Wanda Maximoff Is Not the Villain You Think She Is

We call her a villain, But We Ignore Her Pain

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We often consider people villains when their actions hurt others. On the other hand, without you realizing it, have we ever wondered what kind of pain brought them there in the first place?

And I think maybe that’s what happened with Wanda Maximoff.

Maybe, she’s not the villain after all. Maybe she’s just hurt; she lost, and yes, she’s in deep grief.

I would say she’s a complex character who apparently served both as a hero and villain, or should I call her anti-hero?

And we know for sure that all of her villainous actions from the previous movies were primarily driven by deep grief, trauma, and the corrupting influence of dark magic called The Darkhold.

From here, I have a different perspective towards Wanda Maximoff, A.K.A. Scarlet Witch.

The Maximoffs

To understand Wanda Maximoff, we have to look at what has filled her life for so long. Not a power, nor an ambition, but loss.

Long before she became the Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff was a first daughter who sadly lost her parents, Oleg and Iryana Maximoff, after the incident in which Stark Industries missiles struck their home during the Novi Grad bombings.

When the accident occurred, Wanda and her twin brother, Pietro Maximoff, were so young that it left them traumatized even after they grew up.

Later on, in the next MCU movies, Avengers: Age of Ultron, her twin brother, Pietro, sadly died because of multiple gunshot wounds during the war between the Avengers and Ultron’s robots.

Move on to the next event, she lost her love of life in Avengers: Endgame, Vision, who was killed by Thanos, then followed up in WandaVision series, she sadly has to lose her family, her altered husband (Vision), and sons (Billy and Tommy Maximoff) during the Hex incident.

Imagine a daughter who lost her parents, a sister who lost her brother, a woman who lost her love of life, and, sadly, a mother who lost her kids.

By the time we call her a villain, Wanda had already spent most of her life learning what it means to lose everything.

Grief That Never Ends

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From what I see, if we trace Wanda’s story from Avengers: Age of Ultron to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, she never truly had the chance to process her grief.

It was never fully healed but only carried forward.

She tried to cope in the only ways she knew how. But before she could make sense of one loss, another would follow.

So, this is aligned with the idea that I would think that she never really deals with her grief because the incidents keep coming to her.

Her Magic and Grief Lead Her to Harmful Actions

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Unprocessed grief became a destruction

Right before she became the Scarlet Witch, Wanda was known as a witch who wielded the chaos magic.

Chaos magic, the kind of powerful form of magic that allows its users to manipulate reality and existence in the most chaotic and unstable way.

Wanda’s magic ability is tied closely to chaos magic, allowing her to alter her sad reality, as seen in WandaVision, where she altered it into a life where she can be happy with her husband, Vision, together with her sons, Billy and Tommy.

What’s even scarier is that chaos magic has the potential to alter a whole universe — wrap, manipulate, and even reconstruct reality according to its users' whims, which can lead to dangerous consequences to every living creature.

But when we look at Wanda Maximoff, the question becomes more complicated.

Because, despite having that kind of power, she never sought control over the world; instead, she only wanted a small one of her own, a family, a home, a life that was taken from her too many times.

Is She Really the Villain or a Victim?

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I’m not here to show bias, but I have to acknowledge that what Wanda did was wrong. Harmful action would never be tolerated, plus she killed many people during her pursuit of a better reality.

Wanda’s moral ambiguity is clearly portrayed through her actions, which lead her to both heroic and villainous actions. She might have committed a harmful act, but is her reason justifiable?

Well, the reasons behind them are varied, including her inner struggles and the moral complexities of her character stemming from the great grief she experienced.

So, if we were in her position, would we show any difference?

The Point is…

We often mark people way too fast as a villain, yet here we are ignoring the pain behind it.

Maybe Wanda is not the real villain; she is just a daughter who lost her parents, a sister who lost her brother, a wife who lost her husband, and a mother who lost her children.

Instead, we judge people, how about we take our time to understand them?

Maybe some people don’t need to be judged, but they need to be understood.

Lemme know what’s in your thought!

Thank you for stopping by~💙