- Title : Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch
- Publisher : Marvel Comics
- First appearance : The X-Men #4 (March 1964)
- Created by : Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
- Alter ego : Wanda Maximoff, Species Human Mutant
- Team affiliations : Avengers Unity Squad, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Avengers, Lady Liberators, West Coast Avengers, Defenders, Secret Defenders, Force Works
- Notable aliases : Wanda Frank, Ana Maximoff, Wanda Magnus
- Host : Wanda Maximoff
- Potrayer : Elizabeth Olsen
- Appeareance(s) : Avengers : Age of Ultron
The Scarlet Witch is a mutant who has the ability to manipulate probability via her "hexes" (often manifesting physically as "hex spheres" or "hex bolts"). These hexes are relatively short range, and are limited to her line of sight. Casting a hex requires a gesture and concentration on her part, though the gestures are largely a focus for the concentration and, despite this precision, the hexes are not necessarily guaranteed to work, particularly if Wanda is tired or using her powers excessively. If overextended, Wanda's hexes can backfire, causing probability to work against her wishes or to undo previous hexes.
Early in her career, her hexes were subconscious on her part, and would be automatically triggered whenever she made a particular gesture, regardless of her intent. These hexes would only manifest "bad luck" effects. She later gained enough control over her powers that her powers only work when she wants them to, and they are not limited to negative effects. She can use her hexes to light flammable objects, contain or remove air from a particular volume, deflect objects, stop the momentum of projectiles, open doors, explode objects, create force fields and deflect magical attacks, etc.
The effects are varied but almost always detrimental to opponents, such as causing the artifact the Evil Eye to work against inter-dimensional warlord Dormammu, the robot Ultron to short circuit,[92] or a gas main underneath the Brotherhood of Mutants to explode. Wanda is an expert combatant having been trained by both Captain America and Hawkeye, as well as being an adept tactician due to her years of experience working as an Avenger and her experience in a variety of combat situations. The Scarlet Witch also has the potential to wield magic and later learned that she was destined to serve the role of Nexus Being, a living focal point for the Earth dimension's mystical energy.
Writer Kurt Busiek redefined the Scarlet Witch's powers, and maintained that it was in fact an ability to manipulate chaos magic, activated due to the demon Chthon changing her mutation at birth into an ability to wield and control magical energy. This was offered as an explanation for her various feats that seemed to go beyond probability alteration, as well as why her hexes almost always have an effect that is favorable to her goals. During Busiek's run as well as the subsequent run by Geoff Johns, she was shown to be capable of large-scale spells given enough concentration and time to shape the chaos magic to a specific goal, including the resurrection of Wonder Man.
In House of M, her power was depicted as sufficient to rewrite her entire universe, and cause multiverse-threatening ripples. In The Children's Crusade it was revealed that this omnipotence was not part of her natural power level, but the result of a cosmic magical source that increased a magic user's powers to god-like levels. By the end of the event she had returned to her previous power level, able to alter probability and work magic, but not able to change reality at will.
She also has a degree of resistance to the Phoenix Force and can also cause pain to its hosts, such as Cyclops when he tried to stop Hope from going with her. Although this becomes less effective as the Phoenix Force portions are divided among those who have not yet been defeated. A vs X #12 confirmed that her powers involve chaos magic, and stated that she has "Mutant Magic", and the "primal source of her chaos" magic is cosmic. Abilities:
- Probability manipulation
- Reality warping
- Chaos Magic
- Wanda Maximoff The Scarlet Witch - Character
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