In a year that’s been lacking in Marvel content, WandaVision is on its way to inject a bit of weirdness into our superhero palettes. The show will see the returns of Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany’s Vision, as they live out their seemingly perfect lives in a sitcom-esque suburb. The Disney+ series will also see the further development of Scarlet Witch, who has grown into one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And Olsen couldn’t be more excited to dive deeper into her layered superhero.
Elizabeth Olsen has nothing but praise for WandaVision but, going into the series, what excited her the most was the opportunity to further add to Wanda’s growth as Scarlet Witch. She’s also well aware of how vital the character is in representing an important subject in society:
WandaVision is such an incredible concept. It’s the first time we get to understand her as the Scarlet Witch that she is in the comics, and that’s exciting for me, because I haven’t yet been able to give her that time onscreen. So that’s going to be fun. She’s always been a representation of mental health and illness in the comic book series, and her major role is handling that stigma within Marvel.
The sentiments Olsen shared with The New York Times are likely shared by many fans of the Scarlet Witch. Wanda’s has had quite a journey in the comics, which includes facing her fair share of trauma. This was especially true in the pages of “House of M,” a massive crossover storyline that saw Wanda experience a mental breakdown and tear the fabric of reality in order to resurrect her children. Some fans believe that elements of this storyline could be utilized for WandaVision, and there’s evidence to suggest that this is the case.
Like the comics, the MCU has also given Wanda an emotionally draining journey. After losing her parents at a young age, she would later experience the death of her brother, Pietro, at the hands of Ultron. There’s also the fact that she was locked up by the U.S. government and then had to go on the run for two years. And of course, she tragically had to watch Vision die twice in Avengers: Infinity War.
With everything she’s been through, Wanda may not be in the best emotional state at the start of WandaVision. This could very well play into why both she and the resurrected Vision are experiencing so many shifts in their reality. But at this point, we can mostly just speculate.
What can be said is that Elzabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch won’t be the same after WandaVision, and she’ll likely have learned quite a bit about herself by the time the series ends.
WandaVision is set to premiere on Disney+ sometime before the end of 2020.
