“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” in some way depicts the Scarlet Witch at her most triumphant. She destroys the Illuminati, representing the best and brightest that the Marvel Universe has to offer, and she unconditionally defeats Doctor Strange. But the film also reflects her biggest losses in Marvel comics, where Wanda lost everything, even her own life.
The Scarlet Witch suffers terribly in the comics. She lost her husband, her children and her reputation when she lashed out in grief. Her loss of control and freedom of action in many cases, especially in relation to other powerful beings such as Chthon and Immortus, inflicted painful defeats on her, from which, perhaps, Wanda has not yet fully recovered in Marvel comics.
Chthon owns it
The Scarlet Witch loses a major battle, as well as her agency, to Chthon in Avengers #185-187, the powerful demon who created the Darkhold. Chthon, one of the most powerful magical beings in the Marvel universe, tried to use Wanda as a means of transportation to enter the world on the night of her birth. His influence on her has revealed to her the Magic of Chaos, which she uses with extraordinary effect.
Chthon first takes control of Wanda on Mount Vandagore, revealing many secrets about her past and her future potential that have contributed to many dark times for her and the world.
The Age of the Apocalypse
The Scarlet Witch loses a lot in the alternate reality of the Apocalypse Era. First she loses her life, killed by Nemesis, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. She dies before she really has a chance to influence any events in his universe, among the darkest chronologies of Marvel comics, where Professor X died before he formed the X-Men.
Mr. Sinister later clones the Scarlet Witch, using her inherent probability abilities to replicate her reality-distorting spell from House M. However, she fails to cause as much damage as intended.
The Infinity Gauntlet
Unlike the MCU, Scarlet Witch survives after Thanos destroyed half of the universe in the Infinity Gauntlet comic book storyline. She joins the surviving heroes as they fight Thanos, but despite her incredible strength, she quickly falls in front of the Mad Titan. Thanos kills her off-screen effortlessly, as he did with many heroes in one fight.
The Scarlet Witch comes back to life when Thanos is defeated and the Click is canceled, but this cruel loss is a reminder of Wanda’s limitations in Marvel comics.
The robber kills her
The Scarlet Witch destroyed the mutants in House M, leaving only a few hundred alive. Many mutants held a deep grudge against Wanda, even after she reformed, and Rogue, perhaps most of all. Rogue killed the Scarlet Witch in the Strange Avengers series during a mission to stop the Apocalypse Twins.
Rogue, one of the most powerful X-Men, absorbed the powers of her teammates and turned to the Scarlet Witch in her most vulnerable place, avenging what happened many years ago.
Immortus takes control of her
The Scarlet Witch represents the one and only Nexus Being of her universe, a special entity that can change probability and universal outcomes. Because of this, Immortus sought to use her power. Immortus, one of the most powerful variants of Kang the Conqueror in Marvel comics, took control of Wanda and used her to control the future.
Immortus manipulated Wanda for years, trying to prevent her from having children who would eventually rival the Timekeepers in temporal power. Immortus or Kang can interfere with Wanda’s family life in the MCU, where Billy and Tommy have the same power and potential.
She’s been murdered
The Scarlet Witch remains an outsider among mutants for many years after the “House of M”, and at the “Hellfire” gala, everything seems to take a dark turn. The Scarlet Witch loses her life, killed under mysterious circumstances that point to Magneto as the culprit. Her death appears to represent the sad end of her desperate attempt to make amends.
In fact, the Scarlet Witch orchestrated her own death in an elaborate gambit to atone for her guilt. Her death gave her a chance to connect the mutant island of Krakoa with the Creepy Garden, a place of great mystical power, and thus she created the afterlife of mutants.
The Avengers: Disassembled
The Scarlet Witch destroys the Avengers in Avengers: Disassembled, showing an impressive performance on some levels that rivals her victory over the Illuminati in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But her split of the Avengers, including the murder of Hawkeye and Agatha Harkness, also represents a terrible loss for Marvel Comics.
Wanda loses control, lashing out at her teammates and the whole world. It is doubtful that such a turn of the narrative critically deprives Wanda of her free will. Her appeal to evil echoes the tired image of superpowered women losing their minds, which seems “outdated,” as Newsarama put it.
White Vision
Scarlet Witch’s worst losses in the MCU echo those in Marvel Comics.
