Scarlet Witch, a being destined to rule or destroy the world, which she learned more about in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. After traveling to Mount Wundagore, Wanda learned more about the prophecy of the Scarlet Witch, but also sacrificed herself, killing herself to destroy the Darkhold Castle and every multiversal copy of the book. Elizabeth Olsen has teased her MCU return as the Scarlet Witch, which is very exciting as she is a fan-favorite and one of Marvel's most formidable and significant characters.
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