Since her debut in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) has been one of the most tragic figures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Introduced as a radicalized antagonist with a vendetta, she began a journey that would see her become a pivotal Avenger, a symbol of unimaginable grief, and ultimately, a reality-shattering force of nature. Her story was a brutal, heartbreaking exploration of what happens when a person with the power to reshape the world is relentlessly broken by it, fueled by a desperate search for the love and family that were constantly taken away from her.
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Wanda’s evolution was marked by a series of distinct breaking points, moments that irrevocably altered her path and unleashed new levels of her power. These key scenes are the crucibles that shattered her, reshaped her, and built the legend of the Scarlet Witch piece by painful piece.
1) Becoming an Avenger
Wanda’s journey from villain to hero solidifies in Avengers: Age of Ultron during the battle for Sokovia. Initially overwhelmed by the chaos and her own fear, she hides while Ultron’s drones tear her city apart. It takes a crucial pep talk from Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to make her realize her potential, in which he tells her that if she steps out to fight, she is an Avenger. In that moment, Wanda makes a conscious choice to stop being a victim of her circumstances and to use her incredible powers for the good of others. She emerges and effortlessly rips through the attacking robots, protecting the core device that would have destroyed the world. This scene sets the stage for her future as one of Earth’s mightiest heroes.
2) Escaping the Compound
In Captain America: Civil War, Wanda is effectively placed under house arrest at the Avengers Compound by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), who views her immense power as a threat that needs to be controlled. The scene where she finally decides to leave is a pivotal moment of self-actualization. When Vision (Paul Bettany) attempts to stop her, she declares, “I can’t control their fear, only my own,” before systematically overpowering him and escaping. The moment is a powerful assertion of her own agency and a rejection of being treated like a weapon. By joining Captain America (Chris Evans), Wanda refuses to be imprisoned for the comfort of others, demonstrating a newfound confidence in her abilities and her right to choose her own path, even if it puts her at odds with her allies.
3) Killing Vision
Perhaps the most heartbreaking moment in Wanda’s entire arc comes in Avengers: Infinity War. To prevent Thanos (Josh Brolin) from completing the Infinity Gauntlet, Vision asks Wanda to destroy the Mind Stone in his head, a process that will kill him. In an ultimate act of heroic sacrifice, she agrees, unleashing her power to erase the man she loves from existence while simultaneously holding off the approaching Thanos with her other hand. She chooses to sacrifice her own happiness for the sake of the universe, a defining moment of her selflessness, even though Thanos cruelly reverses it moments later.
4) Attacking Thanos
During the final battle of Avengers: Endgame, Wanda gets her chance to confront the villain who took everything from her. Walking onto the battlefield, she tells a confused Thanos (Josh Brolin) Variant that he took everything from her. What follows is a breathtaking display of raw power fueled by pure grief. Wanda single-handedly dismantles the Mad Titan, tearing his armor apart and lifting him helplessly into the air. She comes so close to killing him that a terrified Thanos is forced to order an artillery strike on his own position just to survive. This scene was a stunning confirmation of the Scarlett Witch’s strength, defining her as one of the most powerful individuals in the entire MCU.
5) The Bomb in the Rubble
WandaVision rewrote Wanda’s entire history with one critical flashback. Since Avengers: Age of Ultron, we knew that as a child in Sokovia, she and her brother Pietro survived a bombing that destroyed their home. For days, they were trapped in the rubble with an unexploded Stark Industries shell. It was long believed they only survived because the bomb was defective. However, Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) forces Wanda to relive the memory, revealing the truth: a young Wanda instinctively used a latent probability hex to prevent the bomb from detonating. This moment is foundational because it confirms that Wanda’s powers were not simply granted by Hydra’s experiments with the Mind Stone but were an innate part of her, amplified by the Infinity Stone. She was born the Scarlett Witch.
6) “I Can’t Feel You”
Another flashback scene from WandaVision reveals exactly when Wanda breaks down. After the Blip, she travels to the S.W.O.R.D. headquarters to retrieve Vision’s body and give him a proper burial. Instead, she is shown his corpse being heartlessly dismantled and experimented on. As she looks at the shell of the man she loved, she places her hand on the glass and whispers, “I can’t feel you.” In those four words, the full weight of her grief and loss becomes palpable. It is this profound emptiness that serves as the catalyst for her creation of the Westview Hex, the event that leads her to claim the mantle of the Scarlet Witch.
7) Destroying the Darkhold
At the climax of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, after a monstrous rampage across realities, Wanda is finally shown the error of her ways. Seeing the genuine terror she has inspired in her alternate-universe children, she understands the Darkhold’s corrupting influence. In a final act of redemption, Wanda brings Mount Wundagore down upon herself, a move designed to destroy the Darkhold’s original text. Her sacrifice also ensures that every copy of the evil book is destroyed across every universe, preventing anyone else from being tempted by its power. This scene is a powerful bookend to her villainous turn, proving that even after falling into darkness, Wanda’s core instinct is to protect others from the pain that consumed her.
Which Scarlet Witch moment do you think is her most defining? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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