Scarlet Witch is one of those rare properties whose rights are shared between Marvel Studios and Fox, due to her long history in the comics with both the X-Men and the Avengers. While the latter studio decided not to use her, Wanda Maximoff was introduced into the MCU in Avengers: Age of Ultron, as played by Elizabeth Olsen. However, the character’s origins had to undergo some significant changes so as not to cause any contractual headaches.
As established in a post-credits teaser for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Wanda and her brother Pietro (Quicksilver) were experimented on by HYDRA’s Baron Von Strucker, who used the Mind Stone to give them their abilities. We assumed that was the end of it, but an interesting description in the official Visual Dictionary for the Marvel Cinematic Universe has us thinking otherwise.
As first noted by ScreenRant, the passage casually suggests that Wanda might actually be a latent mutant, whose X-gene powers were awakened by the Infinity Stone. Here’s how it reads:
“She may be called Scarlet Witch, but Wanda’s powers aren’t derived from the occult. Whether it altered her or merely unlocked something latent inside Wanda, the Infinity Stone on Loki’s scepter bestowed incredible powers of the mind. Wanda’s internal neuro-electric interface allows her to conjure blasts of red telekinetic energy. She can also use this energy to create barriers, levitate and move objects; to communicate and read thoughts by telepathy; and even to manipulate the minds of others.”
As all Marvel fans know, Disney’s currently moving forward with swallowing up 20th Century Fox, which means Marvel will soon get their hands on the X-Men. So, perhaps Kevin Feige and co. have an idea to eventually retcon Scarlet Witch as a mutant when the rights to the X-Men franchise fully arrive at their door.
This brief mention in the Visual Dictionary could be just a hint at what the studio has planned, and if so, it’d be pleasingly ironic. Back in 2014’s Original Sin comic storyline, Wanda and Pietro were retconned as not being mutants at all but instead experiments by the High Evolutionary, a move done to tie into the events of Ultron. It’d be pretty funny then if this controversial decision was retconned again to how things used to be if the MCU introduces mutantkind.
