#wanda maximoff deserves better

[missmarvelobsession]

Covered in cat hair already but... the first Christmas present of the year I have opened is spot on 😂

[unhingedmarvelandclassicwhobuff]

Well Mr Walnut, your hope will continue to go unanswered.

I would pay SO much money to see his initial reaction to learning how many Wanda fans he was going to piss off with his asinine desire to write her as a one-note slasher villain.

This whole situation would be farcically hilarious if it wasn't so enraging.

[xenocorner]

Small sketch page of some of my marvel blorbos ;; Couldn't fit all of them in it nor had the time but hey I got the itch scratched kinda

[musclesandhammering]

What irritates the hell out of me is that Loki has been described multiple times canonically as “the most powerful sorcerer in Asgard” and yet his powers are depicted the way that they are.

Asgard. A realm built around magic. And Loki is their most powerful sorcerer. He should be just as strong as Wanda tbh.

[supremequeenrina]

THE REAL STORY OF THE SCARLET WITCH (kind of long but WORTH IT)

As children, Wanda Maximoff and her brother Pietro were experimented on by The High Evolutionary In Wundagore Mountain, unlocking their extraordinary powers. After the village cast the twins out, Magneto took them in and became their father figure. They joined his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, often clashing with the X-Men on Magneto’s behalf. Growing tired of Magneto’s actions, Wanda and Pietro left the brotherhood behind. Captain America offered them a path to redemption: Become heroes and join The Avengers. Wanda fell in love with her teammate Vision, and they gave birth to twins, Billy and Tommy. Mephisto then broke that family apart by reclaiming their children’s souls as a part of his own. After the loss of her family, Agatha Harkness wiped Wanda’s memories to ease her suffering. When the Scarlet Witch uncovered this, she broke down and launched a full scale attack on Avengers Mansion, disassembling the team. Lost and broken, Wanda then altered all of reality, turning the earth into a mutant paradise, where she could be reunited with her children. In this world, the will of Magneto was the law. When Magneto killed Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch returned the world back to what it was with one condition: “No more mutants.” With just three words, she decimated the mutant population to almost nothing. Doctor Doom manipulated a confused and amnesiac Wanda to steal her powers. Her newly reincarnated sons, Billy and Tommy, alongside their teammates and friends, The Young Avengers. The Scarlet Witch rejoined the Avengers, where she worked with the Phoenix Force to rekindle the mutant population and try to redeem the sins of her past. To atone for her past, the Scarlet Witch created “The Waiting Room” for mutant kind, a place where lost mutant souls could await resurrection on Krakoa. The Scarlet Witch reluctantly teamed up with Doctor Doom to defeat the chaos demon, Chthon. To protect the world from the demon, Wanda absorbed the Darkhold, and trapped Chthon in her soul. With her destiny in her own hands, Wanda moved to Lotkill, New York. There, she started up Emporium, a magic shop that opens its doors to those in need of The Scarlet Witch’s help. Now, as the living Darkhold, the Scarlet Witch must reckon with a very particular inner demon.

[unhingedmarvelandclassicwhobuff]

No. The only way anyone could like this movie is if they saw WandaVision and hated it. That is who this was made for; the whiny retards who came away from the show screeching for blood and gnashing their teeth because they got blue-balled by the show into thinking Wanda would be ruined to pander to them, only for this movie to actually do that. Congrats fuckers! You got what you wanted!

The fact that evil Wanda is so well-presented just makes me hate this movie even more, because I never wanted to see that in any capacity whatsoever, so seeing it actually executed well insults me in ways it probably should not.

There are so many more words I could use to describe my feelings on this movie’s treatment of my favorite character, and absolutely none of them are kind. Frankly, this film is my number one most hated thing in the MCU (hell, my most hated movie of all time, period) because of what it does to her.

The one solitary thing I will give it credit for is that it ended up birthing a small reddit community that I am a part of. 

Other than that though,🖕 🤬.

Villain Breakdown: Scarlet Witch

Paradoxically, you will probably like this film more if you've seen WandaVision, because it explains a lot about where Wanda is coming from and gives you a ton of perspective and insight into her grief. But you'll probably like this film less if you've seen WandaVision, because going from WV's careful and sensitive portrayal of grief and trauma into this film's treatment of Wanda is jarring.

The two are like night and day. Their respective handlings of Wanda demonstrates the difference between being the headliner of a story that's interested in exploring you as a character, versus a villainous role where your #1 job is to be malevolent and imposing.

Elizabeth Olsen, it should be noted, does a great performance for what she's given. I have a lot of problems with how Wanda is portrayed in this film but Elizabeth isn't one of them. Whether she's being cruel and vicious or tragic and sympathetic, Elizabeth nails it every time.

The problem, however, is that juxtaposition.

I'd respect this movie's direction for Wanda more if they were willing to make the Darkhold itself more of an active presence in the story. As it is... It doesn't seem to be exerting its influence over anybody. Even Wanda herself is just planning on stealing power from America so she can have her kids back; She has absolutely zero intentions whatsoever of ever fulfilling the Darkhold's ambitions for her.

The movie keeps insisting that the Darkhold made her do it, but it's fundamentally disinterested in actually showing us the corruptive influence of the Darkhold. It lets multiple opportunities to truly establish the Darkhold's wickedness fly right past, for Wanda and Stephen alike, so that it can keep bringing Wicked Wanda Horrorghoul to the screen.

In essence, it's trying to have its cake and eat it. The film doesn't seem to actually care about the Darkhold; It just wants to have fun going hard on Evil Wanda. But it doesn't want to be criticized for that incredibly controversial decision, so it holds up "Darkhold made her do it" as a shield. The film uses the Darkhold as an excuse rather than a serious plot element.

If you don't like Wanda, this is your catharsis. And if you do like Wanda, hey! Don't blame us! There's a couple minutes of film that insist that us making her wicked and monstrous for two straight hours was all the Darkhold's fault! That's almost as good as actually showing you that happening in the movie!

Wanda is very cool. The acting, the directing, the cinematography and effects, it all conspires to create a phenomenal presentation of a Marvel supervillain. But it comes at the cost of derailing and possibly killing off a character who's never truly gotten a fair shake in eight years of filmmaking.

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

"Do not speak to me of sacrifice, Stephen Strange."

After all this time, this line still bothers me. A lot. And I find myself wondering if it was simply the writer's outright ignorance of the canon suffering that Stephen repeatedly experienced protecting humanity from Dormammu and during his excruciating search for a way to defeat Thanos--or did Waldr🤢n actually know Stephen's history and decide it wasn't relevant to the script he was writing?

Either way, I'll never get over it. While remaining entirely skeptical of how Stephen will be treated in possible future projects.

[whydoyoucarewho-iam]

Wanda Deserved Better

So you're telling me that right after WandaVision:

Vision's reanimated body (White Vision) had regained all of his original memories/sense of self

Billy was alive in William Kaplan's body

Tommy was alive... somehow?? idk how yet we'll see

Right.....

[breckstonevailskier]

Or maybe they could go a different route and not rehabilitate her in the eyes of the public in the first place. I think that could make a cool story where some civilians see her and chastise her for what she did and she just nods and accepts it.

Mind you, it's not exactly like Wanda's image was that great even before Westview and DSMOM. I mean, she was already vilified in the press for Lagos even though that wasn't her fault. And even years later, in the post-Blip world, Hayward seems to harbor similar prejudices against her. (Yeah, some of this is Hayward painting Wanda in a negative light so he can frame her for his crimes, but he also seems like the kind of guy who'd do that even if he wasn't trying to frame her, given his general demeanor.)

I almost feel like "How much does the general public of the MCU know about the events of each movie/show?" is one such question that any Wanda redemption story would have to deal with, because it seems like one of several things that would have influence on Wanda's efforts to rehabilitate her image in order to be viewed as a hero again.

Or maybe they could go a different route and not rehabilitate her in the eyes of the public in the first place. I think that could make a cool story where some civilians see her and chastise her for what she did and she just nods and accepts it.

It would be a story of acknowledgement, acceptance and understanding where she still chooses to redeem herself despite the fact that she's very much aware the public will never see her as a hero again. You know, doing it for herself even though she knows nothing she can do will change their minds. I think that can be an interesting story of self-discovery and integrity.

I only feel reluctant to include the public in the story mostly because in a way it feels like the implication is her redemption requires others to forgive her in order for her to get better and I really don't like that.

So what if the public doesn't accept her, so what if other heroes still see her as a villain... she can be better for herself. Other people's opinions be damned.

[unhingedmarvelandclassicwhobuff]

Well, technically two of these are true. Turning Wanda into a villain did her dirty, but a lack of explanation about the Darkhold (that basically reduces it to "a plot device that's there to explain why Wanda has thrown away her character growth and has undergone a mass personality change") and having the corruption happen offscreen doesn't help.

Making Wanda a villain and showing it would definitely have been better from a narrative standpoint, but I still would have hated it because I never wanted her to turn evil

[v4lta01]

Rewatched Infinity war and forgot how much it hurts-

[hausofmaxiimoff]

Despite everything Wanda still took her first and last breath in Eastern Europe. The same as her twin and her parents.

[agentoffangirling]

I feel like we need to discuss how creators' respect for a character influences the project they're doing

If you don't know what I'm talking about, I don't blame you, I had no idea how to word that, but you'll get it in a sec. Let's take a look at both "WandaVision" and "Loki"

See, when Marvel started production on WandaVision and brought in Jac Shaeffer and Matt Shakman and all those people, it was very clear that there was a singular goal among the team: how can we depict Wanda Maximoff well? How can we treat her character with dignity and grace? How can we discuss her psyche in a respectful manner? And everyone delievered

Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany gave downright beautiful performances, the supporting cast played their role well. The writers did research on Scarlet Witch's character and her comics, everyone fully understood what type of project this was and they used it to its full potential. I'm no fan of Olsen for numerous reasons, I'm not even a big Wanda Maximoff fan. But I can fully admit that "WandaVision" is a stellar story, and every person on the team poured their heart into it

And hey, let's also look at the promotions for this show. When Schaeffer and others were interviewed, in no moment did they mock Wanda's character or what she goes through in the series. They treated her very similarly to how they treated her on the show, discussing the deeper parts of her character with an obvious interest. They like Wanda. They want the best for her. They want to make a story Wanda would be proud of

But now to "Loki". I've said my pieces on the Loki series too many times to count, so I will keep this brief. From the very beginning we know that Waldron was not interested in developing "Loki", only to develop his original script (which is pretty shitty anyway). He wanted to make a time-travel, sci-fi, romance type story, and Loki was the character he was saddled with

Now, this doesn't mean that he still couldn't develop his script, in fact he did, and I could think of dozens of ways that type of story could work with Loki. There's a lot of potential there. But Waldron never cared. He never cared to develop Loki. He never cared to examine his character past pop culture. He never cared to make Loki fans happy, only himself

Look at the promos he gives! He refers to Loki as a "little shit" multiple times, talks all about how they're taking him in a different direction (aka completely tearing down his character), it is so obvious he just wanted to fulfill his own personal fantasies. At least Kate Herron treats the subject material with some ounce of respect; Waldron proudly proclaims he's never seen it

And to quickly switch gears here, it's very similar to Kevin Feige vs Brad Winderbaum's view on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Where Feige dismisses it, giving it general statements and never hinting at a possible future, Winderbaum speaks of it with a clear love of the series. He's all but admitted that he wants the characters back in the MCU, and if someone like him is heading that, I just might trust him with it. Feige is Waldron. Winderbaum is Schaeffer

In the end, it all just makes me wonder, why didn't Loki fans get their WandaVision? Why did we get the creator who puts down his characters? Why did we get the story that only existed to introduce a multiverse? Why did we get the short stick?

Loki fans deserve a WandaVision. After a literal decade of waiting for a solo project, we should've gotten the respectful, genuine creator. Pretty much every other character got it-- why not us?

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Wandavision is unintencionally a terrifying story about how cishet middle class white woman can get away with almost anything with just a slap in the wrist and still feel like a victim.

[broadwayfan92]

Characters who deserved better in IW and Endgame:

I know we got Wandavision out of it, but they deserved better

[unhingedmarvelandclassicwhobuff]

Which allegedly would have ended with Wanda fully turning evil and being a villain in a future movie, most likely permanently.

The fact that both versions of the film were intent on making Wanda a villain in some way enrages me. Like, is that all Marvel thinks she is good for?

"And then Mordo snapped and dedicated his life to trying to kill me."

He. Didn't? Do that? He didn't do that. He dedicated his life to trying to violently reduce the number of sorcerers in the world, of which Stephen is one. But he wasn't targeting Stephen specifically. This movie gives zero shits about what happened in the first Strange film.

It's honestly amazing how aggressively disinterested Multiverse of Madness is in following up on the Mordo sequel hook. The original plan, in fact, was for Wanda to decapitate Karl offscreen so she could present his severed head for shock value.

They didn't do that. But they still left in this bit that indicates that whatever's going on with Karl... It happened already. Offscreen, between films. Stephen and Karl have had their confrontation and... It may or may not be done? Who knows.

The fact that they took out the explicit confirmation of Mordo's death suggests they want to leave it open in case anyone wants to use him. But the big, juicy, aggressive reunion between old friends in a new context, that's already taken place and no, we're not going to show it to you.

...

But don't worry, because there's definitely plenty of time to talk about how sad Stephen is that he can't be with Christine over and over, even though that plot point ended on a satisfying resolution when Stephen and Christine went their separate ways.