50 Greatest Super Heroes In Comic Book History

44. Scarlet Witch

(Write-up by Nick Tylwalk, Bam Smack Pow Editor)

There’s just something about Wanda Maximoff. Her mutant power isn’t to make synthezoids and beings of pure ionic energy fall in love for her, though both of those things happened. There’s a divisive aspect to her for many fans too, kind of a split love/hate reaction similar to the one John Cena gets when he steps into a WWE ring.

Maybe it’s because she’s been partially responsible (though not in her right mind) for some pretty bad events. Things like, say, cutting the mutant population down to triple digits, or helping to invert the nature of the Avengers and X-Men so they all act like nihilistic narcissists. Again, not all the fault of the Scarlet Witch, but also not possible without her powers being perverted in some way.

Let’s talk about those powers, because they’ve changed a lot over the years. Originally they were able to make highly unlikely events occur — like Taylor Swift actually showing the world her belly button. Writers added more and more facets to them under the catch-all concept of chaos magic, to the point where an argument can be made that she’s one of the most powerful (and dangerous) heroes on this list if operating at her full potential.

But hey, the Hulk is dangerous too, and plenty of folks still love him. Lost amid all of this is the fact that Wanda has been a stalwart member of the Avengers, serving more than one lengthy stint on the team. The general public is going to see more of her in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and probably more Marvel movies after that. Will they be smitten like Vision and Wonder Man? We’ll have to wait and see.

Next: No. 43: Tough in the courtroom and in a fight