Wanda Maximoff: SCARLET WITCH Appreciation 2019

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I think every bit of news about WandaVision or Doctor Strange 2, real or fake, is going to terrify me with the prospect of "Wanda goes House of M and Strange has to put her down." I don't think it will happen but we are talking about a franchise that is heavily based on 2000s Marvel comics (which is why I fully believe that Young Avengers is being set up).

The one consolation I have is that it's no longer politically correct to portray mental illness as something that makes people go evil and kill their friends (and shouldn't be). Elizabeth Olsen kind of hinted at this the other day:



I really winced at that quote because of the "always" - but then she probably hasn't read many comics beyond House of M and maybe the Robinson series - but all I can do is hope that they understand now that it's not supposed to be "stigmatized" in the way that it was in 2004-5.

Mostly I think that's why I'm so disappointed in not having any comics to follow, because I don't enjoy reading rumors and real/fake leaks about 2021. Whatever we get will never be as bad as I can imagine it being but it's still not much fun to think of how a story of Wanda creating her own reality by accident (which seems increasingly what WandaVision will probably be about) could go horribly wrong.

I wince at it because it (along with what they did to Hank) were the poorest representations of mental illness. It's mental illness means they are antagonists or evil. And in both cases they never mention an actual mental illness for them (until far later). In Wanda's case they threw out crazy as an insult. But then it ended up being possession. And none of how they depicted it is anything like dealing with mental illness. Because you are never suddenly cured or better. It's a constant struggle. Also removing Wanda from being a fleshed out character to plot device doesn't go a long way in making her good representation. They just did the "womins is baby crazy" trope.

So if movies delve into that, I hope they handle it a hell of a lot better than comics have.