It's about time Scarlet Witch took on a bigger role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson), has not been given the spotlight she's due. As one of the most powerful Avengers on the team, her story has had far too little of the spotlight. To be fair, the Marvel movies have had a lot of characters to focus on, but its insistence on focusing on the bigger name male characters has done Scarlet Witch's story a disservice. With characters like Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and Captain America (Chris Evans) now out of the picture, it's time for the Scarlet Witch to step up as one of the central figures of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With so little focus on her story, it's easy to forget just how powerful and versatile the Scarlet Witch is. Her very first appearance in 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' saw her mentally manipulate the Avengers themselves to the extent that they nearly all took each other out. She was able to control the mind of a being as powerful as the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), although those powers have not come into play since.
It is that same power that kickstarted the events of 'Captain America: Civil War.' Though she might have been the inciting incident, the movie itself was barely about her — even Spider-Man (Tom Holland) got more of a focus in that movie. In the last two Avengers movies, she steps up once again, holding her own not just against Thanos' (Josh Brolin) Black Order and an innumerable number of minions, but Thanos himself — not once, but twice.
Yet, somehow she has been consistently overlooked in favor of more familiar, bigger name characters. A recent tweet saw her significantly undervalued as a member of an Avengers team. Part of that might be because of her complicated comics backstory and her connections to the X-Men — a section of the Marvel Universe that Marvel Studios has not had the rights to for Phases 1, 2 and 3. It might be because her powerset is just too weird for writers to know what to do with. The main reason, however, seems to be that Marvel has had mixed success in knowing what to do with its female characters.
Of all the various Marvel characters to have appeared in the films, the Scarlet Witch is the one with perhaps the most untapped potential, and it's her time to shine. Marvel seems aware of this, as not only is she receiving her own series in 'WandaVision,' but she's also playing an important, unspecified role in 'Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.' With no Avengers movies on the horizon, it's unclear as to what fate lies in store for the character after that. In a post-Endgame world, however, it may just be time for her to take up a central role in the MCU — perhaps, like her comic-book counterpart, she can take up the role of team leader for the Avengers again. Whatever role she takes up, there's never been a better opportunity for her to take the spotlight she very much deserves.
'WandaVision' is set to release in December 2020, on Disney+.
