‘WandaVision’: Scarlet Witch’s New Costume Resembles Magneto’s From the ‘X-Men’ Franchise
On March 5, the ninth and final episode of WandaVision premiered on Disney+. The eighth episode of the TV show marked the first time Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) was called the Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The series finale showed Wanda exploring her powers more and giving herself a new look as the Scarlet Witch. While it may not have been intentional, her new costume closely resembles Magneto’s costume from 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise.
[Spoiler alert: The following article contains spoilers for Episode 9 of WandaVision.]
Magneto is Scarlet Witch’s father in Marvel comics
Wanda was first introduced in the MCU in a post-credits scene following 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. More of her backstory was explained in Avengers: Age of Ultron, which was released in 2015.
At the time of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel Studios did not have the film rights to a majority of the popular X-Men characters. Instead, the characters belonged to 20th Century Fox.
When explaining how Wanda and her brother Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) got their powers in the MCU, fans were told that Hydra experimented on the twins using the Mind Stone.
Episode 8 of WandaVision revealed that Wanda actually had magical powers since she was young, and these powers were just enhanced by the Mind Stone. In the MCU, Wanda possesses chaos magic as the Scarlet Witch.
While this is Wanda’s storyline in the MCU, in the comics Wanda and Pietro are the children of Erik Lehnsherr, a mutant who also goes by Magneto. In 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix, Evan Peters plays Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver and Michael Fassbender plays Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto.
Scarlet Witch’s new costume resembles Magneto’s ‘X-Men’ look
Throughout WandaVision, there have been references to the X-Men franchise and Wanda’s comic book parentage. In some scenes, Wanda’s fighting style and body language resemble Fassbender’s portrayal of Erik.
These acting choices by Olsen are left up to interpretation. It could be a purposeful nod to the X-Men franchise, or it could simply be a coincidence. However, the final episode of WandaVision includes another similarity between Magneto and Scarlet Witch.
In X-Men: Apocalypse, Magneto wears a special costume for fighting battles. The outfit features a dark red helmet, chest piece, and shoulder pads that have more sheen compared to his costume from X-Men: Days of Future Past.
At the end of the series finale of WandaVision, Wanda gives herself a new costume when fighting as the Scarlet Witch. With its headpiece and form-fitting armor, the costume has similar components to Scarlet Witch’s comic book outfit. However, Scarlet Witch’s MCU look also resembles Magneto’s X-Men Apocalypse costume based on its color and material.
‘WandaVision’ had another huge ‘X-Men’ reference
While Scarlet Witch’s similarities to Magneto may have just been a coincidence, WandaVision did feature a huge nod to 20th Century Fox’s X-Men movies.
In WandaVision, Peters played a character named Ralph Bohner pretending to be Wanda’s dead brother, Pietro. By having an actor from the X-Men franchise play a version of his MCU counterpart, the Disney+ miniseries alluded to the X-Men characters.
WandaVision stylists Tricia Sawyer and Karen Bartek were interviewed by IndieWire before the show ended. In the interview, the hair and makeup stylists confirmed that Peters’ style in WandaVision referenced characters from the X-Men franchise and Pietro’s comic book counterpart.
“It was something that Matt really [wanted]. They kind of planned that,” said Bartek.
