Since Wanda Maximoff first appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Avengers: Age of Ultron, she has quickly become a fan favorite. Marvel is constantly introducing new superheroes with each of their films and television series, but Elizabeth Olsen’s character remains one of the most powerful Avengers.
WandaVision explored in greater depth the untapped potential of the Scarlet Witch’s powers. While Captain Marvel received her powers after being exposed to an Infinity Stone, WandaVision reveals that Wanda’s exposure to the Mind Stone amplified powers she was unaware she had already possessed. As the Scarlet Witch, Wanda has had the ability to use Chaos Magic since birth. Wanda may not be as physically strong as Thor, but her abilities far exceed those of Avengers such as Captain America and Spider-Man. Here’s what makes her one of the most powerful Avengers.
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Updated August 24, 2022: If you love the Scarlet Witch, you’ll be happy to know we’ve updated this article with additional content surrounding both the character and the Doctor Strange sequel.
Nearly Single-handedly Defeated Thanos
Marvel Studios / Disney
During the final battle in Avengers: Endgame, the big three — Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America — fought together against Thanos. While Captain America fought well using Thor’s Mjølnir, the combined strength of the three Avengers proved not to be enough. Wanda, on the other hand, not only held her own against Thanos, but forced him to call in an airstrike to escape the fight. The Mad Titan quickly realized that as powerful as he is, he was no match for Wanda (who wasn’t even at her full strength back then). Thanos is recognized as one of the most powerful characters in the MCU’s Infinity Saga. As the only Avenger that proved capable of single-handedly defeating him, Wanda ranks easily as one of the most powerful Avengers.
Scarlet Witch Can Create and Manipulate Reality
Disney Platform Distribution
The Infinity Stones were powerful because they each controlled different aspects of existence. Although the Infinity Stones have been reduced to atoms in the main MCU timeline, the Scarlet Witch and the Masters of the Mystic Arts, including Doctor Strange, still possess abilities to manipulate reality. In fact, WandaVision showcases more of Wanda’s powers as she uses her Chaos Magic to create a pocket of reality. Wanda’s Chaos Magic takes over Westview in New Jersey, isolating the town and everyone in it from the rest of the world. While grieving the loss of Vision, the Scarlet Witch constructs an alternate reality where she can live a peaceful dream life, forcing Westview’s inhabitants to participate in it. Everyone in Westview becomes a cast member of Wanda’s sitcom-style reality, playing a part in a sitcom that Wanda herself titles “WandaVision”. Wanda is able to easily alter the appearance of everything in Westview to match the changing time periods of her sitcom.
The Scarlet Witch’s powers extend far beyond controlling people’s minds. She was able to create life during her time in Westview, recreating Vision and creating two twin sons, Billy and Tommy. Vision, Billy, and Tommy possessed free will and independent thought, along with their own superpowers. Vision and the twins were restricted to the Hex, the energy field made of Chaos Magic that surrounded Westview. However, Vision, Billy, and Tommy behaved as self-aware, sentient beings within the reality that Wanda created. Wanda also utilized protection runes in the Hex to prevent the witch, Agatha Harkness, from using her magic powers.
At the start of Phase Four, Wanda is untrained and only beginning to discover her powers. As Doctor Strange is a Master of the Mystic Arts and not officially an Avenger, Wanda is the only Avenger able to enter the Astral Dimension. However, while Doctor Strange separates his astral form from his physical body, Wanda is able to remain in control of her physical body when projecting her astral form. The finale of WandaVision shows Wanda making herself a cup of tea while her astral form studies the Darkhold. Wanda recognizes that she has only just begun to scratch the surface of what she is capable of.
Scarlet Witch Can Destroy the Avengers
Marvel Studios
By Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda’s capabilities in WandaVision paled in comparison to what she does in the summer blockbuster. Everything she learned from the Darkhold is on display in all its terror. Doctor Strange, although no longer the Sorcerer Supreme, has long been viewed as the most powerful magic-user. The balance of power effectively changed the moment he stepped into Wanda’s garden because she fooled him into believing her lush field of orchids was real, even down to the touch and smell, before revealing that they were actually standing in a horrific wasteland. It’s no small feat to fool Doctor Strange with magic, but what she did next was even more shocking.
The sorcerer stronghold Kamar-Taj is full of the most powerful mystic arts-users in the universe, many of whom are masters. What was supposed to be a very one-sided fight at one of the world’s most impenetrable fortresses turned into a massacre as Wanda near effortlessly cut down everyone in her way to capture America Chavez. A few scenes later, she annihilated some of the most powerful heroes in Marvel on her own. In an act that was child’s play to the Scarlet Witch, Illuminati members Black Bolt and Mr. Fantastic were killed in seconds before she decimated Earth-838’s versions of Captain America and Captain Marvel. She concluded her mass murder by killing Professor Xavier, arguably the most powerful telepath in Marvel. The mere fact that she can single-handedly destroy five of Earth’s mightiest heroes easily makes her the strongest MCU character.
The Avengers’ enemy in the Multiverse Saga may be Kang, but their biggest threat may very well be someone who was one of their own. If Scarlet Witch does return, there is no telling where her allegiances will lie. In the comics, she is a constant in some of Marvel’s most compelling storylines and their most shocking moments. Now that the character has reached the reality-bending heights that she was destined to reach, only time will tell if she regains her humanity, or remains a villain that the Avengers can’t even begin to be ready for.
