10 Scenes That Most Define Scarlet Witch's MCU Movie Story

When Wanda Maximoff became the Scarlet Witch, she asserted herself as one of the most powerful characters in the MCU, but there were several moments that defined the character. In the comics, Wanda Maximoff has a long and complex history, where its revealed that her father was Magneto. While in the MCU, the character has been given a slightly different origin story, she has built up a personal history after appearing in numerous projects since 2015 in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The character then had a complex relationship with the Avengers, ending up in the middle of a civil war, and eventually leaving the team to pursue a life with her beloved Vision. However, when the snap affected half of all life in the universe, Wanda lost the only family she had left in a way that proved significantly more traumatic than most other people’s experiences. For a time, she became a villain, and the persona of the Scarlet Witch proved too powerful to fight against, but the journey for Wanda is an important one that was mapped out in the MCU.

Wanda Maximoff Turning On Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Wanda’s first defining moment happened later in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Early in the film the young woman and her brother, Pietro, both orphans, were recruited by Ultron when the sentient robot promised them revenge of Stark, whom they blamed for their parents’ death. However, despite having been raised in horrifying conditions and being experimented upon by Strucker in a secret lab, the Maximoff’s recognized that Ultron’s actions were wrong and harmful.

When it came time to fight the Avengers along with Ultron, Pietro and Wanda chose instead to betray the cruel robot, and assist the heroes. This was a critical moment for Wanda as she proved her strong moral character, fighting with a hero team that included the man that was potentially the reason they lost their parents and ended up imprisoned in the first place. They chose to rebel against a plan that they knew was wrong, and help the heroes.

Wanda Losing Control In Lagos

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

After joining the heroes and defeating Ultron, Wanda struggles to fight with a new team in the absence of her brother. Wanda had never been a part of a team, only working in unison with her twin brother whom she had a special connection and years of shared trauma. The Avengers was a team of heroes that consisted of seasoned military veterans like Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson. Wanda was the wild card in that mix, with less formal training, and a lack of control over her extraordinary power.

When she was brought along on a mission with the heroes mentioned above, Wanda stood out as the least experienced fighter. In a moment which could have resulted in Rogers being severely hurt or even killed, Wanda attempted to divert an explosion safely into the air. However, the explosion was sent into a nearby building, resulting in the deaths of several civilians. This moment caused Wanda to reject her powers, and feel like an even bigger outsider from the rest of the heroes.

Wanda Starting Fresh With Vision In Scotland

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

After struggling to fit in with the team, and the massive rift which was caused by the heroes being divided about the Sokovia Accords, Wanda felt like she had no place in the Avengers. Wanda had developed a close relationship with Vision, and together the pair chose to leave the United States and create a new life somewhere else. Partially, this was a response to not subscribing to the Sokovia Accords and registering as weapons for the government, but the pair also hoped for a new life.

Wanda had never truly been free until this moment, and Vision was a program used by Tony Stark as a voice assistant until he was melded with the Mind Stone and became a sentient being. Together, they could explore what it meant to be free, to love, and to live without the constant oversight of a government that viewed them only as assets. In many ways, this was likely the first time that Wanda felt truly happy, and perhaps the last, considering what came next.

Wanda Being Forced To Kill Vision

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

After the briefest glimpse at a life that Wanda could live out peacefully and in bliss, Thanos and his Black Order came to Earth to gather the Infinity Stones that had been collected there. One of these, the Mind Stone, was now an integral part of the hero, known as Vision, as the stone was the source of his power, the reason he had a body, and essentially the core of his being. After efforts to separate Vision and his memories from the stone proved too complicated and timely in the face of a war, Wanda was forced to take action.

Thanos intended to use the stones to enact his master plan and sacrifice half of all life in the universe, and Vision was the final piece. Vision pleaded with his beloved Wanda to sacrifice him, knowing that her powers were the only thing powerful enough to destroy the stone, and by extension, killing him. Wanda looked into the eyes of her soulmate, as she drained her powers into the stone and exploded it in an effort to stop Thanos. As if watching him die once wasn’t painful enough, her efforts were then made worthless when Thanos reversed time, bringing Vision back just to kill him again.

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The Scarlet Witch Fighting Thanos

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

In the following film, Avengers: Endgame, Wanda had her opportunity to try and take out all of her rage and aggression on the Mad Titan, and she did exactly that. Wanda fought a younger version of Thanos, who had no idea who she was, and what he took from her. Despite Thanos proving his strength made him a powerful rival to the Hulk and all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Wanda crossed a threshold of her power that allowed her to fling Thanos around like a ragdoll.

She broke his sword, began to strip him of his armor, and incapacitated him by raising him into the air. The only reason Thanos was able to break free was because of the lasers fired from his ship, which Wanda needed to avoid. This moment, when Wanda was driven through pure hatred towards Thanos, and displayed powers that exceeded anyone else in the MCU, was likely the deciding moment when she became the Scarlet Witch, and her powers began to take the lead.

The Rebirth Of Vision & Westview

WandaVision (2021)

After losing the people that meant the most to her several different times in her life, Wanda was left broken. Many of the other heroes have some sort of happy ending, or a family to go home to and find comfort in. Wanda had nothing. Her relationship with the Avengers was already tenuous, and without Vision, she struggled to find a purpose.

Wanda went a different direction, when her powers took over, and she unleashed them on the unsuspecting citizens of Westview. Wanda created a fantasy, pulling from her memories of watching old sitcoms. Westview became a living TV show, and at the core of it all, Wanda’s heart took shape, becoming a shadow of her former love, Vision. This is a clear divide in Wanda’s life, when the Scarlet Witch is in control, and literally creates and shapes life.

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Embracing Motherhood

WandaVision (2021)

Going beyond the act of recreating her beloved Vision, Wanda also created new life in the form of her two sons, Billy and Tommy. Wanda was able to harness her magical powers and create twin boys to fulfill her lifelong dreams of having a family. While this was an act of love and pure magic, it was also a turning point for Wanda, shifting her priorities onto her miraculous children, whom she would now die for.

Despite the children not actually being real, Wanda had manifested something that was rooted in truth. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, other variants of Wanda exist with her twin sons, who have the same names and features as Wanda’s imagined children. Wanda’s powers exceeded her understanding and reached into the multiverse, even at this early stage.

Stark Missile Blows Up Wanda And Pietro’s Lives

WandaVision (2021)

WandaVision also provided an insight into one of the defining moments from Wanda’s childhood. As a young girl in Sokovia, Wanda enjoyed a happy and comfortable life with her parents. Until one day, her world literally blew up around her, with her home, her parents, and everything she had ever known being blown up by missiles. For Wanda and Pietro, this should have also been the moment they both lost their lives, but even at this early age, Wanda’s powers began to take shape.

Wanda and Pietro hid under a table, and a giant missile landed in the middle of their home, with the words “Stark Industries” plastered on the side in white paint. This moment resulted in two things: Wanda’s Scarlet Witch persona and powers were born, and she and her brother began to hate Stark personally for what his weapons did to them and their family. This is a huge moment in the character’s development, and one that shaped her entire journey in the MCU.

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Becoming The Villain

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

When Wanda eventually dismantled the hex and freed Westview, she was forced to say goodbye to her children and Vision. She then gained possession of the Darkhold, which further corrupted her mind, and empowered the Scarlet Witch persona. This led to her forming a plan to cross the multiverse, and claim the life of an alternate version of herself, one who had children, so that she could be their mother again.

However, the lengths that Wanda was willing to go to were terrifying and intense. She was willing to kill a teenage girl, her old friends, and even a version of herself. Ultimately, this progression to becoming a murderous villain was slow, and happened over years of grief and anger, but when it did happen, Wanda fully embraced her new role as the monster. Her powers were used to cruelly murder and destroy others, all in an effort to get access to a life that was never hers in the first place.

Wanda’s Self-Sacrifice

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

After so much destruction, pain and suffering, Wanda had become a ghost living inside the shell of the Scarlet Witch. The monster had taken over, and Wanda had no power to resist the darkness that existed inside of her. However, when America Chavez used one of her darkest moments against her, she was finally able to see the shift that had happened within herself, and she recognized that she was not the woman who could be a loving and kind mother to her children, even if her plans succeeded.

Wanda saw the fear in her children’s eyes as they watched this twisted and terrifying version of their mother. Regaining her control, and rejecting the influence of the Darkhold, Wanda uses her powers as the Scarlet Witch to save America, Doctor Strange, and the rest of the multiverse from her own dark powers. She pulled Mount Wundagore down on top of herself, and she destroyed the Darkhold not just in her own reality, but across the multiverse.