All 7 Movies Featuring Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch in Order
It’s pretty interesting how, although primarily associated with X-Men in the source material, Scarlet Witch debuted on the big screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and not in Fox’s ‘X-Men’ franchise, which existed for 14 years prior to the character’s debut in the MCU. Elizabeth Olsen helped both herself and Scarlet Witch to reach worldwide popularity, and after seven appearances, her future in the franchise seems uncertain, but we are all expecting her to return eventually.
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the character of Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, all the way back in 1964. She was initially depicted as an antagonist, Magneto’s daughter, and a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants before it turned out that her powers came from the High Evolutionary, who disguised his work by making her look like she was born a mutant, and Magneto later took her in. Wanda’s story was heavily changed for her MCU adaptation, and her origin story was ultimately completed in 2021’s ‘WandaVision’ series, where she’s referred to as Scarlet Witch for the first time. In this article, we’ll take a look at all of Wanda’s MCU appearances and how her story has unfolded.
Scarlet Witch’s MCU appearances in release date order
Elizabeth Olsen debuted as Wanda Maximoff in the mid-credit scene of 2014’s ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier,’ which led directly into her full introduction in 2015’s ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron.’ MCU’s incarnation of the character was depicted as a Sokovian girl who joined HYDRA and willingly subjected herself to experiments that were powered by Loki’s Scepter, the Mind Stone, which gave her the powers that make her one of the most powerful MCU characters. Before we get into Wanda’s past in more detail, let’s take a look at six MCU movies and one series she has appeared in so far.
- ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ (2014)*
- ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ (2015)
- ‘Captain America: Civil War’ (2016)
- ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018)
- ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019)
- ‘WandaVision’ (2021)
- ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ (2022)
*Mid-credit scene only
Although she’s been present in the MCU for years, Wanda’s story was handled only through crossover movies before she finally got her own project in the ‘WandaVision’ series, in which her origin story was ultimately completed when she was finally referred to as the Scarlet Witch for the first time. However, officially becoming the Scarlet Witch also began her dark path, which escalated in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.’ In the coming paragraphs, we’ll explain Wanda’s MCU story in more detail.
Please note that the rest of the article contains spoilers, so read at your own risk!
Are all Scarlet Witch’s MCU appearances connected? What’s the best order to watch them in?
Scarlet Witch didn’t have her own standalone movie in the MCU, although that’s something her fans have been asking for quite a while now. Her story was depicted through crossover movies in which Olsen was a part of the ensemble cast, similar to Hulk’s story in ‘Avengers’ movies and ‘Thor: Ragnarok.’ Wanda’s story was well developed through ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ in which she was introduced as a secondary antagonist before her next appearances depicted her as an Avenger and her love story with Vision.
Vision was eventually killed by Thanos when he took his Mind Stone, and Wanda was one of the victims of Thanos’ snap. Although she returned in ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ Vision wasn’t able to return since he died before the snap, which led directly to the events of ‘WandaVision,’ the first Disney+ MCU series in which Wanda’s enormous grief caused her to lock the entire town in her own fantasy land in which she and Vision are a married couple with two sons.
The series’ events further explored her background story and eventually laid the foundation for her dark turn in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.’
Since Wanda’s story is gradually developed through each of her appearances in the movies before she finally becomes the Scarlet Witch in ‘WandaVision,’ all of her MCU appearances are heavily interconnected, just like the majority of the MCU. Therefore, the best order to watch them is by release date. The good news is that the chronological order is actually the same as the release order in Wanda’s case, but more about that in the next paragraph.
MCU appearances featuring Scarlet Witch in chronological order
Although the MCU timeline can be quite confusing regarding chronology, the good news for Scarlet Witch fans is that the chronological order and release order of her appearances are the same. Although ‘WandaVision’ features some flashback scenes that take place during her childhood and before we fully meet her in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ the main plots of Wanda’s story are spread throughout the crossover movies she appeared in.
Is it possible to watch some movies or series without having any pre-knowledge? Technically, no one stops you from trying, but we wouldn’t recommend it. It’s known that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is very interconnected. Since Wanda debuted in the second Avengers movie, that would mean you’d need to watch the first one, and before ‘Infinity War,’ you’d need to watch ‘Civil War,’ et cetera. You get the point; it creates a complicated domino effect.
However, suppose you want to be fully invested in Wanda’s story. In that case, you should definitely watch ‘WandaVision’ after ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ but before ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.’ That is because the series is an important connecting line between those movies regarding Wanda’s story. ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ is the culmination of Wanda’s dark path, which she took at the end of ‘WandaVision.’
Where to watch the above-mentioned movies and series?
It’s known Disney owns the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Therefore, all the MCU movies featuring Scarlet Witch are available on Disney+. The ‘WandaVision’ series was a Disney+ original series, which also means you can find her only series on that streamer as well.
Will there be more movies & series featuring Scarlet Witch?
‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ ended on a cliffhanger. As we’ve seen, Wanda realized what she was doing when she met her kids from an alternate reality. Wanting to ensure that no one will ever use Darkhold again, she uses her powers to destroy the Darkhold Castle while seemingly taking her own life in the process. We’re emphasizing “seemingly.”
We know superhero franchises by now; it rarely happens that the death of a character means a complete end. Ask Loki; he’s got plenty of experience in that. Even if Wanda truly is dead, the MCU deals with the Multiverse now, and it’s certainly expected that Elizabeth Olsen will eventually return as her most known character, even though she recently said she doesn’t want to be known only as the Scarlet Witch.
Although we don’t know when we’re going to see live-action Wanda again, Elizabeth Olsen has been confirmed to voice the character in one episode of ‘What If…?’ Season 2, which is expected to arrive on Disney+ around Christmas 2023.
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