How Elizabeth Olsen Viewed Wanda Differently After Age Of Ultron

Elizabeth Olsen shares how her perception of Wanda changed after Avengers: Age of Ultron and coming to WandaVision. The actress is reuniting with her on-screen partner, Paul Bettany as Vision, for Marvel Studios’ first Disney+ show set to roll out mid-January 2020

The character was officially introduced in 2015 via Age of Ultron alongside her twin brother, Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver — both of them have derived from the Mind Stone after being experimented with by HYDRA in Sokovia. Originally an X-Men in the comics, Marvel Studios had to alter her backstory significantly to fit their own established lore. Since then, Scarlet Witch has appeared in three more MCU movies in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Now, she’s set to make her small screen debut in WandaVision.

Given the journey that Wanda has had in the MCU thus far, Olsen looks back at her character’s struggles following her debut in Ultron, not to mention her achievements. Talking exclusively to Screen Rant, the actress says that while she treats her initial appearance as a “birth of a woman and her abilities,” she’s now at a more mature point coming to WandaVision where she has to grapple with “accountability and acceptance.” 

I think Ultron really, to me, was an origin story of this birth of a woman and her abilities, and where her like emotional life came from. And now it’s this accountability and acceptance that we all eventually have to wrestle with, when she becomes a more of a woman now.

My approach doesn’t really change from job to job. They’re all pretty similar, but all different. But I think there’s just more shades to play with now.

Wanda has gone through quite a lot in her relatively brief time in the MCU. After her short villainous stint as Ultron’s cohort, she officially joined the Avengers as a second-generation member by the end of the same movie. However, due to the lack of knowledge about the extent of her power, her miscalculations resulted in the tragedy in Lagos that kickstarted Civil War. By Infinity War, Wanda finally found a safe space with Vision, despite only seeing each other secretly. But even that small happiness was taken away after Thanos killed him. All these tragedies could play a part in the events of WandaVision; popular theories suggest that whatever is happening in the show is brought about by Wanda altering reality to suit her ideal life. This is why she and Vision are living a seemingly happy life despite the latter being supposedly dead.

Assuming that this is the case, it explains why Olsen says that Wanda’s upcoming arc will teach her about “accountability and acceptance.” Firstly, acceptance that Vision is indeed gone and she can’t do anything anymore to bring him back and secondly, accountability for her actions that may be putting herself and others in danger, hence why SWORD is adamant about reaching out to her. It’s worth noting that while Scarlet Witch has had a tough life, the MCU hasn’t really shown her being held accountable for her lapses in judgment. Most of the time, she’s been given the leeway because she’s deemed a child, but as she now grows into a full woman in WandaVision, she would have to learn to stand up on her own which is ultimately a great thing.

More: Endgame Still Means The MCU Has An Infinity Stones Problem

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