Villain Profile: Baron Strucker

Day Four of the Avengers 2 theme week. HYDRA’s motto is “Cut off one head, and two more shall take its place,” but I do believe that that motto hinges on the concept that Red Skull is the body. Meaning that Skull is always there, protected and directing the heads towards their goal. Why? Because the group seems to fall into absolute anarchy whenever he dies/disappears. Which is kind of to be expected when you have at least three sub-commanders, each with enough ambition to try to steal the top spot. In HYDRA these sub-commanders are Baron Heinrich Zemo, Viper/Lady Hydra, and Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. These three always seem to be at each other’s throats, even when Skull is around to tell them to shut up and get along.  You can probably imagine what it’s like when he’s NOT around. Today we’ll be focusing on Strucker. Let’s get to it.

Ug, a face even a mother would have trouble
loving.

Baron Wolfgang von Strucker was born in Prussia in the late 1800s. The Struckers were an important noble family in Prussia, but relocated to their castle in Bavaria after that nasty business known as the Franco-Prussian War. Despite being displaced from their nation, the Sturckers were still very wealthy. Young Wolfgang wanted for nothing, and spent most of his youth fencing, becoming a champion fencer by eighteen. Which also earned him a rather prominent scar on his face. Strucker served in WWI, and later became a prominent member in the Nazi Party. Pretty much from the get-go he was given the weird, supervilliany assignments. Like using a powerful psychic (specifically the Shadow King) in a plan to dispute the English Royal Family and install a king who would be sympathetic to the Nazis. Why they didn’t just use Shadow King to have British Parliament vote in a Nazi, which would have been a much greater blow any Anti-Nazi sentiment than replacing the figurehead king, I’ll never know. This stupid plan was thwarted by time-traveling members of Excalibur (The British branch of the X-Men) and everyone’s favorite Nazi fighting Canuck, Logan. This was before he started going by Wolverine.

Once World War Two got started, Strucker was kept busy with evil plans. Like, helping the evilish Ninja organization known as the Hand train a young Russian girl into a master assassin. Yeah, Natasha Romanova (Black Widow) has been at this for a while. This plan was thwarted by Logan, again. Still pre-metal bones. Strucker was also sent into the reclusive nation of Latveria to steal the “Storm-Catcher” a device capable of manipulating cosmic energy. This plan was ruined by another time-traveling X-Men team, X-Factor. After the good ol’ USA joined WWII, Strucker’s constant headache became the Howling Commandos, led by a young Nick Fury. The Fuhrer demanded that Strucker personally humiliate and kill Fury and his squad. How’d he plan to do this? Hamlet style, challenging Fury to a sword fight after Strucker secretly drugged him. Despite the drugs, and Struckers experience with a blade, Fury nearly defeated the Nazi, before passing out from the poison. Despite Fury being saved by the Commandos, Strucker recorded the fight and sent it back to Berlin to be used as propaganda.

After Strucker had been humiliated by the Howling Commandos, the Invaders (Lead by Captain America), and Thor, even after getting his hands on some modern WW2 History Books thanks to a time-traveling Doctor Doom, Hitler had had enough. Strucker was marked for death by Hitler’s Gestapo. He would have been executed, if not for one of Hitler’s top advisors, Johann Schmidt. Better known as the Red Skull. Skull, having realized that Hitler’s fall was inevitable was planning on building a new power base for himself. He smuggled Strucker out of Europe into Japan, with orders to finance and help create a new evil organization for Skull. Strucker took the easy way out and just coopted an existing evil organization, HYDRA. Which, at the time was a subversive movement in Japan which was connected with the Hand. Strucker helped the group on a few occasions before killing the Supreme Hydra and taking over. He also killed the Hand Ninja to ensure that his new organization wasn’t “corrupted” by the ninja influences. He had a new evil army, an island base and some money to burn. Strucker had it made, for a few weeks at least.

Haven't seen much, but an okay interpretation thus far.

He was forced to rejoin the Nazis, however, after his base of operations in the south pacific was destroyed. He played at being a good heel clicking lapdog, all the while secretly funneling Nazi funds into HYDRA. He used a stolen Japanese sub as his headquarters, and using the history books as a guide tried to build the Atom bomb before the US. Cap and the Invaders put a stop to this, the fight also destroyed Strucker’s books from the future. Sucks to be you Wolfgang. After the fall of the Nazis, Strucker went into preservation mode, placing the Nazis’ top Superhuman weapons Master Man and Warrior Woman, and later the Skull himself, into suspended animation. He somehow avoided prosecution for war crimes, got his hands on super drugs that retarded the aging process, and nearly got the better of Logan. Unfortunately for Strucker, the ageless Canadian was saved by two CIA Agents, Richard and Mary Parker. Yes, those Parkers. He also tried to get his hands on some Nazi gold found by one Gabrielle Haller but was thwarted by Haller’s boyfriend, Charles Xavier, and Charles’ buddy Magneto. Strucker also witnessed the creation of the Anti-HYDRA spy agency, SHIELD, as well as the evil scientific organization known as the Advanced Idea Mechanics, created from a splintered HYDRA research division. He attempted to launch a bomb filled with “Death Spores” from Hydra Island, but was killed before the missile could launch.

"HYDRA is mine!" Until Zemo shows up and kicks your ass.
Just saying.

Strucker continued to run HYDRA in death, however, thanks to several Life Model Decoys (LMDs). These are robots that are so scary advanced that they can pass for human, even to the most trained expert. Strucker’s mind was uploaded into several LMD’s, the most successful of which, Deltite, even took over SHIELD for a time. He caused to much trouble there that once the dust settled Fury was forced to disband the organization. For a bit. Strucker was eventually resurrected, bonded with the Death Spores in his very DNA, giving him a nice trump card. It's hard to kill a man if doing so released deadly spores. During the Dark Reign Story arc, Strucker revealed that HYDRA had been puppet mastering SHIELD for some time, only to discover Fury had known this for some time and counter…puppet mastered… them. Yeah it’s a crazy convoluted story, but roll with it. He was shot in the head after being defeated by Nick Fury and his brother Jake. Previous experience shows that it’s just a matter of time before he gets back up again.

Baron Strucker is an expert spy. He’s a master hand-to-hand combatant, swordsman, marksman, and master of disguise. He has used a serum created by HYDRA since the 1950s to keep him physically fit and slow the aging process. He looks like an eighty year old man, but has the physical strength and stamina of someone in their thirties. He uses a metal gauntlet known as the Satan Claw which amplifies his strength and discharges an electric blast. After his most recent revival it was found he has the Death Spore bonded to his DNA. This allows him to at will release a powerful virus that can kill anyone that breaths it in. Sick little Nazi, isn’t he?

Strucker has only been used a handful of times in Marvel Media, most likely because of his Nazi roots. Don’t want to explain that to the kiddes until middle school, am I right?

Mini-Punch! Now who has a stupid power, you crazy old
windbag?

Strucker was a recurring antagonist in the Marvel’s The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. He appears as a young man in “The Red Skull Strikes” a “pre-series” episode that explains how Cap got frozen in ice. We also see him in another pre-series episode entitled “Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD” in which his top enforced, the Grim Reaper, nearly breaks him out of the Vault, the high security prison for tech based villains. This episode also shows that the Satan Claw has been retooled as the source of Strucker’s long life, he uses it to suck the youth out of others. It’s why the very young looking Nick Fury has gray in his hair. In the episode “Living Legend” we see him and fellow Baron, Zemo, have a match over who should rule HYDRA. Zemo easily bests both Strucker and Grim Reaper, but let’s Strucker have HYDRA in exchange for Doctor Zola. Stucker was in the background of several episodes, but returned with vengeance in “Hail, HYDRA!” where evil organization AIM and HYDRA are fighting over the Cosmic Cube. The Avengers get involved when super spy Black Widow lets them in on things. This episode includes one of the best moments in the series, where Strucker is inches from touching the cube, and in doing so rewrite history so that HYDRA won WWII, only to be thwarted. Several buildings away Hawkeye launches an arrow with Ant-Man hanging onto the tip. Right when Strucker’s about to win, WHAM, Mini-Punch to the chin. Keep in mind, when tiny Ant-Man’s punch is like a bullet, small but focused. It knocks Strucker on his ass and helps the Avengers win the day.

Baron Stucker has appeared in the Marvel Universe. We see him first at the end of Captain America: Winter Soldier, portrayed by Thomas Kretschmann. In the post credit scene we learn that his main branch of HYDRA had smuggled several powerful artifacts from SHIELD custody sometime before the film, this includes Loki’s scepter from the first film, and we see him gloating over “the twins” revealed to be the Maximoffs. He will have some role in Age of Ulton, but the title suggest he’ll be a secondary villain to the titular baddie, Ultron. Just a few more days to wait and see.

Strucker is an interesting bad guy. I honestly had no idea how far his reach has been until writing this post. He’s interacted with, and in some cases created, some of the most memorable characters and organizations of the Marvel Universe. His powers and abilities appear to be a mix of science and magic that Marvel likes showing off, and the whole threat of releasing killer spores with his death makes it hard to end that baddie. Of the various HYDRA Leaders he is not my favorite, though I admit I do have to respect him a little more now seeing how he shaped it and other evil groups. He’s the villainous, conniving, surviving Baron Strucker. Next time, Avengers: Age of Ultron. I’m so excited! 

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Hero Profile: The Vision

Day Three of the Avengers 2 countdown, and today we’ll focus on the most under hyped character from the promos, The Vision. Pinocchio comes to mind with several comic book characters, typically with the “Robot wants to be alive,” stories. The Vision is one of the best examples of this story. Throw that in with the whole not wanting to be like his “father” the evil automaton, Ultron. And by the time I’m done with this one, I’m sure you’ll agree that the Vision is as “real a boy” as dear Pinocchio. Let’s get to it.

It feels like he's looking into my soul.

The Vision was designed by the Ultron to be the ultimate weapon against the Avengers and his own creator Hank Pym. The Vision was constructed by Ultron using a leftover body of the 1940s robotic Human Torch. Ultron upgraded it as best he could and used the brainwave patterns of the (at the time) deceased Wonder Man to give his creation a personality. He also implanted a “control crystal” into the new androids synthetic brain to make sure he could control it. He dispatched his creation to attack the Avengers and lead them into a death trap. He first runs into the Wasp, whom gives him his name, calling him an “Inhuman Vision.” Why she didn’t go with the more obvious ghost or specter metaphor for the guy who can pass through walls, I’ll never know. He’s defeated by the Avengers, whom remove the control crystal and then convince the machine to go against his maker. Which, again, you'd think Ultron might have seen coming considering that the Vision's brain is based off of Wonder Man, a villain created spy that goes native and turns on his maker. For a smart Robot, Ultron is pretty stupid sometimes. The Avengers defeat Ultron, only to have him take over the Vision again, forcing him to build Ultron a new adamantium body. He regains control of himself and helps the Avengers defeat Ultron, again.

Shortly after this the Vision meets Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch, and the two hit it off. Despite the initial objections of their teammates, mostly Quicksilver who didn’t want his sister to date a machine and Hawkeye who was jealous, the two marry with the team’s blessing. Shortly after they have twin boys via Magical In Vitro. The family was happy for a little while, before things hit the fan. Vision is kidnapped by government agents working for the villainous Immortus. One of the various personas of the time traveling Kang the Conqueror, by the way. Vision is disassembled by the men in black, but is reassembled by his “Granddad” Hank Pym. Unfortunately, Wonder Man refuses to allow his brain to be used to restore Vision’s emotional matrix, for previously stated selfish reasons. The new Vision is now a chalk white unfeeling machine. The Maximoff’s familial issues are increased when it’s discovered that the souls Wanda magically transmuted into their mystically conceived twins were both 1/5^th of Mephisto, a powerful demon lord. Mephisto eventually reclaims them. Wanda is driven mad with grief over the loss of their kids, and she and the Vision separate, even going so far as to join two different Avengers Branch teams. Obviously the emotionless robot doesn’t object.

I agree with Wasp, his skin tone doesn't look
good with all that yellow and green.

The Vision later regains his emotions after adopting the brain patters of the deceased Dr. Alex Lipton. These new patterns meld with the left over bits Wonder Man’s, giving the Vision a more… unique brain. He tries to get back together with Wanda, but she rejects him The Vision is then almost destroyed by Morgan Le Fey. He takes several weeks to recover, and in that time gives up trying to patch things up with Wanda, but he does retain a fondness for Transian culture, made evident by doing things like going to a Transian restaurant because it reminds him of her. He and Wanda do eventually make up, but her grief over the loss of their sons eventually causes her to lose control again. She kills him, along with Hawkeye and Scott Lang (Ant-man 2) in a grief filled, magically enhanced rage.

The Original Vision goes on hiatus for a while. A new Vision is built by Iron Lad, another of the various incarnations of the time traveling Kang the Conquerer. This Vision is based on 30th century tech and Kangs brain patterns. New Vision joins the Young Avengers, and falls in love with Stature, daughter of Ant-Man II. He is ultimately dismantled, and by that I mean torn to shreds, by a grief stricken Iron Lad after the death of Stature. A short, but complex life for that android. The original Vision is eventually rebuilt by Tony Stark, brain patterns and memories in tact. One of the first things he does is fly to Utopia and demand Magneto tell him where Wanda is. Magneto magnetically disables his former son-in-law, but spares his life because he knows Wanda still cares about him. Magneto tells him to leave and let Wanda be. Captain America later gives the Vision some advice about moving forward. Which, he does his best to follow despite how much it pains him. While his relationship with Wanda is clearly over by the end of the Avengers vs. X-Men story, he does spend a little time with Billy Kaplan, the reincarnation of one of his twins. So, he’s moving on but not forgetting about the people that were special to the both of them. Shortly after the latest attack by Ultron, in the Age of Ultron story, he joins Hank Pym’s Avengers A.I. This version of the Avengers focus on protecting the world from cyber threats. Which mainly includes evil computer viruses, which happen more often than you’d think in the world of Marvel. The team is comprised of the Chief of SHIELD’s AI division Monica Chang, a reprogrammed Doombot, and Vision’s “brother” Victor Mancha. Victor was essentially Vision 2.0, an advanced synthetic organism designed by Ultron to infiltrate the Avengers and then destroy them. So, the two probably have a lot in common, at least in their feelings towards their maker. What with Granddad Hank Pym on the team they just need an Ultron for this to be a family business.

Not sure if he's more or less scary with pupils.

The Vision has a rather odd mix of powers. He has a Solar Jewel on his forehead that absorbs ambient solar energy to power himself, and use as a high powered laser. He can also release a powerful microwave pulse and has heat vision. He can alter the density of his body, making him light enough to fly and phase through solid objects or heavy as a being a thousand times his size. He’s super strong, has super senses, and super intelligence thanks to his robotic origins.

The Vision is a somewhat limited character, mostly because of how heavily his origins are tied to the Avengers. Hard to make a show solely on the Vision is kind of impossible.

The Vision appeared in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes second season. He first appears in “Behold… The Vision!” where Ultron sends him to gather resources for his new body. He steals some adamantium, but is stopped by the Avengers before he can steal a sample of Cap’s Vibranium/Adamantium alloy shield. He eventually rebels against Ultron in “Ultron Unlimited,” using his phasing powers to remove Ultron’s indestructible head from his indestructible body. He disappears for a bit to recover but afterwards is a major member of the Avengers. He helps save the Avengers after the entire team and most of the world is taken over by the Purple Man, a D-list supervillain with the power to control others via pheromones. He also is instrumental in the Earth’s defense against Galactus and his Heralds when the devourer of worlds comes to Earth.

The Vision is set to appear in Age of Ultron, portrayed by Paul Bettany. Since Wonder Man isn’t a character in the Cinematic Universe, yet, and that Bettany already portrays the voice of JARVIS Tony Starks AI, it seems likely either Ultron or the Avengers use JARVIS to animate The Vision. Just have to wait and see I guess.

The Vision is an interesting character. He was made to be Ultron’s ultimate weapon, but instead takes after his creator with the whole rebelling against his maker thing. The Vision has on several occasions professed a desire to be human. To which is say, dude, you’ve loved and lost, started a family and mourned their loss, and also given your life to protect the world and those you love. You’re about as human as it gets. He’s the awesome automaton, the marvelous machine, the victorious Vision. Next time, one of the films baddies, Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker.

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Hero Profile: Scarlet Witch

Day Two of the Avengers 2 final countdown. Mutant powers come in a wide array of strangeness. There are some more typical superpowers such as super strength and telepathy, but you also have the really weird like communicating specifically with squirrels, shapeshifting specifically into a wolf, and manipulating probability. Wanda’s powers are definitely on the strange end of things. Warping both probability and reality is rarely in one’s standard superpower set. But we’ll get more into that in a second. Let’s get to it.

Don't get on her bad side.

I’ll be condensing most of Wanda’s childhood background, as it’s more or less identical to her brother Pietro’s. Their mother ran away from Magneto to Mount Wundagore after seeing him use his powers to murder a bunch of townsfolk. She gave birth to the twins but committed suicide shortly thereafter by walking into a blizzard. One thing I didn’t know from reading just Pietro’s background was the fact that an Elder God named Chthon, a powerful deity locked within the heart of Wundagore, had altered Wanda’s power at birth. He gave her a genetic predisposition to “chaos magic” and intended to use the baby as a vessel once she grew to maturity. Dick move Chthon. Their mother’s midwife, a humanoid cow named Bova, tried to pass the babies off to WWII era heroes Whizzer and Miss America, but that plan fell apart when Miss America died in childbirth.

They are instead given to a gypsy couple that had lost their own twins. Things go relatively well until a teenage Wanda killed their adoptive mother in a fire when she accidentally used her powers. Mob formed and the Maximoff’s goose would have been cooked if not for the coincidental arrival of their dear ol’ Father, Magneto. He offers them a spot on the Brotherhood of Mutants, and they join in an attempt to pay off their debt to him. Wanda becomes the Scarlet Witch and Pietro starts going by Quicksilver. They leave the team after Magneto is taken off world by an alien known as the Stranger. They join the second iteration of the Avengers, alongside Captain America and Hawkeye. Their time with the Avenger’s is bumpy, to say the least, and they both leave the team for a while, first to rejoin Magneto, and then to just take some time off. Quicksilver returns to the Avengers to get help saving his sister from an interdimensional warlord named Arkon. They save Wanda and both officially rejoin the team.

Around this time, Wanda falls for the Vision, the newest recruit to the Avengers and an Android. They start seeing each other, despite objections by Pietro and Hawkeye. The former because he felt his sister dating a can opener is just too weird, and the latter because he was in love with Wanda. They get over it, eventually, and Wanda marries the Vision with the team’s full blessing. Around this time Wanda begins training with Agatha Harkness, an actual witch, to get better control of her powers. She and Pietro also meet their maybe daddy, Whizzer aka Robert Frank, and are later kidnapped by their other maybe daddy Django Maximoff. While in Wundagore Wanda is possessed by Chthon, but the Elder God is quickly excised with the help of the Avengers. The twins also learn both of their maybe daddy’s are in fact not.

Not a fan of the big hair look,
Just saying.

They meet their actual father a short time later, as Magneto had been trying to track down Magda, instead found Bova, whom told him everything. After learning their former mentor was their father, both twins decide to take some time off to be with their families. While on leave, Wanda gets pregnant and gives birth to twins, Thomas and William. “Wait,” you may be asking, “How does that work? The Vision is an Android.” One word, Magic. Solves all kinds of reproductive issues. Shortly thereafter they move to the west coast and join that branch of the Avengers. This leads to several personal issues. One, the Vision is dismantled and rebuilt as an emotionless machine. Two, even though the hero Wonder Man could have given the Vision a new recording of his brain patterns to restore him, he does not because he has a crush on Wanda. To that I say, “Asshole, if you love her you’d fix her husband.” And three, the most damaging of all, it’s discovered her twins are magical constructs made from the shattered soul of the archdemon Mephisto, who later reclaims them. Agatha Harkness blocks Wanda’s memories of her boys so she can fight Mephisto without reservation.

The next few years for Wanda are filled with death, resurrections, reality warping, and bouncing between The Vision and Wonder Man each time one of them dies. It happens more often than you’d think. She also has her powers greatly enhanced by the sorceress Morgan Le Fey, giving her access to full chaos magic. Wanda eventually grows very depressed at the deaths of her sons, and seeks out Doctor Doom of all people to see if she can restore the boys to life. Together, the two powerful magic users summon a cosmic entity that merges with Wanda. The being latches onto her feelings of grief, terror, and pain, forcing her to attack the Avengers with all their combined might. The being apparently convinced her the team was to blame for the deaths of her children. She kills Hawkeye, the Vision, and Scott Lang (Ant-Man 2) before being stopped by Dr. Strange. Because of the danger her powers possess, the Avengers and the X-Men serious contemplate killing her, for the safety of the world. Pietro overhears, and races to protect his sister. He convinces her to rewrite reality, creating a Mutant controlled world ruled by Magneto and his “House of M,” consisting of Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and their half-sister Polaris. Wanda also successfully remakes her boys. Things are good (for the House of M) for a while until Wolverine and a few other heroes regain their memories of the previous timeline. They gather the other heroes and fight the House of M. Magneto murders Quicksilver for his hand in distorting reality, and that’s the last straw for Wanda. She resurrects Pietro and restores the timeline, but strips the powers of 90% of Mutant kind, including Pietro and Magneto, to punish her father. She retires to Wundagore to live in seclusion.

Took a few years, but she's finally reunited with
her boys.

A few years later two members of the Young Avengers, Wiccan and Speed, learn that they may in fact be the reincarnations of Scarlet Witch’s children. Which isn’t too shocking, given how both boys bear a striking resemblance to each other (biologically there is no relation) and the original Magic and Speed twins. Thomas, aka Speed, is literally just a smaller look alike of his uncle. They join up with Granddad Magneto, Uncle Quicksilver and the Young Avengers to track down Wanda. They find her in Latveria, engaged to Doctor Doom. She also has no memory of them or her past life. A huge brawl breaks out between the Young Avengers, the normal Avengers, Magneto and Doom. They’re saved by the Young Avenger’s time traveling founder, Iron Lad, and Wanda’s memories are restored. Remembering all the things that went wrong in her life, Wanda attempts suicide via magically constructed doomsday weapons, but is saved by Wiccan, who informs her that Magneto and Pietro are alive and that he and Speed are her sons reborn. Wanda’s elation at being reunited with her family and learning she can restore powers to Mutant’s on a small scale is ended when the X-Men show up demanding justice. Then the Avenger’s fly in and it’s this whole thing.  Wanda, Wiccan, and the Young Avengers escape and return to Doctor Doom to get his help at restoring the powers of the world’s Mutants. Being a traitorous despot, Doom instead steals Wanda’s reality warping powers and tries to take over the world. All the while professing that he’ll make the world perfect and united, as he tends to do when given God like power. Unfortunately for that plan, the team up of the X-Men, Avengers, Young Avengers, and most importantly Scarlet Witch and Wiccan prove too much for him. They take back the power, but Wanda elects to stay in solitude.

She returns to help the Avengers stop the Phoenix Force empowered X-Mend, the Phoenix Five. After Cyclops becomes the new Dark Phoenix, Wanda links her powers with the Mutant Messiah, Hope Summers. The two use their combined cosmic might to pretty much literally rip the Phoenix Force from Scott. Hope claims the Phoenix Force, and she and Wanda destroy poetically with three words, “No More Phoenix.” This also restores power to Mutants worldwide. Destroying her own race to saving it, yep, sounds like she went full circle too, doesn’t it?

Eventual Queen of Genosha. Somehow more terrifying
than her predecessor.

The Scarlet Witch’s powers are weird, as they seem to keep changing. Initially she could only manipulate probability, using ‘hexes,’ balls of light or bolts of energy that make whomever is hit get struck by a serious case of bad luck. She needs to do hand gestures and concentrate to get a desired effect, which is mostly spontaneous combustion. Later stories expand her powers into the realm of chaos magic, a dangerous and powerful form of magic. She’s given power on par with Doctor’s Strange and Doom. She can rewrite reality, but the strain of doing so is very damaging to her mental health. Her powers are now described as “Mutant Magic,” somehow a genetic predisposition to the primordial energies of the universe. Or something like that, it’s a little hard to muddle out.

Wanda is the lesser used of the Maximoff twins, despite the fact the pair usually appear as a team. Not sure why Pietro gets more attention.

She appeared in X-Men: The Animated Series in the episode “Family Ties.” In it, she and brother Pietro are kidnapped along with several X-Men and Magneto by the High Evolutionary. The High Evolutionary explains that he’s going to use their powers, somehow, to increase the speed at which he can perform experiments and increase the rate of success. He also reveals their ties to Magneto, hence the episodes name. After beating the snot out of the High Evolutionary and Magneto attempting to form some connection to his kids, they leave in a huff. And that’s the last we see of her. Weird right?

She appears in the second season of X-Men: Evolution. In this version Magneto has her placed in a mental hospital due to her powers being largely uncontrollable. Years later she’s freed by Mystique in an attempt to get revenge on Magneto. Pietro and Wanda are less than thrilled to see each other, Pietro because of the destructive nature of Wanda’s powers, and Wanda because Pietro got to be free while she rotted in the mental hospital. She’s given training from Agatha Harkness, and is used as the Brotherhood secret weapon against the X-Men. She obsessively tries to destroy her dad for leaving her. This is all eventually stopped when Magneto uses the Mutant telepath Master Mind to alter her memories, turning Magneto from the absentee father and personal boogey man into a love parent. She’s the one Brotherhood Mutant to agree to help the X-Men stop Apocalypse and opts to battle her Horseman altered Father. Unfortunately for her, losing the Dad hate makes it impossible for her to overcome the master of magnetism. Thankfully Pietro and the rest come in to add support at the last second. Much like Rogue, this version of the character is heavily redesigned into a Goth punk style. She’s also much, much angrier than most other versions.

Wanda's back and scarier than ever.

She appears as Magneto’s right hand in Wolverine and the X-Men. She tries to be the voice of reason for much of the show, and tries to get her twin back in. She tries to stop Magneto when they both learn that it’s his machinations with the Sentinels that helps lead the road to ruin, but he ignores her pleas. At the end of the series she takes over as ruler of Genosha and banishes Magneto. She offers Pietro to return, but he declines, electing to follow their father. As I mentioned in my post with Magneto, this version shows Magneto being a rather doting father on his two girls, Wanda and Lorna, but rather overly harsh with Pietro. It’s a very unique take on the House of M’s interfamily relations, especially since Lorna is rarely recognized as a child of Magneto.

She’s a playable character in X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse. She has a rather funny side story where Colossus unintentionally flirts with her at a mission briefing that leads to Magneto believing that metal giant might be considering joining the family. Check it out.

She is set to appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen. This is kind of weird when one considers that she and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, playing Quicksilver, played husband and wife in the Godzilla movie of last year. Just saying. From what I’ve gathered from the trailers, she and Quicksilver will at first use their powers against the Avengers but join them at the climax. They’re probably either Inhumans, or mutated humans, given that Marvel can’t use X-Men related stuff. Makes me wonder how they got the rights to use them in the first place.

Scarlet Witch is a rather interesting character. She has all the power she needs, but is still watched over by overly protective brother Pietro. She can potentially destroy all of creation, but Pietro still feels the need to run interference. Weird, right? Of the Maximoff twins she’s the more compassionate of the two, and arguably has had to deal with the worst crap. What with all the deaths that surround her, and the moral pain I’m sure she felt at damning Mutant kind. She keeps bouncing back, though, which is commendable. She’s the reality warping, probability manipulating Scarlet Witch. Next time, Wanda’s synthetic on again off again husband The Vision.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_Witch
 http://marvel.wikia.com/Wanda_Maximoff_%28Earth-92131%29
 http://marvel.wikia.com/File:Wadna_Maximoff_%28Earth-616%29,_William_Kaplan_%28Earth-616%29,_and_Thomas_Shepherd_%28Earth-616%29_01.jpg
 http://x-men.wikia.com/wiki/File:728900-scarlet_witch4_super.jpg
 http://x-menevolution.wikia.com/wiki/Scarlet_Witch