Scarlet Witch is an extremely complicated character, and not just because of her shifting parentage. She first appeared as a villain, working with Magneto alongside her twin brother Quicksilver before joining the Avengers.
While Scarlet Witch is mostly heroic, she's also committed some terrible acts over the years, all of which can be written up to the trauma of her life. An argument can be made that this absolves her of wrongdoing, but Scarlet Witch's actions have often proven that she's irredeemable. Scarlet Witch has had a tragic life, but tragedy doesn't absolve her of her most extreme acts.
10 Creating Her Children Showed Just How Little She Cared For The Consequences Of Her Actions
Scarlet Witch and Vision's marriage was a great time in her life that was made even better when it was revealed she was pregnant. This should have been impossible, but she used her powers to create the children, and Tommy and Billy were born. Of course, unbeknownst to everyone, she used portions of Mephisto's soul to create the children.
Scarlet Witch's creation seems innocuous, but it shows someone who only cared about her own aggrandizement. She put everyone in danger by doing what she did, and playing God in that manner is never a good idea.
9 She And Doctor Doom Inverted The Morality Of Heroes And Villains In AXIS
AXIS, by writer Rick Remender and artists Adam Kubert, Leinil Yu, Terry Dodson, and Jim Cheung, dealt with Red Skull unleashing the Red Onslaught on the world. Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom, seeking to mitigate the damage, cast an inversion spell that inverted the morality of the heroes and villains. This had a disastrous effect on events and endangered the world.
The spell is yet another example of Scarlet Witch playing God. Working with Doctor Doom is never a good idea, and this one was even worse because Scarlet Witch's morality was inverted as well. Scarlet Witch is very dangerous, so her casting a spell that made her evil as well was an unforgivable move.
8 Her Nonchalance Towards What She Did To Mutants Almost Destroyed The Uncanny Avengers
The Uncanny Avengers were a remarkable idea. After the events of Avengers Vs. X-Men, the Avenegrs Unity Squad was created, a team that combined members of both teams. Right from the beginning, Rogue had a problem working with Scarlet Witch, blaming her for the events of M-Day and the depowering of the mutant race. Scarlet Witch, instead of trying to empathize, fought back.
Regardless of the circumstances leading up to M-Day, Scarlet Witch still committed the act, and her reaction to being confronted with that says volumes about her at the time. It was needlessly antagonistic, tone-deaf, and led to tragedy in the future.
7 She Almost Killed The Avengers On Wundagore Mountain More Than Once
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were taken to Wundagore Mountain as children, and Bova raised them there under the eye of the High Evolutionary. As an adult, Wanda would return there several times with the Avengers, seeking clues to her origins. However, several times when she went there with the team, she ended up attacking them.
While there are often circumstances leading to the attacks, the fact of the matter is that Scarlet Witch almost killed her friends, and no one ever really tried to punish her or even help her out. The fact this happened more than once points to some kind of culpability on her part, as well.
6 After The Truth About Her Children Was Revealed, She Almost Destroyed The West Coast Avengers
Scarlet Witch has proven she's powerful enough to defeat the Avengers on more than one occasion. Avengers West Coast #56-57, by writer/artist John Byrne, dealt with the aftermath of the reveal of her children. Even though Agatha Harkness mindwiped her, something inside her was broken, and she lashed out at the team.
Scarlet Witch teamed up with Magneto, the man she thought was her father, and they attacked the team. The whole thing is yet another example of Scarlet Witch's personal issues affecting her and making her a dangerous foe to the people who were friends.
5 She Teamed Up With The Apocalypse Twins And Was Played By Them
Scarlet Witch's time in the early days of the Uncanny Avengers was when she was at her worst. Uncanny Avengers: Ragnarök Now, by writer Rick Remender and artists Daniel Acuña and Steve McNiven, showed how bad her thought processes were at the time. She teamed up with Apocalypse Twins in a plan to backstab them, but she ended up getting played herself.
While this can be looked at as not Wanda's fault, the fact that she was foolhardy enough to think she could outthink the twins, who were smarter and better prepared than her, led to the death of billions. While it was still an impressive feat, it reveals someone who was completely out of her depth, and billions paid for it.
4 She Tried To Resurrect The Mutants Of Genosha And Ended Up Creating An Army Of Zombies
Genosha was the first time mutants tried to have a country of their own, and it ended in genocide. Scarlet Witch eventually did start feeling bad about her role in hurting the mutant race, so she decided to try to help. Using powerful magic, she tried to resurrect the mutants of Genosha but ended up making an army of zombies.
Scarlet Witch should've known by then that playing God is bad. The fact she kept doing it, regardless of how many times it backfired, shows just how blind she is to the consequences of her actions. Creating a zombie army could have been a disaster, and it shows how shortsighted she can be.
3 She Was A Originally Terrorist
Scarlet Witch began her costumed career as a terrorist. She and her twin brother Quicksilver were members of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, helping the mutant master of magnetism attack humanity. On the one hand, members of the team often victimized her, but on the other, she still participated in acts of terrorism.
Scarlet Witch's terrorist past was basically completely glossed over by everyone because she joined the Avengers, which showed her that her bad behavior would be forgiven rather easily. This demonstrates why she made such bad decisions over the years; she helped commit terrible acts and was absolved just for being Scarlet Witch.
2 She Killed Several Of Her Friends And Teammates In Avengers Disassembled
Avengers Disassembled, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Finch, was the Avengers' worst day. The team was attacked at the Avengers Mansion, an attack that immediately killed Scott Lang. As the day went on, Vision and Hawkeye would both lose their lives as the attack intensified. Eventually, it was revealed that it was all Scarlet Witch's doing.
Having discovered Agatha Harkness's mindwipe, she killed her old mentor and decided to attack her friends in revenge for what was done to her. While everyone was resurrected, the fact of the matter is she killed multiple people. No matter the reason why, she still killed her friends.
1 Depowering The Mutant Race Led To Unbelievable Carnage
House Of M, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Olivier Coipel, showcased Scarlet Witch's worst actions. She recreated the world, making it so that mutants were the dominant race, at the urging of her brother Quicksilver. When it was all revealed, she decided that mutants were to blame for everything bad in her life, so she depowered the vast majority of the race.
Scarlet Witch's actions had massive repercussions. To begin with, it made mutants vulnerable to the humans who were trying to destroy the race. Countless mutants also died on that day, as some of them were flying or in situations that would kill them without their powers. Some mutants' lives even depended on their powers. Wanda did massive damage to millions, all because of her own pain.