Scarlet Witch

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Wanda Maximoff Scarlet Witch
Variant cover art from Scarlet Witch (vol. 3) #1 (January 2023). Art by Russell Dauterman.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The X-Men #4 (March 1964)
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Wanda Django Maximoff
Species	Human mutant (originally) Human mutate (retconned)
Team affiliations	Avengers A-Force Brotherhood of Mutants Defenders Force Works Lady Liberators Uncanny Avengers West Coast Avengers
Partnerships	Quicksilver Vision
Notable aliases	Wanda Frank Queen of Chaos[1] Empress of Magic[2]
Abilities	Superhuman genes allow energy and reality manipulation and powerful access to magical energies, such as chaos magic[3] Telekinesis Mind controlling and manipulation Teleportation, time manipulation (as a nexus being), reality warping[4][5][6] Probability manipulation Ability to sense magic Spell casting, witchcraft and black magic Flight

The Scarlet Witch or Wanda Maximoff is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The X-Men #4 (March 1964) in the Silver Age of Comic Books. Originally said to have the ability to alter probability, the Scarlet Witch has been depicted as a powerful sorceress since the 1980s and on occasion has become powerful enough to alter reality by tapping into greater energy sources.

The Scarlet Witch is first depicted as a reluctant supervillain along with her twin brother, Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver, both founding members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. A year after her debut, she joined the Avengers superhero team and ever since has often been depicted as a regular member of that or related teams (such as the West Coast Avengers and Force Works). In 1975, she married her android teammate Vision, later using borrowed magical forces to make herself pregnant, resulting in twin sons William ("Billy") and Thomas ("Tommy"). Stories in 1989 wiped Tommy and Billy from existence (they would later reappear as the heroes called Wiccan and Speed) and removed Vision's emotions, leading to the annulment of his and Wanda's marriage.

For most of her comic book history, the Scarlet Witch is portrayed as a mutant, a member of a fictional subspecies of humans born with an "X-gene" that grants superhuman abilities and traits, although multiple stories also say the nature of her mutant powers was influenced by the High Evolutionary experimenting on her when she was a child. A 2015 storyline revised Wanda's origin, establishing that her superhuman traits are entirely a result of experimentation done by the High Evolutionary and inherited magic abilities. Like Franklin Richards and other characters, her genetics are such that standard X-gene tests gave a false positive, meaning she was not actually born a mutant.^[7]

The character's in-universe backstory and parentage have changed more than once. During the 1960s, she and Quicksilver were said to be the mutant twin offspring of two unnamed parents. Later, it was said the children were given to the geneticist called the High Evolutionary, leaving their true parentage a mystery. In 1974, it was said their parents are Golden Age heroes Bob Frank / Whizzer and Madeline Joyce Frank / Miss America. Wanda then refers to herself as Wanda Frank for a time. In 1979, they are revealed to have been raised by human Romani parents, Django and Marya Maximoff. In 1982, Magneto concludes he and a human Sinti woman named Magda are Wanda and Pietro's parents. In 2014, the AXIS crossover revealed Pietro and Wanda are not related to Magneto. In 2015, the twins discover they are not mutants and their superhuman traits are the result of the High Evolutionary's experiments combined with Wanda genetically being a Witch, born with natural magical abilities. The 2015–2017 Scarlet Witch series reveals that Wanda and Pietro's adoptive parents, Django and Marya Maximoff, are biologically their aunt and uncle. Their real mother is confirmed to be Natalya Maximoff, the previous Scarlet Witch, a Serbian Roma sorceress whose father was the Scarlet Warlock.

The Scarlet Witch has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful heroes.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Since 2014, Elizabeth Olsen has portrayed Wanda Maximoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.