When it comes to Scarlet Witch (real name: Wanda Maximoff), MCU mainstay Elizabeth Olsen isn’t one to bite her tongue.
Leading up to the release of Avengers: Infinity War, the actress called out Empire Magazine for botching a simple Photoshop of her on-screen hero – essentially, the end product was a warped depiction of Scarlet Witch that reduced Olsen’s Avenger to a dead-eyed mannequin.
Now, she’s called on Marvel Studios to overhaul Scarlet Witch’s skimpy outfit in the aftermath of Infinity War. During a recent interview with Elle (h/t CBM), Olsen compared her character’s attire to that of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), stating that it’s high time Marvel’s costume designers produce a guise that is, frankly, more modern and less revealing.
It would just not be a cleavage corset. I like corsets, but I’d like it to be higher. Everyone has these things that cover them—Tessa Thompson does, Scarlett does. I would like to cover up a bit.
It’s funny because sometimes I look around and I’m just like ‘Wow, I’m the only one who has cleavage,’ and that’s a constant joke because they haven’t really evolved my superhero costume that much. But then you look at where it started in the comic books and it was a leotard and a headband so… oh, it’s horrible, it’s so horrible. So at least they know that’s not cool.
Olsen goes on to acknowledge the comic books on which her MCU character is based, and how Scarlet Witch and other female superheroes – like, say, Wonder Woman – honor “iconic images.”
But then they made Wonder Woman, you know? And that’s what she’s in. I think of the costumes and what we have to wear – it’s more about iconic images, because that’s what these movies are. I think that’s the goal with the costumes, and it’s not representing the average woman.
Perhaps Wanda will get her hands on a new costume in time for that mooted Scarlet Witch solo movie? We live in hope. Avengers: Infinity War, meanwhile, is currently reigning supreme at the global box office.
