In the past year, The Scarlet Witch’s costume saw many changes, but there is one detail that can be a good hint about her stories.
Portraying the role of both hero and villain in her lengthy comic runs, the Scarlet Witch’s stories got the spotlight on her insane powers and incredible psyche. Stories showed Scarlet showing off her insane power, while others deal with the horror she created. In fact, there is a way to guess which turn the story is going to take, and that’s all is hidden in Scarlet Witch’s Costume.
Scarlet has always been a part of steaming controversies. Multiple Writers have gone back and have focused on whether to boast Wanda’s mutant abilities, havoc magic, general witchcraft or give her a combination of all these powers. That’s why Wanda flexed her power wonderful array of costume designs that usually play with the same aesthetic markers: shades of pink and red, gloves, a cape, and that oh-so-familiar headdress. But one element in Scarlet Witch’s costume plays an important part comparing to others.
What’s that One Important Element in Scarlet Witch’s Costume?
Scarlet Witch was introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1964’s Uncanny X-Men #4. Here, she used to wear a dramatic and goofy dress Wanda’s face is framed tightly by her headdress and acts as a parallel to the identity crisis sexperiencedces while serving Magneto, but it’s crucial that she’s not struggling with her powers and is actually on the cusp of ditching the evil mutant to join the Avengers…
What’s actually the real trick to crack Scarlet Witch’s costume’s code? As the comic book says the main part of Wanda’s stories are her witchy powers, and the second important element of her stories are showcasing her control the toll it takes on her sanity. The easiest way to spot in which direction the story will go is by noticing the presence or lack of her headdress. Scarlet’s headdress says a lot by itself, she is more her herself when she has the headdress off, as soon she got that headdress on she got herself surrounded with chaos and mental deterioration.
Scarlet Witch’s costume told a lot in Avengers West Coast #56-57, where she has a whole new flashy wardrobe, this costume actually dropped many hints for the readers that something is wrong with Scarlet Witch. The first and main element she doesn’t have her headdress on and her dress was very loud and wild and it came out that she followed a villain’s path in that run. In 2005’s House of M (2005) – where Wanda famously shatters reality – she’s again free of her headdress after the disbanding of the Avengers.
To get herself out of that trauma she caged herself in an alternate reality, featuring a headdress that covered the majority part of her face as she was trying to hide her identity. When she’s faced with her true surroundings – headdress free – Wanda’s mind breaks and she destroys her reality.
Uncanny Avengers (2012) drop the epic story and brings Wanda’s power back to her mind. This time Scarlet Witch’s costume features a familiar pink-colored headdress but more modern. There was no dramatic cape or over-bulky gloves in this version as the story itself is calmer than that of House of M.
In James Robinson and David Aja’s Scarlet Witch Solo Series, Wanda got a smaller headdress, instead of getting a big and bulky mask that covers half of her face it sits upon Wanda’s head like a crown, and Wanda has never been more in control, traveling the world to single-handedly address magical crises and getting her very own nemesis in the form of the Emerald Warlock. So next time focus on Scarlet Witch’s Costume, mainly on her headdress to guess the beat of the story.
