Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, has a storied history in the Marvel Universe. Former villain, Avenger, mutant, and more, the character has seen countless triumphs and tragedies. Originally debuting in the pages of X-Men #4 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, she's had intertwining stories with the X-Men and Avengers ever since. Her complicated history has been reconciled in recent years, and she's stepping into the spotlight with a new ongoing series. Scarlet Witch #1 -- written by Steve Orlando with art by Sara Pichelli, inks by Elisabetta D'amico, colors by Matthew Wilson, and letters by Cory Petit -- ushers in a new era for Wanda Maximoff.

With this new series, Wanda has an opportunity to springboard into a bright future. The series feels like a fresh start, with Wanda determined to use her immense power to help those in need. CBR spoke with Orlando about the first issue, his collaboration with the rest of the creative team, and what the future holds for the series. Orlando and Marvel also shared an exclusive look at some pages from Scarlet Witch #2 and the cover for Scarlet Witch #4.

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CBR: First off, congratulations on the launch of this series! How does it feel to finally have the book in readers' hands?

Steve Orlando: Wonderful! In a lot of ways, Scarlet Witch is a book that's been years in the making. Wanda starred in the first work I ever got from Marvel with Darkhold, even if it didn't hit shelves first. Once it did, I found myself in the X-Men office side by side with the folks working on Trial of Magneto, not to mention the Hellfire Gala, where Wanda announced the most recent X-Men roster. So, Wanda's been hovering around me throughout my time at Marvel. This book has been almost a year in the making! From making sure our concept was on point to making sure my collaborators had the time and support to do what they do best and deliver killing visuals, marketing, lettering, and production. Scarlet Witch has been a long time coming. Now that it's in people's hands, I couldn't be prouder of what we've all done.

I'd say we've been behind the scenes making magic, but even my rugged soul couldn't withstand a line that corny.

Wanda has a complicated history. What first drew you to the character?

I've said it before, but to me, it's exactly what you've hit on. Wanda's history is strange, an only-in-comics-type backstory that shows how wild, absurd, and great the capes genre can be. But at the same time, I think that makes her more like us than many other comic book characters. Sure, our stories often aren't as strange as Wanda's. But relative to our own personal realities, aren't we more like Wanda? Aren't our lives anything but linear paths of growth? Don't they have dark spots, overwhelming challenges, great highs, epic lows, backsliding and triumph, struggle, loss, and victory?

We might not be nexus beings. We might not be superhumans at all. But at our core, I think we get Wanda and know she'd get us. That's why I love her. Even if her life is cosmically and epically strange, she's still someone who's overcome great adversity, forged on, and lived. She's found and defined happiness on her own terms -- the only terms that matter. In doing that, I think she's a hero for all of us.

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Wanda and Pietro are both Romani, and Wilson's coloring for their skin tone here is perfect. Could you talk a bit about making sure this representation made it to the page?

I'm very glad to hear this! The honest answer is the topic is one that's important to the entire creative team. It has to be because, as a writer, I'm by no means "in charge," nor do I have the power to "make sure" of anything. That's not a negative. That's part of being one of many, part of being a creative team that starts with editorial and ends when the book goes to print. The risk of collaboration is that you don't have control. As with many things in life, that's also the joy. The risk brings greater reward and surprise in the final product, while an entire team operates doing what they do best.

Wanda's depiction was and is important to all of us. My role as the writer is to advocate for what's important to me and the character, but I'm not the last word. In fact, I'm one of the first words. So the process here is one of reverence and respect by the entire creative team, not solely me.

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This issue touches on the trauma of Wanda's past but makes it clear this series is looking forward. How important was it to you to firmly establish her outlook?

It was very important. This began not just in Darkhold but also in Trial of Magneto. To me, Wanda's narrative had been dominated by suffering enough. I felt Wanda deserved a chance to finally move on. Of course, that takes work, just like in real life. But now that she's closed the book on Chthon and made amends with mutantkind, the time felt right to take Wanda's past actions and turn them from shackles to motivation, to fuel. She knows who she is. She hasn't forgotten and will not forget. But she's no longer held back by it. She's driven to improve herself, and she's doing all she can to not slide back into her past mistakes. To me, this makes her more relatable than ever -- that's a goal I think nearly everyone has in some way.

RELATED: REVIEW: Marvel's Scarlet Witch #1

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Wanda is one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. What are some of the opportunities and challenges that come with writing a character like that?

I've said before that one of the inspirations for this series is All-Star Superman, and I think that describes our mindset for the book. Wanda's incredibly powerful, but she's not omniscient, and she's not perfect. When you have a character for whom most weaknesses are emotional or social, the opportunity is that the threats, by definition, end up further defining the character. Someone who can get to Wanda does so emotionally or by threatening what she loves. To me, that has to say something about Wanda. It says something more powerful than someone holding her Kryptonite (not that we're not working on that, too...). The challenge is finding where Wanda's potential pressure points sit when they're not a question of power. But that yields even better, richer, more emotional threats.

Pietro is featured throughout this issue, and the cliffhanger brings in Viv Vision. How much of a role will Wanda's family play in the series?

Wanda's family, both by blood and of her choosing, will absolutely continue to have a role in the series. But Wanda is the star. When we can examine her relationships with someone new and say something new about her character and journey through interactions with her family, they'll be there. The same goes for when they can challenge her or bring out something new in her that readers have never seen before. But our heart, our core, is Wanda herself.

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The Last Door itself to endless possibilities for potential stories. Can you speak about how extensive your plans for this series are?

Oh, they're extensive! But with any ongoing series, you never know how much time you'll get. So while plans are numerous, they're also loose until we know that we'll have time to tell those stories. Right now, we're [making] five great issues and hoping there's the chance to [make] more. But as for our plans, we could run Scarlet Witch for 50 issues and never get tired of exploring who and what falls through the Last Door.

Is there anything else you'd like to say to the Scarlet Witch fans reading this?

Dig in! The Scarlet Witch is an adventure where no word, no challenge is off-limits. We'll be taking Wanda to places she's never gone before, matching her up against villains she's never fought. Issue 2? The Dreamscape and Liveworld. Issue 3? Sub-Atomica and deep into the Quantum Realm. Issue 4? The start of a duel like none Wanda has ever faced, where she'll have to match not just wits and magic but fists with an unyielding, unstoppable force intent on burning the Last Door down. Wanda's always been powerful, always been strong -- but in this book, she'll be showing it in ways we've never seen before.

Scarlet Witch #1 is on sale now. Scarlet Witch #2 goes on sale on Feb 1.