Hey youtubers it's Charlie's. So this is gonna be my Scarlet Witch video, as promised.
Obviously the movie's gonna change a few things about what's going on with Scarlet
Witch in the comics so I'm gonna do a comic book explainer
and then I'll explain you know what the movie is changing about the character
mostly just the back story. She's like one of those characters in the comics that
has God level powers at certain points, so I think Joss Whedon, whatever version he
decided to go with
de-powered her just like a little bit to make it a little more believable
compared to the other characters.
Just getting started let's do origin story. So Scarlet Witch
and her brother Quiksilver were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby,
as they did many other characters, in 1964.
She appeared for the first time in X-Men no.4.
In that issue, the classic X-Men team goes up against Magneto and the
Brotherhood of Mutants for the first time.
Scarlet Witch and her brother are just part of that evil team. But at that time
they were not Magneto's children. That didn't get added to their backs till
way, way later in Avengers #186, in 1979,
so many, many years later. You can thank John Byrne for making them Magneto's children.
In that issue Bova tells Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver their story, their
mother Magda.
It's like 'your mother came to me, she was pregnant, she gave birth to twins'.
Magda was the wife of Magneto does so thus they became Magneto's children.
Fast forward all the way to the day during the access the event that
happened last year
and they kinda reckon on that. So they said, Marvel said officially
they're not going to explain Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver new back story in
the comics
until they start the new uncanny X-Men title after secret wars.
So if you are big comic book fan, you probably have to wait till after secret
wars to find out with their new back stories is in the comics.
If you don't, don't worry about it, it doesn't matter. Just watch the movie, the
movie will totally explain what's going on with them.
The reason Joss Whedon and Marvel ahd to change the backstory for the movie
is really kinda silly. It's just because in the comics they bounce back and forth between
X-Men and Avengers so much, like they appear in the Avengers for so long
that Marvel and Fox share rights so
they can both use versions of those characters. It's just,
there are a few things that they can't do. For instance, Marvel cannot use the
word 'mutants'.
That is something that Fox owns as part of its X-Men copyright.
That's why Marvel is making such a big deal the Inhumans like they wanna do
meta-human
powers, people with special abilities. The Inhumans is
the way for them to do it. It's just a way to describe people with
meta-human powers.
And whenever the movie gets here in May, they'll spend like the first 15 minutes or
so kinda explaining where Scarlet Witch and Quicsilver come from.
it'll be way easier to follow, but let's do a comic book history 'cause the Scarlet
Witch is one of the most interesting characters.
So for the most part, Scarlet Witch's biggest moments have been when she's
been part of the Avengers.
Mostly of you have probably heard about how she had a relationship with the Vision
and then they had two children that turned out to be magic babies
that were fake. That ended up happening way, way later.
She first joined the Avengers in 1965 in issue no.16,
in a story called "The Old Order Changeth!"
Stan Lee just wanted to change the lineup. I think he felt like some of the Avengers were getting
boring so I wanted to bring new characters and
so he replaced Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man
and The wasp with Scarlet Witch, Quiksilver
in Hawkeye. If you guys been following the news they've said, yes, they will be
changing the movie version of the Avengers, they'll be changing that roster in the next
couple of years.
Just bring in some fresh meat for the Infinity Gem grinder.
In the comics though whenever Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver first joined up
they called the new squad 'Cap's Kooky Quartet'
I mean even those it's technically still the Avengers. But look for an Easter Egg for
that in Avengers: Age of Ultron,
Cap's Kooky Quarter. So one of her next big, you know really weird story lines,
was starting the romance with the Vision. That didn't start till 1973
in issue no. 109. That's also the same issue where hawkeye bail on the
Avengers, he left.
As weird as it sounds starting a romance with the robot
they kinda have addressed it. Quiksilver, her brother at the time was like, 'this is bull crap,
I can't believe it'.Hawkeye really hated the idea too but he was just jealous. he was in
love with Scarlet Witch too.
So here's where things start to get a little weird. She and Vision leave the
Avengers in issue no.211,
they have like a 12 issue limited series where it's like Scarlet Witch
and the vision, it's all about their relationship.Later she winds up getting
pregnant with the Vision
using magic. Remember he's an Android can't, father biological children
even though he's probably fully functional like Data from Star Trek.
She gives birth to twins, Thomas and William, that was Volum 2,
issue no. 12. That was around like 1986. Then they end up joining West Coast Avengers.
So the next big arc kinda leads up into Avengers Disassembled where she goes complete
nuts. So slowly, like her world starts to get torn down around her, the Vision gets
dismantled in a big fight and Wonder Man, whose brain was used to
like pattern Vision's brain, won't allow himself to be used again to make
a new Vision. So she can't get her husband, back
and then she loses her children. You can thank John Byrne for all this. This is
like 1980's John Byrne era.
So in 1989, West Coast Avengers, issue 52
it's revealed that her twin sons are actually soul shards
from the demon Mephisto. I order to defeat him,
they have to erase Scarlet Witch's memory then eventually she remembers
what happened
and she kinda starts to go a little nuts. Much, much later her power start to get
upgraded, she stars to get her Chaos Magic.
She wants to get her children back, like she wants to use magic to bring them back,
she goes to Doctor Doom and he helps her fuse with this cosmic entity which
upgrades are too like God level power. This is like the beginning of The House of M event,
probably one the most famous Scarlet Witch story lines of all time.
When she merged with the cosmic entity, it takes over her mind
and she goes a little nuts and starts a war against the Avengers. She just, she
blames them for all the bad things that happened to her and her family.
Eventually they're able to stop her, and Magneto and Quicksilver, like her family take
take her away to recover.
Because of the damage that she had caused Quiksilver
freaks out and is worried that the X-Men and the Avengers are gonna try to kill her,
so he convinces her to you Chaos Magic
to create a world where everyone gets everything that they've always wanted.
That's the really famous 'No more mutants' line right there. That happened in
House of M, no. 7.
Much, much later they're able to undo the damage but they can't undo the stain on
Scarlet Witch, like everyone looks at her differently they're like
'okay you completely, messed the world up you are totally crazy'
During X-Men vs Avengers, whenever they were fighting the Phoenix Force
she hoped combine their powers to say 'No more Phoenix' in a nice twist on the
'No more mutants' line.
So that re-powered everyone and in kinda reversed a lot of the damage that she
had done.
So as you can see she has like crazy level powers than it had some really
ridiculous story lines.
Movies naturally, probably gonna sidestep her having magic babies with the Vision
but I think they will have some more fun with the idea of Chaos magic
and her powers.
Just to explain her powers, they're pretty interesting. One of
the reasons Joss Whedon said he wanted to put her in the movie is because
her powers work in a way that we haven't seen on screen. It's just like
really new and interesting. Also I think she just she works themaically with
the idea of an Ultron-Vision based story.
Joss Whedon said that initially, like his idea for Avengers, 2 was
he wanted to do Ultron and he wanted Paul Bettamy to become the Vision in the
movie. That was the basis for a Age of Ultron and then he built it out from there.
He wanted to bring in some other new characters, so I think, you know, based on
that foundation, Scarlet Witch just work best.
Just like a lot other characters, you know ,over her comic book history, her
powers have evolved like
they got bigger and bigger and bigger and then they kinda toned them down a little bitt. But,
as to where we are right now, she has like cosmic level abilities which is I think
kinda works at the movies in the Infinity Gems.
Her biggest power is the ability to manipulate probability over a limited area
So, like inside a bubble, she can cast the Hex that will give the Avengers really good luck.
Or for powers backfire, like if her Hex backfires, it'll give them really bad luck.
You can see how that will be really useful in battle. Kike a if a pile of Ultron
replicants start to bury the Avengers in a fight, she can cast the Hex
bubble, making it easier for them to win.
Eventually she learned to use that ability as a form of telekinesis
so she can deflect, objects, open doors make things explode,
create force fields. She can even make electronic circuits go haywire.
So you see how that would come in handy if she has the fighter army robots. Later
in the 1990s, she learn to use more traditional magic, like Doctor Doom and
Doctor Strange use.
There was even a rounded Geoff Johns wrote on where she was able to resurrect
Wonder Man.
I know everybody think that's weird, Geoff Johns has been at DC Comics for so long,
but he did write a Marvel before he came to DC. House of M though
that was where she got crazy universe altering powers.
Obviously for the movie, they're gonna de-power her little, like they're not
gonna give her the ability to change the entire universe.
But during the Avengers vs X-Men run, they explained that her magic comes
from a cosmic source. Cosmic like the Infinity Gem in Loki's staff.
Which brings us to the movies. So if you remember the end of Winter Soldier, they
had that Baron von Strucker post-credit scene
where they talk about experimenting on test subjects
and the survivors.And it's the twins. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are
the only survivors
of their experiments with Loki's scepter.
Kevin Feige already confirmed that the Mind Gem is in Loki's staff. They haven't
fully explain the extent of its powers or its effects on Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver,
so we'll have to wait for the movie to figure that out but I think that they'll explain
her powers across the course the film.
Like will see are you certain powers at the beginning and then in the later, in like, the third act she'll
unveil some mega super power. It just feels like a very movie thing to do.
Like 'oh, you though that was all I could do? Baam, here we go, Infinity Stone power.'
As predictable as big Hollywood movies are, I think they'll be a few surprises in
terms of her powers
I mean, it'll be interesting to see it playing on screen. This picture of her mind controlling Black Widow just looks so awesome
There's a lot of theories that that's the reason why the Hulk is fighting Iron Man because
she like, she puts the whammy on all them and it just makes them go crazy.
For all intents and purposes though Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are the
beginning of
special powers inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Obviously they have Inhumans too, and their powers come from a different source
but it's all about seeing mutant abilities on-screen
as opposed to like science-based abilities like Thor
with his hammer and Iron Man with his suit. Really the next step from here is
explaining Doctor Strange's
full-blown magic. Hopefully we'll get a small tease of that in Captain America: Civil War
because Doctor Strange is the next movie after that.
Here's my big question for you guys: what's your favorite Scarlet Witch story of all time?
And do you think that she's gonna have like some crazy moment in a Age of Ultron
where's she'll like 'No more mutants'
like a version of that where she'll just destroy an army of robots.
Just on paper, it seems like the Vision's gonna to be the one to help them defeat Ultron but
I am expecting a big Scarlet Witch moment. As much as the movies changed stuff
from the comics,,
they do try to honor like the really big comic book moments.
In related Inhumans news, there's gonna be a new Agents of SHIELD next week so be sure
to subscribe to get that video
I've already done an explainer video for the Inhumans. If you haven't seen it you can
click here to learn all about them,
and you can click here to learn all about the new Super Girl TV series.
I'm interested to see which direction they take it in, but I haven't seen the
pilot yet.
So, thank you so much watching. I see you guys, tonight. Now let's all do the thing.