The Marvel Cinematic Universe, is home to many of Marvel Comics’ most powerful and popular characters of all, from the steel-clad Iron Man to the martial artist Shang-Chi and the Asgardian prince Thor. In 2015’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron, the MCU also added Wanda Maximoff, a magic user with remarkable abilities.
Wanda Maximoff has always ranked among the MCU’s strongest and most talented fighters, and while all the main characters take turns being the MCU’s strongest character, many scenes suggest that Wanda really is #1 after all. This is especially true when she embraces her terrifying alter ego as the Scarlet Witch.
10 Wanda Saved Black Widow From Proxima Midnight’s Wrath
During the climatic battle for Wakanda in 2018’s The Avengers: Infinity War, most of the Avengers directly fought Thanos and his army, which included the elite Black Order’s members. One of them was Proxima Midnight, an alien woman with ferocious powers and no mercy. She was too much for Black Widow to handle alone.
That was when Wanda intervened, and she managed to dispatch a Black Order member with her fearsome red magic, and Black Widow was deeply impressed. That was a close one for Black Widow – good thing she has many strong friends.
9 Wanda Fought Thanos’ Army Overall
Wanda’s finest moment in Infinity War was when she personally defeated Proxima Midnight, but that wasn’t all she did. Wanda also helped fight Thanos’ army as a whole, though it took her some time to actually join the fight. She soon made up for lost time against Thanos’ hordes.
Wanda amazed everyone with her powerful displays of magic, throwing around alien monsters and their vehicles with ease. Not even Bruce Banner in his Hulkbuster suit could do what Wanda was doing, and he could only watch with awe.
8 Wanda Destroyed Vision’s Mind Stone
Wanda was heartbroken when she was forced to destroy the Mind Stone and her synthetic friend Vision along with it, but she had no choice, regardless of her grief. The mighty Thanos wanted that stone, and Shuri had failed to keep it away from him, so it fell to Wanda to deny Thanos this artifact.
The Infinity Stones are not easily destroyed, and not even Doctor Strange or Iron Man could destroy one without difficulty. But Wanda did have the necessary power, and obliterated the Mind Stone as duty demanded. And it wasn’t her fault that Thanos had the Time Stone to reverse this act and claim the Mind Stone anyway.
7 Wanda Hypnotized The Avengers
During her brief time as an MCU villainess serving under the robotic Ultron, Wanda demonstrated a truly unique power that she has hardly ever used since. When the main Avengers faced Ultron in Africa, Ultron called on his ally Wanda to use some serious mind magic and render the Avengers unable to fight.
In a remarkable scene, Wanda used her powers to trap the Avengers in dreams, such as Captain America thinking he was back in the 1940s with Peggy Carter and Bucky Barnes by his side. It wasn’t easy for the Avengers to snap out of this bizarre spell and resume the fight.
6 Wanda Threw Vision Into The Ground
Several more of Wanda’s best scenes can be found in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, a mostly-ensemble movie where the Avengers take sides over the Sokovia Accords. At first, Wanda was sticking close to Vision, but then Clint/Hawkeye convinced Wanda to take Captain America’s side, much to Vision’s displeasure.
Vision quickly restrained Hawkeye, only for Wanda to activate her powers and help Clint escape, then exponentially increase Vision’s weight and density. Wanda ignored Vision’s dire warning and sent him crashing deep into the ground, allowing her and Clint to flee the compound. No one else could have done that.
5 Wanda Pummeled Iron Man With Cars
Wanda had two more remarkable scenes in Civil War, both of them taking place during the fierce battle at the airport. Early in the battle, Iron Man took on Wanda and Clint, and Clint fired an explosive arrowhead to keep Iron Man busy. That bought Wanda time to prepare her own technique.
Iron Man was too late to notice a handful of parked cars raining down on him via Wanda’s magic, and he was totally crushed under them and briefly trapped. Tony dryly remarked that he didn’t need his suit’s sensors to detect that kind of damage.
4 Wanda Held Up A Damaged Building
Wanda’s other impressive act during the airport battle took place later in that sequence. Captain America was ready to retreat and get into an airplane to chase after his real enemies, but Vision used his laser beam to knock over a building and block Cap’s path. So, Wanda intervened.
Wanda used her magic to hold up the entire building and keep Cap’s path clear, a feat no other Avenger could have done. This made all the difference for Wanda’s allies, and hypothetically, not even Thor or Iron Man could have supported the building like that.
3 Wakanda Went Dreamwalking
In 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda’s alter ego, the Scarlet Witch, took over. She performed a variety of impressive feats in this Phase Four movie, including her ability to perform dreamwalking and journey across the realities. Doctor Strange struggled to keep up with her.
Wanda had a personal quest in mind while dreamwalking. She was determined to reunite with her two sons from the WandaVision TV series, and no Avenger or sorcerer, such as Doctor Strange or the Sorcerer Supreme Wong, could get in her way. She explored the true possibilities of the multiverse.
2 Scarlet Witch Defeated The Sorcerer Army Alone
Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange were soon at odds in Multiverse of Madness, so Doctor Strange prepared the defenders of Kamar-Taj, and not a moment too soon. Wanda arrived and demanded Strange’s aid to find her children one more time, and Strange defied her. So, Wanda attacked.
Strange, Wong and dozens of sorcerers fought back, but eventually, Wanda broke through their defenses and half-destroyed Kamar-Taj. It’s impressive, though tragic, that she defeated the entire sorcerer army and claimed so many casualties in the process.
1 Scarlet Witch Defeated Earth-838’s Illuminati
At one point, Doctor Strange and his new friend America Chavez ended up on Earth-838 which was defended not by the Avengers, but the elite Illuminati, featuring heroes such as Reed Richards, a new Captain Marvel and even Charles Xavier/Professor X. But they weren’t ready for Scarlet Witch’s onslaught.
Scarlet Witch followed Strange there, and she defeated every single Illuminati member one after the other in mortal combat or, in Charles Xavier’s case, in a mental battle. It’s unlikely that any other Earth-616 hero could have done all that, especially against Black Bolt’s voice-based abilities.
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