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Scarlet Witch Reading Order, The Wanda Maximoff Story

The Scarlet Witch–who is also known as Wanda Maximoff–was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby in The X-Men #4 (March 1964). At that time, she only had the ability to alter probability, but she became a lot more powerful since. In fact, she’s a sorceress powerful enough to alter reality! Also, for a long time, she was considered to be a mutant, but her origins were retconned a few years ago.

A lot changed with Scarlet Witch. In the beginning, she was a supervillain-a reluctant one though- with her twin brother, Pietro Maximoff (aka Quicksilver). Together, with Magneto (of course), the Toad, and Mastermind, they were founding members of the Brotherhood of Mutants. But they quickly changed sides and joined the Avengers, becoming real superheroes.

Wanda’s personal life is also complicated, especially her family life. She married her android teammate Vision in 1975 and later find a way to have children. But all of this ended in tragedy. Then, there was a brainwashing incident, new powers,  mental instability, and a reality-warping catastrophe… and more!

Scarlet Witch Reading Order

Unlike other well-known Marvel superheroes, Scarlet Witch is mostly a team player. She rarely gets the opportunity to headline her own series.

Wanda and her brother made their first appearances in The X-Men (issues #4-7, #11) – also, before #11, they appeared in Journey into Mystery #109 and (more importantly, in Strange Tales #128 (available in Doctor Strange Epic Collection: Master of the Mystic Arts).

Then, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver reformed. They joined the Avengers with issue #16, after every member of the Avengers but Captain America resigned. For what’s coming next, I go with what’s the simplest list possible. For a more complete list, go to our Avengers Reading Order.

  • Avengers Omnibus Vol. 1
    Collects The Avengers #1-30.
  • Avengers Omnibus, Vol. 2
    Collects Avengers (1963) #31-58 and Annual #1-2, X-Men (1963) #45, and material from Not Brand Echh (1967) #5 and #8.

    • Wanda is absent from the Avengers in #50-52, and #54-74.
  • Avengers Omnibus Vol. 3
    Collects Avengers (1963) #59-88, Incredible Hulk (1968) #140, Marvel Super-Heroes (1967) #17, material from Not Brand Echh #12.
  • Avengers Omnibus Vol. 4
    Collects Avengers (1963) #89-119, Daredevil (1964) #99, Defenders (1972) #8-11.
  • Avengers Masterworks Vol. 13
    Collects The Avengers #120-128; Giant-Size Avengers #1; Captain Marvel #33; Fantastic Four #150.

During the West Coast Avengers Disassemble storyline, or more precisely with issues #33-37 of West Coast Avengers, Vision and Wanda joined the other team of Avengers.

  • Avengers: Scarlet Witch by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
    Collects Scarlet Witch #1-4, Avengers Origins: Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #1; material from Marvel Team-Up (1972) #125; Solo Avengers #5; Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #60-63, #143-144; Mystic Arcana: Scarlet Witch.

After Avengers West Coast #102, the series was revamped and became Force Works.

  • Avengers/Iron Man: Force Works
    Collects Force Works #1–15, Force Works: Ashcan Edition; Century: Distant Sons #1; material from Iron Man/Force Works Collectors’ Preview.
  • Avengers: The Crossing
    Collects Avengers #390-395, The Crossing, Timeslide; Iron Man (1968) #319-325; Force Works #16-22; War Machine #20-25; Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man.
  • X-Men / Avengers: Onslaught Omnibus
    Collects Wolverine #104-105; Cable #32-36; Uncanny X-Men #333-337; X-Force #55, #57-58; X-Man #15-19; X-Men (vol. 2) #53-57, Annual ’96; X-Men Unlimited #11; Onslaught: X-Men, Marvel Universe, Epilogue; Avengers #401-402; Fantastic Four #415; Incredible Hulk #444-445; X-Factor #125-126; Amazing Spider-Man #415; Green Goblin #12; Spider-Man #72; Iron Man #332; Punisher #11; Thor #502; X-Men: Road to Onslaught #1; material from Excalibur #100, Fantastic Four #416.

The massively world-redefining event known as Onslaught (see reading order) put an end to the Avengers and other spin-off teams. That’s when the Heroes Reborn era started.

  • Heroes Reborn: The Avengers
     Collects Avengers (1996) #1-12, Fantastic Four (1996) #12, Iron Man (1996) #6 And #12, Captain America (1996) #12 & Material From Fantastic Four (1996) #6 And Captain America (1996) #6.
  • The heroes came back in Heroes Reborn: The Return (Scarlett Witch only appeared in issue #4).

Once the Heroes found their way back to the Marvel Universe, writer Kurt Busiek and artist George Pérez launched a new volume of the Avengers (and others like Geoff Johns took over after a while). Scarlet Witch & Vision were back on the Avengers team with Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Warbird (Carol Danvers).

Don’t forget to take a look at our Avengers Reading Order for a more detailed list.

And then came Brian Michael Bendis’s destruction of the Avengers in Avengers Disassembled. It is an end, but also an entry point for new readers, as it introduced BMB’s run. You can learn more about it with the reading order of the event.

Bendis destroyed the Avengers to rebuild the team. Scarlet Witch played a big part in the process but didn’t rejoin the team. In fact, The Avengers and the X-Men are faced with a common foe that becomes their greatest threat: Wanda Maximoff! The Scarlet Witch is out of control, and the fate of the entire world is in her hands. It’s House of M, and for more information and tie-ins, go to the reading order.

  • House of M Omnibus 
    Collects House of M #1-8, Spider-Man: House of M #1-5, Fantastic Four: House of M #1-3, Iron Man: House of M #1-3, New Thunderbolts (2004) #11, Black Panther (2005) #7, Uncanny X-Men (1981) #462-465, Wolverine (2003) #33-35, Captain America (2004) #10, Pulse (2004) #10, Cable & Deadpool #17, Incredible Hulk (2000) #83-87, New X-Men (2004) #16-19, Exiles (2001) #69-71, Mutopia X #1-5, Decimation: House of M – The Day After, Giant-Size Ms. Marvel (2006) #1, Secrets of the House of M, Pulse: House of M Special, House of M 1 Director’s Cut, House of M Sketchbook, material from Hulk: Broken Worlds Book One.

After that, Scarlet Witch disappeared for a while… She still appeared in non-continuity stories and flashbacks, nothing of note.

It took some years after House of M, but the Scarlet Witch finally made her comeback in Mighty Avengers, with a twist of course.

The Avengers and the X-Men go to war in Avengers vs. X-Men! This 2012 crossover event involved the return of the Phoenix Force and the subsequent war between the Avengers and the X-Men. For a more comprehensive look at the event, go to the reading order.

At that point, we entered the Marvel NOW! era and things went back to normal for Scarlet Witch. Wanda then joined the Uncanny Avengers (a team composed of Avengers and X-Men).

Like everyone else, Scarlet Witch was affected by the events of the 2015 Secret Wars, but she didn’t have a prominent role to play in the event. Go here to find the full reading order of the event.

After the events of the Secret Wars, we entered the All-New, All-Different Marvel era. At first, Scarlet Witch only made mostly forgettable cameos. After that, she finally got her own series, written by James Robinson.

Also available in three volumes:

Secret Empire! Captain America is living a lie! The Cosmic Cube has remade him into a secret true believer in the cause of Hydra! Now, Steve Rogers makes Hydra’s ideals a reality—and changes the landscape of the world dramatically! For more, go to the Secret Empire Reading Order.

  • Secret Empire
    Collects Secret Empire #0-9, Free Comic Book Day 2017 Defenders #1

And then, Scarlet Witch rejoined the Uncanny Avengers.

During the Fresh Start era, Scarlet Witch explored new avenues (like becoming a teacher in Strange Academy) or being a secondary character in a Captain Marvel spin-off series… and other stints like that before meddling with Magneto and making more cameos.

  • The Darkhold
    Collects The Darkhold: Alpha, Blade, Wasp, Iron Man, Black Bolt, Spider-Man, and Omega.
  • X-Men: Hellfire Gala Red Carpet Edition
    Collects X-Men #21, Marauders #21, Excalibur #21, X-Force #20, New Mutants #19, X-Factor #10, Hellions #12, S.W.O.R.D. #6, Way of X #3, X-Corp #2, Wolverine #13, Planet-Size X-Men (2021) #1.
  • X-Men: The Trial of Magneto
    Collects X-Men: The Trial of Magneto (2021) #1-5.

Scarlet Witch has finally found peace and she has pledged to help others who are languishing at their lowest, under the creative team of Steve Orlando and Sara Pichelli. She also rejoins the Avengers, now that Jed McKay is at the helm of the title!

 

Did we forget an important issue? Did we make a mistake? Let us know in the comments!

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