When Scarlet Witch was first introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), she was referred to as a “miracle.” Wanda Maximoff and her brother Quicksilver were the only test subjects to survive Hydra’s experiments with the Mind Stone. However, it’s long been clear Marvel was planning a retcon to explain Scarlet Witch’s powers.
The only thing up for debate would have been whether Scarlet Witch would be retconned as a mutant or as a sorceress as Wanda was considered a mutant for much of her comic book history. There were also comic runs where her powers were considered to be magic.
Episode seven of the show revealed Scarlet Witch has been tapping into a mystical “nexus” that allows her to rewrite the nature of reality itself.
“She never had any training; she’s figuring it out. Arguably, you could say that that’s why her powers are much more chaotic and much more loose in the way that we showcased those light effects. In [Doctor Strange], some of what you might see today, even the cover of Entertainment Weekly, it’s much tighter. It’s all about focus. It’s all about pulling energies from other dimensions in an organized and purposeful fashion.” -Kevin Feige, Marvel Studio Head
