Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch): Actress, Powers and Fate

Wanda Maximoff is a hero whose mind powers come from Baron von Strucker's Hydra experiments, and the films also call her the Scarlet Witch. Elizabeth Olsen plays her. The credits list her as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, and as Wanda Maximoff / The Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, to answer the real name question, her name is simply Wanda Maximoff, and Scarlet Witch is the hero name the franchise attaches to her.

Which Avenger is she? She belongs to the second line up that Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff begin training at the end of Age of Ultron (2015, directed by Joss Whedon), alongside Rhodes, Vision and Sam Wilson. If you are wondering who she is "in real life", Wanda is a fictional character, and Olsen is the actress behind her.

Her twin brother is Pietro Maximoff, Quicksilver, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. As for powers, the films show them growing in steps. In Age of Ultron she torments the heroes with visions, in Infinity War she is strong enough to destroy the Mind Stone, and by Multiverse of Madness she is working with the cursed Darkhold book and can bring down a mountain.

Wanda's closest ties are her twin brother Pietro, Vision, the sons she wants back, and the heroes who keep deciding whether to trust her. Pietro, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, shares her Hydra origin, and his death in Age of Ultron is the first loss that shapes her.

Vision, played by Paul Bettany, is created when Stark and Banner upload J.A.R.V.I.S. into the synthetic body that Wanda helps the Avengers take from Ultron. Destroying the Mind Stone in his head is the hardest choice the films ask of her.

Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is the leader who trusts her in Civil War and later shelters her in Infinity War. Stark is the opposite pole, first as the man she blames and then as the leader of the other side in the Civil War split.

In Multiverse of Madness, her sons Billy and Tommy (Julian Hilliard and Jett Klyne) are the whole motive for her actions. Doctor Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, turns to her for advice, and she turns out to be the one behind the attacks. America Chavez, played by Xochitl Gomez, is the young girl she hunts.

What about Thor's hammer? Mjolnir is enchanted so that only a worthy person can lift it. Hela destroys it in Thor: Ragnarok, and in Thor: Love and Thunder it is Jane Foster who is bonded to it. No scene shows Wanda trying to lift it.

In my opinion, three moments define her, and the quietest one works best. First, the visions in Age of Ultron: Wanda reaches into the heroes' minds and torments them with visions, and it is the first time the franchise lets a mind power feel genuinely frightening rather than decorative.

Second, the Mind Stone in Infinity War. It could be argued that this is the most painful choice any Avenger makes, because she does everything right and Thanos simply undoes it with the Time Stone. Perhaps that is why the scene lingers longer than the snap itself.

Third, and my pick for the best of her story, is the end of Multiverse of Madness. The sight of her sons afraid of her does more than any fight, and the collapse of Mount Wundagore reads as a decision rather than a defeat. For newcomers, Age of Ultron is the film to start with, and the Multiverse of Madness ending is where her story pays off. If you want to see where she sits among the others, the Avengers watch order lays out all four films.