To many fans, one of the biggest missteps of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been the handling of Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch. Introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron, the former renegade redeemed herself to join the team, using her special reality-controlling “magic” to help others and even had a romance with the Vision (Paul Bettany).
Avengers: Infinity War began Wanda’s downfall. First, she had to destroy the Vision to stop Thanos from gaining the Mind Stone, only for Thanos to use it anyway to “snap” away half the universe. That included Wanda and it took five years for her to be returned in Avengers: Endgame.
Wanda fell harder in WandaVision as her grief over losing her love caused her to take over an entire town and warp it into a bizarre sitcom-influenced world where she could marry the Vision and raise a family. True, she was partly manipulated by Agatha Harkness, but still tough for Wanda, even if it ended with her coming into her full powers and trying to save her lost sons.
Then came Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In a total shift from WandaVision, Wanda was now obsessed with saving her children to the point of trying to sacrifice an innocent teenager, killing the other-dimensional Illuminati, and embracing dark powers. That seemed to end with her dying to redeem herself, but the way the character was treated rubbed many fans the wrong way.
Olsen has been upfront about not liking the character arc that Wanda faced in Multiverse of Madness and would appreciate a chance to do more with the Scarlet Witch. That would include a shot at reciting a line that’s become iconic for the character!
Why Wanda should return for this line
Speaking to InStyle, Olsen gushed about her time playing Wanda and how she loved the role, no matter how it seemingly ended (although fans are convinced that she will be back in the not-too-distant future), saying:
"[I] care a lot about playing the Scarlet Witch. I always hope to do something surprising, every time I've been able to return. It's meant the world to me to be a part of it."
Going through a bag of items, Olsen pulled out a Scarlet Witch Funko Pop from the Marvel Comics series House of M, and she proved her fan credentials by repeating his famed line.
"No more mutants. That's the character I mentioned playing before—Scarlet Witch. It's a great line she has in the House of M, and I've never been able to say it, and I'd like to."
For those unaware, House of M was a 2005 comic book crossover event where Wanda’s powers led to a total breakdown and she created a new reality where mutants dominated the world and normal humans were treated as near slaves. Various members of the X-Men and Avengers broke free to confront Wanda, who seemed to realize what she’d done. She set reality right only with the twist of that “no more mutants” line.
That led to thousands of mutants (including Wanda) being depowered, leaving only a couple of hundred left. Overnight, mutants went from the next step in evolution to an endangered species. It would take years to fix the damage and more for Wanda to regain the trust of the heroes. She was still haunted by her actions along the way.
Fans have longed to see Wanda say this line in the MCU, but the franchise has barely touched on the topic of mutants yet and it would undoubtedly want to build them up before wiping them out. However, having Wanda (or some alternate reality version of her) show up to say that line would be a wild turn. Maybe the MCU can even use that to explain why mutants haven’t appeared before now, that somehow Wanda erased them from history with her powers and somehow restored them.
With so many multiverse shenanigans in the MCU (and likely more via Avengers: Doomsday), a Wanda return isn’t out of the realm of possibility. It doesn’t have to be the resurrected MCU Wanda but a variant and that would perhaps provide Marvel Studios with the chance to do justice at last to the character. But then again, Agatha All Along created a bigger wave of ambiguity about her potential Multiverse of Madness death, suggesting that she might not be as "gone" as everyone thinks she is.
It may be a pipe dream for now, but there’s always a chance one day we hear Elizabeth Olsen utter that famed line on screen one day! Make it happen, Marvel!
WandaVision, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Agatha All Along are all streaming on Disney Plus.