Wanda Maximoff is one of the most powerful and most popular characters in the MCU right now, yet she still hasn’t been given the chance to stand on her own two feet. A lot of her character arc has been rooted in her connection to others, first with her brother Pietro and secondly with Vision.
She had a lot more screen time thanks to WandaVision, but even then, the story wasn’t focused on her alone. Calling back to the death of her parents, Pietro and going through the stages of grief after having to kill Vision, a majority of Wanda’s story in the series was her learning how to cope with the loss of her loved ones.
As a result, Wanda hasn’t been able to tap all the way into her powers and reach her full potential. The Scarlet Witch prophecy mentioned by Agatha Harkness hints at there being more to Wanda’s story, but in the future, the MCU should allow Wanda to have the spotlight all to herself.
Although everything Wanda has gone through is crucial to her character development, she still seems to be more of a side piece to other heroes, rather than a strong individual capable of getting by on her own. Fans are excited to see Wanda return in Doctor Strange 2, but once again, it seems like she’ll be a tool used to help Strange further his own journey.
Having already reached her version of rock bottom (AKA Westview), Wanda has been working on building herself back up, which viewers got a glimpse of in the Doctor Strange 2 trailer. Instead of using the death of others to further Wanda’s story, the MCU should dedicate a movie, or another Disney Plus series, strictly to her and her own journey.
A Scarlet Witch movie/series of the same name could easily focus on Wanda learning how to control her powers, especially now that she knows she’s capable of some pretty incredible things. In a way, creating a Wanda-focused project could serve as her origin story, where fans get to see her learning how to truly use magic while fighting bad guys.
Wanda’s biggest enemies so far have been death and her own lack of self-awareness, both of which provide more internal conflict, rather than external, physical threats. As already stated, these elements were very important for turning her into a thoroughly developed and well-rounded character. Now that she’s come so far as a person, dabbled in life as an anti-hero, it’s time for Marvel to focus on her journey as just a plain old superhero.
In movies such as Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, Wanda did get to engage in some hand-to-hand combat. But in situations like these, she was either fighting someone who wasn’t her true enemy, or fighting to avenge the death of someone she loved. Even her desire to kill Thanos came from the fact that he was responsible for killing Vision, reinforcing the idea that she has yet to have any simple “good vs bad” hero action.
She’s been an accompanying character for so long, so Phase 4 or Phase 5 would be the perfect time to dive into a solar project. Wanda still has a long journey ahead of her, in terms of the foretold fate of the Scarlet Witch, and she’ll surely have a lot to overcome in order to stop the prophecy from coming true.
It’s important for the MCU to capitalize on her character now, before the moment has passed. As seen with the Black Widow movie, a lot of fans complained that the project felt out of place, because Marvel Studios chose to tell her story so late. While it was nice to see her again after her death, the film did come much later in the game than people wanted it to.
Wanda has been such a key player in the past, and she has some big things coming up in the near future. Creating a Scarlet Witch solo project while she’s still an integral part of the current MCU storyline could help Marvel avoid the mistake they made with Black Widow.
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
Phase 4 has also done a much better job of giving the female characters better storylines. A lot of these powerful women have just surfaced in the MCU, or haven’t been around nearly as long as Wanda, so it would be a shame to let Scarlet Witch slip through the cracks. Wanda first appeared in the post-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, set during Phase 2, and she became an Avenger shortly after.
Giving Wanda an origin-style story of her own, with the attention strictly on how she’ll learn to manage her emotions, powers, and defy the prophecy proclaiming her as evil would be a compelling story that MCU fans would undoubtedly love to watch.