In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Elizabeth Olsen's performance as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch has been quite impressive, nailing both the character's emotional losses and empowerment. This has allowed Olsen and the MCU to turn Scarlet Witch into a true powerhouse and someone that enemies of the Avengers should fear. And if WandaVision is any indication, Wanda is only going to get more powerful as time goes on.
With WandaVision arriving on Disney+ soon, here are the five biggest Scarlet Witch moments from the MCU thus far.
5. Losing Quicksilver
In 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver were experimented upon by Wolfgang von Strucker, who was trying to create super-soldiers with the Scepter/Mind Stone. However, as they fought Earth's Mightiest Heroes under Ultron's watch, they realized they were on the wrong side of history. It was tyrants like HYDRA who were inflicting the same kind of pain they felt when their home fell, and as a result they flipped sides.
In the end, Ultron grew angry at their betrayal and used the Quinjet to shoot and kill Quicksilver. Wanda, who was busy battling other Ultron robots immediately sensed the death, even though she was far away, and dropped to her knees in anguish. As she let out a scream due to the tragedy, a shockwave erupted that destroyed the robots around her, teasing just how powerful she was and giving fans a spin on her "No More Mutants" moment from 2005's House of M event. Watching the machines turn to ash definitely hinted she could do more than just sense emotions and use telekinesis, setting the stage for her evental Avengers' membership and her status as one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
4. Taking Iron Man Down
In 2016's Captain America: Civil War, Clint Barton/Hawkeye broke Wanda out of Tony Stark/Iron Man's care, as she didn't believe in the Sokovia Accords. Now, while she fought well in the airport fight between Team Captain America and Team Iron Man, it's her first brawl with Clint by her side that truly showed Wanda as an independent, strong person. In the fight, Wanda distracted Iron Man, and Wanda dropped cars on him.
It's a subtle but powerful feminist moment, as she didn't like being locked away and this is her fighting back against her imprisoner. She hated how no one trusted her and took her agency away, even Vision, and this was her way of getting her power back. It helps that she went after Iron Man, which also proved that she can hatch an intelligent plan to take down the world's smartest superhero. It also proved to Hawkeye that he made the right choice by bringing her to the battle.
3. Wanda's Mind Games
Before her heroic turn, we really got to see Wanda as the Scarlet Witch creating false realities, except this was in people's minds. In Age of Ultron, she used her abilities to mentally damage the Avengers, showing Thor his Asgardians died because of him, Black Widow her traumatic past in the Red Room, Steve a paradise with Peggy Carter he'll never get and hinting to Stark that all the Avengers would die under his watch. She even scared Hulk, who went into berserker mode, reminding everyone that you don't tear the Avengers apart with brawn but through manipulation.
These ominous moments scared the audience by bringing in bits of the heroes' past, present and future. This even had some pretty major repercussions for the MCU's future. After all, this doubt sown by Wanda is what caused Iron Man to make selfish decisions later on and effectively set the stage for Ultron, the Sokovia Accords and the Avengers disassembling.
2. Saving and Losing Vision
In 2018's Avengers: Infinity War, Wanda really tried her best to protect the Mind Stone in Vision's head as Thanos beat the other Avengers down. Seeing her use her blasts to try and fry the gem and hold Thanos off was quite the sight. The well-acted moment is one of the MCU's most emotionally powerful and showed viewers a broken Wanda forced to do the thinkable to someone she loved.
But the twist of Thanos then using the Time Stone to reverse the fight and kill Vision in front of her makes the moment even worse for Wanda. After having already lost her brother in Age of Ultron, the death of Vision means she's lost another person for whom she cares deeply and may just make her more dangerous than ever in WandaVision.
1. Beating Down Thanos
In 2019's Avengers: Endgame, Wanda relished the rematch against a time-displaced Titan and was ready to make him pay for his crimes. The Mad Titan sent the Scepter to Earth which created her, killed Pietro and helped destroy Sokovia. He also killed Vision in front of her. All this rage turned her into arguably the most powerful entity in the MCU as she used her powers on to absolutely wreck Thanos. Despite their incredible power, Captain America, Iron Man or Thor weren't able to do this kind of damage to Thanos. Just to survive, Thanos was forced to call for his airship to fire on her.
This incredible moment highlighted that, if Wanda really wanted to, she would be difficult to contain. Even in Infinity War, she didn't show a scary degree of power like this, which leaves us wondering how much more she's evolved in WandaVision.
Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes. The series premieres Jan. 15 on Disney+.