Longtime Avenger Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch remains one of the most complex heroes within Marvel Comics, undergoing a series of turbulent changes within her character’s arc. However, in her new series the Scarlet Witch will no longer be bound by her actions of the past, but instead will find herself on a true path of reawakening and change for a hopeful future with the help of her former husband’s daughter, Viv Vision.
With a brand-new costume and series on the way from writer Steve Orlando and artist Sara Pichelli, things are taking quite the turn for Wanda Maximoff. Introduced to comic readers as a mutant member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Wanda and her speedster brother Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver would quickly join the Avengers for the opportunity for a better life. While Wanda would spark an iconic romance with the android and fellow Avenger known as the Vision, things quickly took a turn for the worse. Whether she was losing her children to demons or altering reality itself as a result of her own inner trauma and desires, Wanda was constantly put through the wringer by other creative teams. The world and everyone in it seemed to be pit against Wanda Maximoff until recently.
Following Wanda’s separation from the feared Elder God Chthon, Steve Orlando and Sara Pichelli’s new Scarlet Witch comic series will take the fan-favorite character in a fresh and positive new direction free from the horrors of her past. Writer Jonathan Hickman’s recent X-Men run has already shown the Scarlet Witch receiving a bit of redemption in the eyes of the mutant community, with Wanda’s stand-alone series acting as a larger component of the witch’s road to recovery. In an interview with Polygon, Orlando had the opportunity to discuss the new Scarlet Witch series and its progressive ramifications for Wanda’s character.
“Two of the major crosses that she’d been bearing for a long time had finally been lifted, so it really felt like a new moment,” said Orlando. “We talked about setting her up in a new place where she could put her power to service for all the people that she’s realized she could have helped if she had actually taken the time and and done the work to reckon with herself sooner.”
Scarlet Witch Gets A New Look and a New Outlook
In line with the new life outlook, the Scarlet Witch will be donning a new costume that embraces an even more heroic depiction yet still offers plenty of inspiration from the character’s classic design that has made an impression on fans for decades. Rather than succumb to the weight of her own past, Wanda has finally reached a path of peace that allows her to collaborate with other heroes without flying off the handle and placing the Marvel Universe at risk. One such hero is the android daughter of her own former husband the Vision, the teenager known as Vivian Vision aka Viv, who has become a superhero of her own. If there would be anything to set Wanda off the deep end once more, it’d be the daughter of the man she loved and once violently killed. Vision manufactured Viv himself in the hopes of constructing a life that may have once been in the cards for Wanda and Vision.
While it seemed like the odds may never again be in her favor, Wanda is truly at a place of peace in her life that allows her to operate as a superhero alongside others like Viv once again without having to constantly be guided by her past actions and events. The cataclysmic events of Avengers Disassembled and House of M will always be there as a significant part of history, but Wanda teaming up with Viv Vision shows that people move on and grow because of their own actions and the Scarlet Witch should be allowed to move on as well.
Scarlet Witch #1 will be available from Marvel Comics on January 4, 2023.
