31 October 2011

Onscreen History of the Scarlet Witch


First appearing in 1964's X-Men #4, Wanda Maximoff AKA The Scarlet Witch (wearing green of all colors) has since played sometime villain as the daughter of Magneto and sometimes hero as an Avenger and wife of Vision. Wanda the Witch of course is also the twin sister of Quicksilver and half sister of the magnetic Polaris.



Wanda made her onscreen debut in 1966 on The Marvel Super Heroes during the Captain America segments wearing plenty of scarlet and a cape to boot.



It would be nearly 20 years before the Scarlet Witch returned in 1994's animated Iron Man series. Gone was the cape as well as most of the character's back story. In Iron Man, "Wanda Frank" the sometimes love interest for Tony Stark and member of Force Works wielded a mysterious hex sense that enabled shape shifting as other convenient powers.Maybe she should have used her powers to get a new hair style.



In 1996, a traditional take on Scar-Wi and her bro Quicksilver appeared in the "very special" family edition episode of the X-Men animated series, "Family Ties."




The Avengers: United They Stand revisited the now "Violet Witch," in 1999 in which Wanda was a member of the B-list C-list Avengers team. Although she coined the catchphrase "Winds of Destiny, Change!" it never really caught on, and Marvel almost went bankrupt.





The Scarlet Witch  returned again in 2002's X-Men: Evolution. This time a bit more literally a witch, Wanda updated her look to that of an angsty Twilight obsessed Goth chick. Although she started off as an enemy of Magneto's she later joined him, and then S.H.I.E.L.D.





Wolverine and the X-Men presented a more traditional take on the not so wicked Scarlet Witch who found herself at increasing odds with her father as the series progressed, eventually banishing him from Genosha.



The family Magneto also appeared in the comical Super Hero Squad Show episode "Hexed, Vexed, and Perplexed." Once again, blood proves not to be thicker than water as the Scarlet Witch betrayed her father for a greater good. And with so many animated appearances under her belt, its only a matter of time before Wanda makes her live action debut, though I am not sure if that would be in the X-Men or Avengers franchise.

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