While Scarlet Witch’s relationship with Vision has reached new heights of public awareness since its inclusion in the MCU, Vision actually wasn’t the first Avenger Scarlet Witch had strong romantic feelings for, as that honor was laid at the feet of none other than Captain America.
Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch first joined the Avengers in Avengers #16 after serving as a villain under Magneto within the Master of Magnetism’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. In Avengers #57, Vision also joined the team and soon after, the two Avengers fell in love and began a relationship that transcended the comics and eventually received an adaptation within the Marvel Cinematic Universe which, if anything else, just goes to show exactly how impactful their love was to their respective characters.
In Avengers #23 by Stan Lee and Don Heck, Captain America has decided to leave the Avengers after he loses his patience with his fellow teammates. At that time, the Avengers consisted of Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch with Captain America as their leader. However, since this team was first formed, both Hawkeye and Quicksilver had consistently given Captain America a hard time regarding his leadership skills and both of them thought that they would make better team captains than Steve Rogers. In the previous issue, the Avengers were forced to break up after a law was passed in New York City making superheroes illegal. Even though the team worked together to get that law overturned, Captain America was fed up with his fellow Avengers regardless. Even though he could legally still be an Avenger, Captain America chose not to be–something that quite literally brought a tear to Scarlet Witch’s eye for the most superficial reason.
When Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Hawkeye became the only Avengers left, Scarlet Witch regarded Captain America’s empty gym in sadness, thinking to herself, “How I miss the sight of him working out in our private gymnasium! So confident… so handsome!”. Basically, Captain America was Scarlet Witch’s ultimate eye candy and the thought of his ‘handsome’ figure being absent from the Avengers compound literally made her cry, hinting at the fact that there were some pretty strong feelings there, whether they may have been love or strictly physical desire.
While Scarlet Witch’s shocking admission in this issue indicates that she had feelings for Captain America, she never acted on them when Rogers rejoined the group later in this very issue. However, when Vision became an Avenger, Scarlet Witch wasted little time in forming a romantic bond with the dreamy synthezoid–proving that while Scarlet Witch may have felt something for Captain America first, her initial feelings towards the Super Soldier couldn’t compare with her love for Vision.
