Sister of Quicksilver . Wife of Vision . Daughter of Magneto ( ornot ) . X - Man . Avenger . We have intercourse these fact about Wanda Maxmimoff , but really , who is Scarlet Witch ? forward of her first - ever solo series , we sat down with writer James Robinson to talk over how he ’ll search what makes Wanda really beat .
io9 : Wanda has been through a lot after her time in Uncanny Avengers . Where do we find her when Scarlet Witch begin , and what is she up to ?
I think one of the matter that I remember saying when I was cant this to wonder a long time ago is that you , me , most anybody who ’s somewhat familiar with comic Koran can tell you Tony Stark ’s personality , or Wasp ’s personality , or Thor ’s personality . I ’m sure you could belike enjoin me , I do n’t know , Foggy Nelson ’s personality ! But when you go to Wanda , it ’s interesting that she does n’t really have a locked - down personality — what she has is a series of incidents that have befall her in her living , with the Vision , the High Evolutionary , with Magneto as her don , then Magneto was n’t her Father-God . All of this stuff and nonsense is going on , but who is she as a person ? What is she like ? What are her pastime , does she have wag , does she have moods , etcetera , etcetera ?
So that ‘s really what we ’re taste to do , sort of make her into a three - dimensional mortal , a three - dimensional woman , and limit her on a path and a unlike identity within the Marvel population that is distinct to her , and is n’t a Scarlet Witch who is an Avenger , or a Scarlet Witch who is the daughter of Magneto , or even a Scarlet Witch who is the sister of Quicksilver , you know ? She ’s always been a sustain character in story that were boast her .
I reckon this is giving her a clock time to shine — she is n’t The Vision ’s wife , she is n’t this character surrounded by other people , more superpowered man . She ’s out assay to fix things for herself , and do her own matter . So when we first meet her , she ’s buy an apartment . She is n’t in a Sanctum Santorum [ Doctor Strange ’s mystic home in New York ] with lots of creepy corners and nooks — it ’s a cool New York flat . She ’s striking out on her own . But she ’s also … although I refer to it fairly vaguely so the specifics do n’t bog the book down , but she ’s mindful of some of the thing that have happened to her in the past tense . And there are vague references to Avengers break apart or Uncanny Avengers , but she require to sort of clean up her number and make citizenry clear that she ’s a hero , and she ’s someone they can believe and trust on and not somebody that they need to dread . That ’s where she is at the head start of the book .
Like you say , most readers are familiar with Wanda as a supporting character or in human relationship to other Superheroes — who is Wanda to you , as a writer , going into this series ?
Robinson : I mean fundamentally , as I ’m pen it I ’m sort of discover her eccentric . She ’s always been somebody that has n’t allow herself to glisten enough , and as you ’ll see she ’s realizing that she needs to tread away from the Avengers — having that Avengers menu is n’t the most important thing . She ’s an independent individual in her own right : she can get the job done by herself . She does n’t need her brother [ Pietro , a.k.a . Quicksilver ] to protect her , she does n’t need Iron Man ’s repulsor rays to take care of thing .
She can do thing herself . In the first issuing , she sort of finds out that witchcraft — which I ’m sort of making into a specific sort of magic to differentiate it from Doctor Strange , and quite frankly to make it so that she is n’t just a hot distaff Doctor Strange . I was actually mouth to Jason Aaron [ writer on the Doctor Strange series ] about this , and just giving her her own field of the magical world , where literally — or hypothetically I should stress , there ’s nothing planned — but if they were to meet , there would be panorama of their adventure where only she could take aid of them , things that [ Doctor Strange ] could n’t touch because of the sort of magic he practices , and that ’s also because he ’s a man , and not a woman .
So I ’m trying to give her that vista , which it is still witchcraft , it cash in one’s chips script in hand with Wicca and with the adoration of women , mother ground — magic was a very distaff - centrical thing . Before Christianity it was respected , women were respected , and their soundness was often a thing that drive the multitude around [ cleaning lady ] for guidance and for everything else . I ’m getting into history a fiddling bit but drawing on that aspect — that she ’s a secure person with a whole skillset of hexes and spells , and cognition of charming traditional knowledge taught by Agatha Harkness , who is a strong supporting character in the book . So for me , she ’s this person that ’s trying to show people that she ’s a heap more than they ever thought she was . As the book unfolds and you see that she has this calm confidence , and a sort of dark wit that I ’m render to convey to her as well — and I ’m also run to be trying to get into her Romani inheritance and really exploring that .
But all of these thing are aspect of her that I ’m still let out myself . So the short answer to the question that I ’ve sort of rambled around is that she is someone I sort of have a hold on , but what ’s fun is that I ’m finding interesting expression of her even as I publish that I had n’t think about as I was buy the farm in . So she is ever - develop , and raise , and becoming a more interesting individual , even as I write her — which I think a quality should be when you ’re make [ them ] , if they can sort of storm you , even though you indite them .
speak of Wanda ’s background — earlier this year Uncanny Avengers revealed thatshe and her brother were never actually Mutants . Will you explore anything about that part of her in the serial publication ?
Robinson : I ’m definitely going to be explore her past , and her relationship with her female parent , and the history of her female parent , and quite aboveboard the history of the term “ The Scarlet Witch , ” and that ’s stuff we ’re going to larn more and more about as the book unfolds . So yes , I will obviously be getting into her Romani past , who her father is , but secondarily there is this aspect with the High Evolutionary which I may touch on down the line , but that you scratch that High Evolutionary itch , you get to Wundagore [ Ed . musical note — where Wanda and Pietro were raised ] , you get to things that unfold with the Fantastic Four . It just becomes a slew of backstory .
One of the things we ’re attempt to do is make each topic a succinct , single outcome escapade , so that we can utilize a good deal of dissimilar creative person . There ’s a metaphor to be made with that , with artists — the great unwashed can be very complex with different traits and characteristic , so there ’s a gracious parallel to [ having multiple artist and style ] , and the single - issue data formatting really help that . So get into all of that backstory , I think there is a High Evolutionary / Wundagore account down the line , but I think for now we ’re exploring who she is and where she is in the universe without all of that stuff being get into specifically . Quite frankly I ’m much more concerned in her Romani inheritance and how that associate to witchcraft — the fact that red is a unlucky colour in Romani lore , so why would a Romani young lady call herself “ The Scarlet Witch ” ? There ’s all these niggling interesting aspects that I desire to play with . So yes , we will get to the change in her status and that occur about , but that ’s a little bit further on .
You touched very briefly on the Scarlet Witch ’s costume there — you’ve got this amazing new look for her , project by Kevin Wada . Can you assure us a little mo about the outgrowth of that design coming together ?
Robinson : The only matter I should say — this is more of an Emily enquiry — but the only matter I would say is that the flavour you ’ve learn , there ’s in reality more than that . We ’ve really designed a lot of thing that tie together that ’s more of a Scarlet Witch press . For instance , there ’s an adventure that take topographic point in Russia , with all the snow and everything else , I see her hold a whole dissimilar face . If there ’s sand , it ’ll be dissimilar . Emily was cognisant of his employment , she has a very particular eye on new talent . [ Kevin ] has had a very successful time doing the covers for She - Hulk , so when he was offer the chance to plan Wanda ’s costume , or what became this wardrobe of different flavor that derive together , he jumpstart at the chance .
The whole estimation of her headgear , which was always very superhero - atomic number 39 , has become this variety of tiara — Emily , that was your musical theme , was n’t it ?
Emily Shaw : Yeah ! I think there were a great deal of ideas blend in into the initial redesign of Wanda ’s costume , and one of the key element that I really want to tap into was making her look very decided from the other women who exist in the Marvel universe . Within the superhero costume , especially for female , if you ’re going for a “ red spandex ” look there ’s only so many variations of that you may do to really make a persona look distinct . What we want to do discussing this internally and talking with Kevin and James was leaning into Wanda ’s in darkness wild-eyed side , her almost gothic side , and I think what Kevin did all speaks to that and make her look very different from any other female case . So designing her look was very much a part of re - casting her as her own unique , full person in the direction James was just blab about .
The headgear specifically , her headdress has always been an interesting affair to me , it ’s sort of a masquerade party for her forehead . If it ’s about making that headdress feel like something someone would in reality wear — and we took inspiration from these sort of headpieces that have become more pop in the last couple of year — I was interested in taking something that was like a beaded man that she could sneak on over her head , and calculate like something someone would really wear . Kevin entirely just hunt with that and did something incredibly gorgeous . Like James said , he design so many different looking at for her that are just beautiful and vintage , with incredible lines that persist systematically of the same tone . So you ’ll see a lot of awful outfits come up in the future .
The large focal point of this serial is Wanda being on her own — can you severalise us if any other Marvel heroes appear in the serial publication ?
Robinson : Well , at present tense , I ’m really focus on her , so I do n’t cognize if there will be that many other heroes . We are design an issue that rivet on the human relationship between her and her pal , but we ’ll kind of have to wait on that one .
strangely enough , the only heroes I know for sure we ’ll be meeting are the Russian Super - Soldiers — which I know is an singular choice . You ’d have a bun in the oven Captain America , or the Wasp , or someone . Oh , and there ’s one write up I have in mind involve S.H.I.E.L.D. and Jim Hammond , my favorite Marvel type . But really primarily we ’re really focusing on her , and lend in some unexampled fictional character — unexampled heroes , novel character that I ca n’t really speak about yet . But I ’m very unrestrained about the that , who they are . And also giving [ Wanda ] a scalawag ’s gallery , render her own life and her own dramatis personae outside of the Avengers universe . So I ’ve kind of worked around your question , have n’t I ? The scant reply is no .
I ’m focusing on doing more clever — hopefully!—stories with her , and not tying it into whatever characters you might think of . Make it uninfected , satisfying , so that you may pick up issue two and if , for some reason , you lose [ government issue ] three you may pick up four and revel that as well .
You ’re cooperate with a lot of unlike artists on each issue , and the serial ’ format will rotate around standalone stories so citizenry can jump-start in any fourth dimension . Can you tell us about some of the artist you ’re function with on Scarlet Witch , and what that mental process has been like ?
Robinson : In terms of who we ’ve got , Emily should say that , but I will say this : in reality process with dissimilar artists in this way is something I have a lot of experience in from doing the “ Times Past ” floor in Starman , there were so many , and when I did The Shade miniseries DC a few years ago , there were six artists on that rule book , and I was having different clip full point , unlike characters and all of that .
So I really really enjoy that , when you have the artists sort of in your mind , you may shape the account around them . Each story has a slightly dissimilar feel because you be intimate the artist is estimable at shadows , or has a very classic manner or a very unorthodox style — so that is n’t a problem for me , and it ’s actually one of the things I ’m most enjoying about this book . In terms of the creative person we have , Emily ?
Henry Wheeler Shaw : Sure ! The first couple of artists we have are Vanessa Del Rey doing our first issue , Marco Rudy is drawing our second issue , and Steve Dillon is drawing the third .
I call up the really awesome matter about this serial that makes it so implausibly unique is that James can completely write to these very different , equally beautiful and alone artstyles . And with every publication , [ Wanda ] is pass to a unlike country , a dissimilar city , a dissimilar surroundings , so it really does work on a write up horizontal surface changing the look . There ’s a lot of really cool inquiry that James has done with each web site that Wanda inspect face into into the especially chronicle of witchery in that blank space and reckon at them through a historical lens .
We also did a sort of singular thing when we were regurgitate the series in that , we knew the great unwashed we want to work with , and when we were at the formative stage we just sent emails out and say “ where in the world do you want to depict ? What is your dream localization for a story ? ” and attempt to play with masses based on what they actually require to do , so that makes it palpate unique in its own way as well .
We ’ve amaze a lot of thing coming up in the secret side of the Marvel universe — Doctor Strange and his motion-picture show , Wanda in Age of Ultron and Civil War , and now her own series . What ’s been your favorite part of getting to search this side of Marvel ’s existence ?
Robinson : Well , I mean part of it is the research , which I sleep with to do . I really love that . But I also have sort of a reputation from when I was around at DC , I was doing book that , while not needs within the world of Vertigo [ DC ’s adult - point comic imprint ] , where they were so mature , but they still had a bit of a candy kiss of that slightly morose , more repugnance - ish sorting of elements in them . Even Starman , to some point .
After I occur to Marvel very happily , and did what I recollect was a quite successful run on Fantastic Four , I was very proud of it and my work with Leonard Kirk [ Ed . note : the artist on Robinson ’s Fantastic Four run]—and you ca n’t get more “ Marvel Superhero ” than either the Avengers or the Fantastic Four . So going back to that slightly more darker and more adult — and I ’m a little wary of using that Christian Bible , because it has the connotation that that [ Scarlet Witch ] is not for children , and it ’s definitely the sort of book anybody could read — but that slightly more advanced feel of those more interesting chronicle that are often at the corner of the Marvel universe . I ’m really , really enjoy that , and it ’s in spades something that suit my writing .
With a unmarried character , the introspection is there — as much as you might want to , it ’s very difficult to do it in a team record book unless you ’re on it for yr and geezerhood , where you may just impart niggling piece to the arial mosaic of each person ’s personality over a recollective geological period of time . But when you do a single character book you’re able to really show who they are , and what they think , and how they react to things so rapidly . And so adding that — the shadiness of Wanda ’s want to prove herself , to pay off herself to some degree , and moving through her sprightliness as an sovereign cleaning lady without the backstory of all the stuff that ’s been in her past times , which is a fleck new for her , in a way — that ’s what I ’ve been really enjoying , and making her into a character that people who know her well can give her a re - appraisal , and perhaps people that have never encountered her before , it ’s an interesting approach to her that wo n’t be dash .
If there was one thing that you could tease derive up in Scarlet Witch for our readers , what would it be ?
Robinson : Yes , the one matter that I will say is that although we ’ve stressed singular issues and different artists , in the first matter [ and beyond ] each one is a building block that is displace the floor forward , to a very big conclusion where so many different interesting aspects of the Marvel existence will combine and collide . I reckon catch that extend through the Koran to get to that point will be something mass are intrigue by and will be something they can really enjoy and abide by .
Oh , and the ability to perform magic comes with a price to whoever does it . I ca n’t wait for everyone to learn the price Wanda has to pay each time .
Scarlet Witch # 1 is available December 9th , 2015 .
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