In the Marvel comics universe, Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, is one of the most powerful mutants in existence. She’s been around since 1964, the very birth of Marvel. As the daughter of Magneto, she’s used her reality-warping powers for both good and evil, most consequentially to eradicate all mutants in the House of M storyline.
In the much-younger Marvel Cinematic Universe, though, her power levels are much murkier. For complex licensing reasons, the movie Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen, is not officially a mutant, not related to Magneto (who thus far has only appeared in Fox’s X-Men movies), and seems much less sure of her own abilities.
Now, though, Kevin Feige, chief creative architect of the Marvel films, says the Scarlet Witch is more powerful than we’ve seen. At a panel hosted by New York Film Academy, an audience member asked Feige who is the "strongest Marvel hero." Feige had previously called Captain Marvel the strongest MCU hero, but this time he strongly suggested the crown belongs to the Scarlet Witch.
“If you look at Endgame,” he said, according to a clip posted to Reddit. “Wanda Maximoff was going to kill Thanos. If he hadn’t desperately—that’s as scared as I’ve ever seen Thanos. And if he hadn’t said, ‘Decimate my entire team to get her off of me,’ I think she would’ve done it.”
Feige offered no follow-ups, so it’s hard to say what the news means for future Marvel movies. He might just be hyping a previously underused character, the way he talked up Captain Marvel before her appearance. But we should know soon enough, with Wanda Maximoff slated for appearances in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, hitting theaters in 2021, and WandaVision, streaming on Disney+ that year.
