THE AVENGERS PROJECT: CHAPTER 9 – THE SCARLET WITCH

The Scarlet Witch began life as the daughter of a Roma family. Her gypsy parents felt that their twins’ lives could be saved by the intervention of the High Evolutionary. The High Evolutionary changes their genetic structure, while the Chaos Magic influence of Wundagore Mountain imprints itself on Wanda at birth. Years pass and the teenage Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are rescued by Magneto. They join the first iteration of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and fight with the X-Men and the Avengers.

When the Avengers roster first changes, Iron Man and others sponsor Wanda and her brother to join Captain America’s new team. Wanda and Pietro are first seen as mutant terrorists and are attacked publicly. The siblings fight their public image hard, while fighting against forces ranging from Attuma to The Mandarin to Kang. Scarlet Witch is injured due to her inability to focus her powers. Quicksilver blames the Avengers for her injuries and pulls his sister out of the line-up.

While Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch try to recuperate, Magneto attempts to bring them back into the Brotherhood. The Maximoffs reject them, while they’re rescued by the Avengers again. Further time passes, as Wanda finds herself wanting to learn control over her powers. She teams up with aging witch Agatha Harkness to begin training. All the while, she’s stalked by alien warlord Arkon and finds herself being drawn back to the Avengers. This is when she meets the synthezoid Vision and they begin a torrid love affair. Quicksilver blows a gasket over his sister having relations with a red skinned C-3PO and bails again.

The Scarlet Witch spends the next 20 years trying to be domestic and normal. Her mutant nature is pushed to the background, except for when Magneto shows up. Scarlet Witch and Vision gets married, they use her powers to have twins and they find themselves growing stronger as a couple. But, the Vision would then try to take over the world’s defensive computer systems. The US Government would have him disassembled and the Scarlet Witch would have her twin children vanish on her. Everything was tied into a mental breakdown regarding her power usage.

But, Wanda had no time to cry. What happened was that she repressed everything and the Avengers treaded lightly around her. She would serve as a functional Avenger for the next 15 years until she began to break down again. While secretly meeting with Doctor Doom to control her powers, she would trigger something magical that would cause her to lose her mind. This kicked off Avengers Disassembled and the House of M claptrap. The Scarlet Witch would become persona non grata around the Marvel Universe for ages, while her family would practically kill themselves to help her.

Years later, Wanda would learn that her powers pushed the souls of her children into different bodies and she’d kinda adopt the super powered twins that were sorta her kids. Teaming with Wiccan and Speed to beat Doctor Doom’s control over her, Wanda would turn back into a good guy. She’d then help defeat the Phoenix, save Hope Summers and begin an effort to bring forth the Avengers Unity Squad to repair mutant relations. Some things never change.

Real Name: Wanda Maximoff

Powers: Probability alteration, Chaos Magician

First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #4

Joins the Avengers: Avengers (Vol. 1) #16

The Scarlet Witch joins the Avengers alongside her brother Quicksilver. The duo joins the team to redeem themselves for previous acts of mutant terrorism. This is made possible by Magneto and Toad’s abduction by The Stranger.

The role of the High Evolutionary, the Maximoffs and Wundagore Mountain in Scarlet Witch’s life begins in the late 1970s era Avengers books.

As part of the never-ending Bendis dump on the classic Avengers, The Scarlet Witch uses her powers to wipe out mutant powers and the possibility of new mutantdom. This would come to an end during “Avengers vs. X-Men”.