How Avengers: Endgame Turned Scarlet Witch into One of the MCU’s Most Powerful Heroes

Though Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) had a large role in Avengers: Infinity War, her power set was still held back until the very end. Even then, we only caught a quick glimpse before she fell victim to The Snap. Fast forward a year to Avengers: Endgame and fans were treated to what appeared to Scarlet Witch’s full power set, which was capable of tearing Thanos (Josh Brolin) to bits and pieces.

In an incredible visual effects sequence, Wanda uses her telekinetic powers to lift the Mad Titan off the ground and starts crushing him to a pulp as his armor is stripped off. Weta Digital was the effects house charged with coming up with that sequence and VFX supervisor Matt Aitken tells ComicBook.com the team was happy to be able to see the progress in Scarlet Witch’s power development.

“She’s understanding it more, and she’s able to use it to an even greater effect,” Aitken tells us. “And that sort of really comes to a head in the end battle in Endgame where she’s really kind of deadly to Thanos. She’s able to really take control.”

As pointed out, Wanda’s fight with Thanos takes place just moments after Avengers: Infinity War, thanks to the time-traveling logic explained in the movie with Vision’s death certainly having a hand in her full power set being unlocked.

“It had to feel grounded in reality, and it needed to have a physical presence to work within this live-action context,” recounts Aitken. “So that was quite a process for us, to develop the finer details of what this effect would look like. And always keeping in mind that, while it was definitely way more amped up than we’d previously seen it, it still had to be recognizably the same kind of magic power that we’d seen from Scarlet Witch in previous films.”

With WandaVision set for release next year on Disney+, fans will have to wait just a little bit further to see how the character grieves the loss of her android significant other.

What’d you think of Scarlet Witch’s expanding power set? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments below or by hitting me up on Twitter at @AdamBarnhardt!

Avengers: Endgame is now in theaters and will be followed by Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 2nd. Captain Marvel is set for digital release May 28th before a physical home media release June 11th.