Wanda Maximoff has been part of the MCU for some time now, first teased during the credits of Captain America: The Winter Soldier alongside her twin brother Pietro. The character has been through a lot, and actress Elizabeth Olsen has proved herself a fantastic and adaptable actor, especially seen as as she had no idea where this role would take her when she first signed up.
Olsen’s proper debut for Marvel came in Avengers: Age of Ultron, in which Wanda appeared alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Pietro, who didn’t make it beyond his first film. The actress does a phenomenal job of portraying her grief at the loss, something that would sadly become a bit of a trademark for her character.
The 33 year-old has since starred in multiple MCU films, which have only poured on more misery in the form of her love Vision’s death, which directly led to the events of WandaVision. Speaking to ComicBook, Olsen the evolution of the Scarlet Witch.
“I mean, it’s been a ride that I didn’t expect, I got comfortable just taking up a lane and showing just a couple colors of her and just helping the story and this film as a whole. And then WandaVision, I got to be all the colors of all the rainbows. That was an amazing opportunity, but also an amazing opportunity to remember playfulness and being able to fail and there’s such a freedom that we had while filming that has informed me now in how I approach her. And so to be with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, I was at first, when I heard, I was like, ‘Really, we do WandaVision and then we do that?'”
Going from WandaVision into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was a big change, something that was also addressed by Olsen.
“That said, I think it was an incredible opportunity to have an audience for seven hours on her side and then throw her into a journey where you could potentially question her, where she’s coming from. And I really had a great time trying to create an evolution of her and her power and her acceptance and confidence of who she was meant to be, and that informing her decision making. And then I always, with Sam [Raimi], we were always trying to go back to find her humanity, even through it. And so it was a fun line to split between.”
The miniseries was a massive leap for the actress who has predominantly played a smaller role within the MCU at large, but was now front and center with the chance to truly shine. It was brilliantly done, earning Olsen Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we see a more fully-realized Scarlet Witch, one that’s more aware of her powers while still coming to terms with her past.