"CHAOS Magic Woman!" Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff Appreciation 2022

[Galerion]

I'm pretty sure Wanda surpasses all of those characters you mentioned with her reality powers.
I like Wanda being more powerful than she was with just her hex powers but not with her reality bending powers.

The thing is reality bending is poorly defined. In MoM Strange turned a glass of water into wine. Is that reality bending? I mean he took something and made it into something else.
These are magic characters and the entire point of magic is accomplishing things that shouldn't logically be possible.
You would first have to actually define what exactly the difference is between reality bending and just magic spells and where one ends and the other begins.

It's why characters need limitations. Because there are only so many challenges and only so many villains that could even compete that their existence is a cake walk. There is not meat in their narrative, and they just become plot devices. There's articles on this. And it's not writer limitation that they can't write an uber powerful character. There's just a natural ceiling before it becomes so ridiculous that it can't continue.

Have you ever heard of Dragon Ball? People who can destroy universes at this point and still they always find a worthy challenge. Granted it's an extreme example but a valid one nonetheless

[GenericUsername]

Just my two cents: I'm not a Wanda specialist by any mean (I'm a Doctor Strange fan), but in my own opinion, the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness story is only reflecting Wanda's behaviors from the comics. Most of the time, based on the comics that I have read, Wanda pretty much always appears to be some kind of a villain because she's pissed off, or because she's possessed by a demon. Michael Waldron and Sam Raimi only adapted what already exists in the comics. If you feel cheated by how Wanda is portrayed in that movie, that's the comics writers fault, not Michael Waldron (writer), Sam Raimi (director), or Kevin Feige (Producer).

I am, however, saddened that the only great 'recent' story with Wanda seems to be the limited series Scarlet Witch v.2 (2015-2017). She deserve her own ongoing book with her as a hero.

Wanda is not near always a villain in comics. In her 58 years she's been possessed or controlled, but not a villain for most of her years as a character. Her major villain arcs in her history are:

* The Brotherhood where she joins to pay back Magneto for saving her and her brother. She leaves after he wants her to kill Iceman
* Possession by Chthon
* Darker than Scarlet
* AD/HoM

AD/HoM was the only one where deaths occurred.

It's not comics writers' fault. It is the movie writer's fault for looking at only AD/HoM and coming to a conclusion about the character. Just like you are doing now. It's why it's important to do research.

[GenericUsername]

Have you ever heard of Dragon Ball? People who can destroy universes at this point and still they always find a worthy challenge. Granted it's an extreme example but a valid one nonetheless

Anime is a whole different animal than comics and even in Manga form is written much differently than comics. People have also made many comments on how over-powered those characters are as well.

[gurkle]

Just my two cents: I'm not a Wanda specialist by any mean (I'm a Doctor Strange fan), but in my own opinion, the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness story is only reflecting Wanda's behaviors from the comics. Most of the time, based on the comics that I have read, Wanda pretty much always appears to be some kind of a villain because she's pissed off, or because she's possessed by a demon. Michael Waldron and Sam Raimi only adapted what already exists in the comics. If you feel cheated by how Wanda is portrayed in that movie, that's the comics writers fault, not Michael Waldron (writer), Sam Raimi (director), or Kevin Feige (Producer).

The unusual thing about Wanda is that she is almost always a hero in the comics, but there are a very tiny few stories where she's the villain, and somehow they've overshadowed her entire comics history.

As her fans like to point out, she doesn't actually appear in "Avengers Disassembled" or "House of M" very much at all; neither story is about her and they both make a lot of inaccurate assertions about her comics history (sort of like how Multiverse of Madness says her kids "weren't real" when in WandaVision, they made a huge deal about the fact that they were real). But those two stories are probably the ones a recent reader is more likely to be familiar with.

Not that that's a problem for a reader, but Feige, Raimi and Waldron should have looked a bit deeper into her comics history instead of saying Wanda goes crazy "in the comics." She goes crazy in two comic stories that contradicted everything she had ever done before.

[GenericUsername]

Wanda is one of those characters where you can't simply read wiki and have an idea even slightly about who she is.

[MaximoffTrash]

Just my two cents: I'm not a Wanda specialist by any mean (I'm a Doctor Strange fan), but in my own opinion, the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness story is only reflecting Wanda's behaviors from the comics. Most of the time, based on the comics that I have read, Wanda pretty much always appears to be some kind of a villain because she's pissed off, or because she's possessed by a demon. Michael Waldron and Sam Raimi only adapted what already exists in the comics. If you feel cheated by how Wanda is portrayed in that movie, that's the comics writers fault, not Michael Waldron (writer), Sam Raimi (director), or Kevin Feige (Producer).

I am, however, saddened that the only great 'recent' story with Wanda seems to be the limited series Scarlet Witch v.2 (2015-2017). She deserve her own ongoing book with her as a hero.

I mean, for the majority of her existence she is an active Avenger. Her being a hero is not a "recent thing", on the contrary, her being murder hobo is a thing that happened in 2004/2005 that kinda plagued her since then.
It's still their fault for choosing the absolutely worst showcase of her comic appearance.
Just imagine the worst DS comic you have read and then every adaption is ever about that one bad story. I will find it pretty hard not to blame the creator in choosing to beat the dead horse again and again.

[MaximoffTrash]

Wanda is one of those characters where you can't simply read wiki and have an idea even slightly about who she is.

I mean, Marvel Wiki is pretty accurate about her though, it listed most of her Avengers career.

[MaximoffTrash]

The thing is reality bending is poorly defined. In MoM Strange turned a glass of water into wine. Is that reality bending? I mean he took something and made it into something else.
These are magic characters and the entire point of magic is accomplishing things that shouldn't logically be possible.
You would first have to actually define what exactly the difference is between reality bending and just magic spells and where one ends and the other begins.



Have you ever heard of Dragon Ball? People who can destroy universes at this point and still they always find a worthy challenge. Granted it's an extreme example but a valid one nonetheless

You do know Shonen manga/anime is an entirely different beast right? The whole thing is about constant level up and beat up.

[GenericUsername]

You do know Shonen manga/anime is an entirely different beast right? The whole thing is about constant level up and beat up.

Yeah it's battle boards in motion. And we are discussing fleshing out characters and giving them well rounded depictions. Anime characters just do not fit the Lee/Kirby formula of having superpowered people that have regular lives and issues that regular people can relate to really.

[Cruelrain]

While most powerful the character then is more annoying when they get beat up because of the writer wanting them to lose in stupid moments or with characters you it shouldn't lose to.

I think Wanda should be all powerful cause she's literally blessed by an elder god but only against big threats.

[Hypestyle]

I enjoyed the movie. I was surprised by the provocative "twist". I guess we'll see how it goes from here whether or not a certain character will return, and it what form.

[gurkle]

While most powerful the character then is more annoying when they get beat up because of the writer wanting them to lose in stupid moments or with characters you it shouldn't lose to.

One thing that usually keeps powerful heroes in check is they're trying not to kill their opponent while their opponent is trying to kill them. It obviously puts them at a disadvantage.

That's part of the reason characters like Wanda seem unstoppable when they become villains, because they no longer have to hold back. If she gets out of this dumb "baby crazy woman" phase she'll be less all-powerful just because she can't just vaporize everybody.

[MaximoffTrash]

I mean, Elder Gods are powerful but they are not that high on cosmic hierarchy.
That being said she should have some unique abilities like resisting Darkhold influence.
Also her new Darkhold Omega status could bring some new story potential, the drama can come from within, like Chthon will have to be actively surpressed or something.

One of my preferred scenario is that Chthon can manifest in Wanda's dream, but he is technically powerless, and his only weapons are his words and sutble influences, Wanda still needs Cthhon for more knowledge about her newly-gained power. So it will be a prolonged interrogation of some sort where Chthon tries to find a way out, while Wanda tries to bait out more info.
Also they can just chill and play some chess I guess.

[GenericUsername]

While most powerful the character then is more annoying when they get beat up because of the writer wanting them to lose in stupid moments or with characters you it shouldn't lose to.

I think Wanda should be all powerful cause she's literally blessed by an elder god but only against big threats.

Wanda has a fraction of his Elder God powers. Not the full thing. And I find the limit that she's only omnipotent when tapping into a stronger power good enough to keep her at a reasonable power level but also explain away her omnipotent moments.

A character having limitations does not mean they need to be weak.

[GenericUsername]

I enjoyed the movie. I was surprised by the provocative "twist". I guess we'll see how it goes from here whether or not a certain character will return, and it what form.

They supposedly signed Liz Olsen to a 7 year deal. So it's likely she will come back without the Darkhold possession, and they'll do some sort of redemption. It might not be soon though, since Olsen said she's taking a little bit of a break from Wanda.