Warning: This article contains spoilers for all ofWandaVision.
The latest Disney Plus seriesWandaVisionhas its viewers doubting everything they know about the two former Avengers highlighted in the show’s title. Throughout the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) has always been presented as an anti-hero, or just a tad more problematic than the others. But, her behavior is seemingly brought to new levels in this new series.
First introduced inAvengers: Age of Ultron, Wanda and her brother Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) were working with the movie’s titular villain, Ultron. He had recruited the two orphans, while they were in a vulnerable state, in order to use their enhanced abilities to manipulate the Avengers and turn them against each other. Wanda used her mind control powers to implant nightmares into the minds of the Avengers, heightening their greatest fears and causing major rifts in the team. In the midst of this, the twins also engaged in combat against the Avengers with Pietro going head-to-head against Captain America.
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While it is imperative to their character arcs' that they were both impressionable teenagers, or young adults, being manipulated by a vengeful A.I., it also introduced them into the MCU as untrustworthy additions to the team once they switched sides and joined the Avengers.
FollowingAge of Ultron,inCaptain America: Civil War, Wanda is held somewhat responsible for the actions that led to the Sokovia Accords being drafted and the team splitting apart. At the beginning of the movie, the Avengers were being led by Captain American in a fight against HYDRA. Towards the end of the scene, Wanda tries to relocate a forthcoming explosion away from a group of civilians but she ends up moving it to the close proximity of an apartment building. This action results in the untimely death of 26 people, many of which were being housed there while performing relief aid.
Clearly, this caused a lot of hurt and led to a public relations disaster— It was in response to Wanda’s miscalculation that the Sokovia Accords were immediately drafted and the government came one step closer to having control over the Avengers.
Both of these incidents didn’t directly label Wanda as a villain. They both arose from high-tension situations and resulted in her revealing her good intentions, however, they blurred the lines between her being a hero and being a villain— situating her perfectly in the realm of the anti-hero.
Not to be confused with “villain,” an anti-hero is typically a protagonist or main character who lacks the convention of other heroes. Even though Wanda fought beside the Avengers inInfinity WarandEndgame, her efforts to destroy the mind stone and stop Thanos were thwarted, and her presence was mild in the following movie as she wasblipped by Thanos’s snap. As seen, Wanda isn’t a cookie-cutter superhero like Captain America. She hasn’t had major moments where she “saved the day” like Iron Man and she hasn’t made a major self-sacrificing move like the Black Widow.
This trope that revolves around Wanda’s character plays into the information that SWORD Acting Director Hayward revealed inthe fifth episode ofWandaVision. Hayward has made it clear that he views Wanda as a villain and he called her the “principle victimizer.” While demonstrating that he doesn’t trust Wanda, he continued to cause harm throughout this episode and the fifth episode— after SWORD located her, Hayward tries to have a drone shoot at her, and then, he refuses to help Vision when he tried to escape Westview.
Currently, inWandaVision,it is unclear what Wanda’s intentions are. Her ally Monica Rambeau has defended her actions, saying that Wanda is in pain and is experiencing a tremendous amount of grief. Although, that is hard to sympathize with when her pain is being contrasted by hersupposed imprisonment of the Westview civilians. The last two episodes ofWandaVisionhave shown very harrowing scenes where the Westviewians reveal to Vision just how much pain and confusion they are experiencing, and each one refers to Wanda’s “voice” in their heads.
But this is Marvel and things are rarely laid out as clear as that, so viewers are destined to be hit with a game-changer soon. But in all, this series further plays into Wanda’s reputation as an anti-hero: Someone who acts with well-intentions or out of pain but fails to consistently demonstrate their heroic efforts.
