As an old school fan of Marvel comics and The Avengers, the inclusion of Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is pretty exciting for me. For me, Scarlet Witch is a quintessential Avenger. When I think of the Avengers, the team I usually think of is The Big Three: Captain America, Thor and Iron Man, and then the characters who I usually think of as The Avenger-Avengers: Hawkeye, Vision and Scarlet Witch.

While I enjoyed how Scarlet Witch was included in the new Avengers film, (and equally enjoyed Elizabeth Olsen’s subtle work as Wanda) I was starting to think about the changes they made to the character.  Thanks to a bizarre loophole concerning theMovie rights to the characters of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, Fox can also use them too. So a deal was made: Marvel Studios was allowed to have them in Avengers 2….but they CAN’T be mutants* since Fox has the deal to have mutants on film.

Thus a new origin was created for the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. They are no longer born with these abilities, but are now survivors of an experiment to give people superpowers. This creates a slight change in their personalities. Instead of being people who are force with having powers because they are mutants, they are now people who CHOOSE to have to powers. Much like their printed counterparts they are still using their abilities to protect their people (all of mutant-kind in the comics, the people of Sokovia in the films.) This also causes a new wrinkle to their powers; their abilities are now an after effect from the mind stone. That means their powers come from a far more complicated place than just the evolved genes.

I like this a lot. It kinda explains Scarlet Witch’s powers in a manner that makes more sense to me. While I’ve enjoyed Wanda use as a mutant character in comics, I still never really got how her hex powers were mutant powers. Telepathy? Yes. Healing factor? Absolutely. These makes sense if you stick with mutant abilities as an evolutionary step for humanity to survive.But controlling probability via hex bolts? Not gonna lie, that always pushed the mutant idea a bit too far for me.

So, having Wanda’s powers now come from a place of magic, it means her “witch” powers makes some sort of sense.

It also means that her powers comes from a place that is a completely unpredictable source. And it’s pretty clear that Wanda doesn’t know the extent of her abilities or how dangerous they could be….

Now, allow me to please overthink this and get all conspiracy theory on all of ya’ll….

 

What if Wanda was the catalyst for Civil War?

 

The synopsis for Captain America: Civil War is…..

“Captain America: Civil War” picks up where “Avengers: Age of Ultron” left off, as Steve Rogers leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain.”

Now….

 

What if Wanda was the cause of this collateral damage?

 

Some of of you might be asking me  “Why am I blaming Wanda for a crime she didn’t commit?”

 

Again, hear me out!

 

Right now, Wanda is still recovering from the loss of her brother. While the people from her country are alive, her ENTIRE CITY blew up right in front of her. While I don’t doubt she is strong and she is able to overcome this, these are things that someone can exploit and try to use against her. Honestly, Wanda did a similar trick in Age of Ultron.  She entered Tony’s mind and reignited his fears and doubts which lead him to make the rash decision to jump start his Ultron project.

It isn’t just that Wanda has immense power that could lead into further harm that is out of her control, but she is in a place emotionally that could be unstable.

So what if if this new and nefarious foe that will be introduced in this movie knows about Wanda, her abilities, and what she’s gone through? What if this foe has info on Wanda’s past with Hydra because he is a HUGE part of Hydra?

All rumors right now point to the idea that the villain will be Baron Zemo….

Zemo could find a way to push Wanda. He could do it in secret, watching on the sidelines while The Avengers are in a middle of a battle.  He might even have proof of Wanda and Pietro as co-conspirators with Ultron, setting up a reason for the public to not trust the Avengers that Cap is leading.

It’s a plan that makes some kind of sense…..I mean, it would be if that was what they were gonna do with this movie.

Again, I am just guessing, but there are some small clues right now. Here are some behind the scene pictures of Olsen on the Civil War set, and as far as I’m concerned, this isn’t her Avengers fighting look, but her “on the run.” look.

If my guess ends up being right, I think this could be a really strong storyline for Wanda to go through right now. She’s the rookie, and while she’s certainly proved herself, seeing her overcome this and all the added craziness that’s gonna happen in Captain America: Civil War, it could be really compelling to see…if they allow to have her do this on her own terms.

While the pep talk she has with Hawkeye is my favorite scene in Age of Ultron, she can’t have that again (even if it’s with Cap.) She’s gotta prove to herself, and to us, that she’s got the strength and bravery to survive this. For me, I believe she can. This could be a really strong bases for making Wanda an even more defined character in the MCU. Hopefully they can the find room to allow her to do this in Civil War.

AGAIN, if my theory is even close to true……which it mostly likely isn’t. But, hey, it’s always fun to overthink this stuff sometimes.

* Though it seems like Wanda and Pietro’s past as mutants might be getting re-written in the comics right now. Click HERE to read up about it in on Hitfix.com.  I haven’t read this storyline yet, but if you have let us know in the comments below if they went through with it and they are no longer mutants any more.