Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: captain krakoa, krakoa, magneto, scarlet witch, x-men

Marvel To Follow Trial Of Magneto With Scarlet Witch Series?

Scarlet Witch time! Tomorrow sees the conclusion of X-Men: Trial Of Magneto, the comic with very little Magneto in it and where he is there, he's not on trial. The Resurrection Of The Scarlet Witch may have been a better title, in more ways than one. Maybe even the Resurrection of Krakoa? Not only has the series restored an earlier non-genocidal version of Wanda Maximoff, with a younger body to boot, but it appears that there will be more to come, namely a Scarlet Witch series to follow in 2022 from Marvel Comics. Well, with the success of WandaVision and the upcoming appearance of Wanda in the Doctor Strange: The Multiverse Of Madness movie, it looks like Marvel will be giving its readers a comic with the Scarlet Witch's name on it to buy at the comic book shop sometime in 2022.

Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch has had a rough old time at Marvel Comics over the decades. First an X-Men villain, then an Avenger, then a robot's wife and mother to illusionary kids, then an insane destroyer of reality (two or three times), then an eraser of almost all mutant powers, and now a schoolteacher. In the last few decades, Wanda has generally been portrayed as someone whose power got too much for her and driven to madness.

There are very familiar tropes regarding "hysterical" women, women who have more power than they can handle. The use of the word "hysteria" comes from the Greek for "uterus" and Hippocrates' belief that madness was caused by the uterus moving around the body. This kind of trope is not uncommon for superhero comics, though Dark Phoenix is the more famous example. It was also mirrored in the TV series WandaVision, which saw Wanda Maximoff cruelly enslave a whole town into becoming helpless puppets of her own mental breakdown. Though at least she was present in the narrative, while in the House Of M rewritten reality, she remained unconscious the whole time, after using the phrase "No More Mutants." In the Marvel comic books, it was also revealed that she was not, as she had thought, the daughter of Magneto. And she wasn't even a mutant, but a product of the High Evolutionary. She had her history changed back when Marvel and Disney were at odds with Fox Studios over who owned the movie rights to the character. To emphasis the point, Marvel made her and her brother no longer mutants in the comics and no longer the children of Magneto, but results of experiments by The High Evolutionary. That stayed the case even when Disney bought Fox. And so, in the X-Men comics, she was given a new name in the X-Men comic amongst the inhabitants of the mutant island of Krakoa.

"The Pretender." By Scarlet Witch's once-father Magneto in SWORD, but also by pretty much anyone else on the island. And the kids of Krakoa being taught her history by Exodus in X-Men. They even have call-and-response learned.

No longer a mutant, no longer the daughter of Magneto, and even though the Scarlet Witch removed mutant powers rather than kill mutants, she has been seen as the greatest genocidal force of mutants in the Marvel Universe.

Even more so than the Sentinels, who murdered an entire mutant nation. At least the Scarlet Witch tried to bring all the Genoshans back.

Not that this went well. As the character gained prominence in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, she span off her own TV series, Wandavision, and an appearance in Doctor Strange: Multiverse Of Madness. But during this time, her own comic book series was cancelled. She appeared in Avengers but became a pariah in the Marvel Universe.

As WandaVision was airing, her only appearance was in a panel in Strange Academy or referred to as a genocidal enemy number one of Krakoa and a diplomatic issue with Earth and the Skrull/Kree Alliance as she is the Emperor's mother-in-law.

Placed almost top of their War Criminals list, only second to Bolivar Trask, inventor of the Sentinels that massacred Genosha. However, Wanda removed mutant powers rather than took lives.

She was meant to be a lead in the new Darkhold series last summer, which was delayed and is now rescheduled for September this year. But what kind of Scarlet Witch are we going to get? The Way Of X, by Si Spurrier, teased that they would be dealing with the Scarlet Witch issue.

As Way Of X #3 gave the "No More Mutants" event created by Scarlet Witch a new name.

"Wandageddon." At the end of SWORD #6, Magneto got a visitor on Krakoa. Someone who has not yet visited, or even been seen, in the Krakoan X-Men books, aside from in Genosha.

Then in X-Factor #10, the final issue of the Hellfire Gala, we saw the arrival on Krakoa of Tommy, Wanda Maximoff's other son. But his timing was terrible.  The death of Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, by hands unknown.

Although some have some suspicions, of course, and if Nightcrawler was conscious, he might recall seeing a pair dancing.

Marvel killed off the Scarlet Witch, with Magneto is the prime suspect. But then brought back to life by Cerebro, despite not being a mutant, an earlier version of herself with a memory dump of recent events, but that, it seems was only half the story…

X-MEN TRIAL OF MAGNETO #5 (OF 5)
MARVEL COMICS
OCT210877
(W) Leah Williams (A) Lucas Werneck, David Messina (CA) Valerio Schiti
JUSTICE IS SERVED. The mystery surrounding Magneto and Scarlet Witch is resolved. The guilty will be judged, the innocent absolved, the victims avenged… and all shall endure their own trials. RATED T+In Shops: Dec 22, 2021 SRP: $3.99

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