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The Racism of the M C U’s Scarlet Witch

60 Years Of The Scarlet Witch

Scarlet Witch reading guide

The Maximoffs’ ethnic and cultural background

my Wanda cosplay [x][x][x] || my Billy cosplay [x]

on wicca [x][x] || Wanda and paganism [x][x] 

writing magic [x][x] || writing Wanda for non-Roma [x][x]

The Maximoffs’ powers

On Roma visibility [x] || Is Wanda a person of color? [x] || Was Wanda originally a white character? [x] || Is it better to “neutralize” Wanda because her origins are problematic? [x] || On whitewashing [x] || Why does Wanda look like that? [x]

Are Billy and Tommy Roma? [x][x][x] || Are the Maximoffs Jewish? [x][x] or Muslim? [x] || The Maximoffs and mental health [x]

Victor von Doom’s Romani origin [x]

Meggan Puceanu, Amanda Sefton, and whiteness [x][x]

Wanda*Vision masterpost [x] || Wanda*Vision slideshow [x] || that one racist author [x]

Educate yourself [x][x][x][x][x] || RCAC Romani studies curriculum [x] || RomBase [x] || RomaUnraveled resource doc [x]

I haven't! I don't have any experience with the Shadow Hearts franchise. I also didn't have any of those consoles growing up. I probably would enjoy the supernatural horror vibes, though.

Anyways, having read a summary of Koudelka and some of the development history... I gotta say, I don't think this would make the list in terms of good or worthwhile representation. The titular protagonist is described as an "exiled gypsy" who was born with psychic powers that caused her to be shunned by her community. Her mother tried to kill her, and she was eventually banished by the "gypsy elders". To me, this kinda places Koudelka in the same category as Meggan Puceanu and Amanda Sefton-- characters for whom their Romani upbringing is synonymous with trauma and abuse, who ultimately leave or become cut off from their heritage. These narratives are extremely unflattering of the Romani community, and reinforce pervasive, harmful narratives about abuse, superstition, and ignorance. I'd probably have to play the game to get a sense of how Koudelka herself feels about her Romani identity as an adult, but I don't feel very confident about it.

To be honest, the reading list already has most of my favorite Scarlet Witch stories, and all of the comics that I think are most important to her continuity and character, especially for modern/contemporary titles. That's, you know, why I wrote it the way I did.

Wanda was an ensemble character for most of her publication history, so she mostly shows up in Avengers ongoing titles and crossovers. There are some great stories in there, but it can be a big investment if you're only collecting for the one character. If you wanted to swing for an Avengers collection, I guess I'd recommend the 1998 series. It's probably more accessible to newer or younger readers, and it's also a pretty good bridge between the older treatments of her characterization and powers, and the way she's written now.

If you want a complete collection of Scarlet Witch titles, I would really recommend the 1994 miniseries, as well as both '83 and '85 Vision & Scarlet Witch limited series. The Robinson and Orlando runs do stand on their own as a modern era for Wanda, but there are several characters and settings which were first introduced in those older comics. More importantly, modern writers and fans often misrepresent certain parts of Wanda's history, so I always emphasize that it's important to read older material. All of these comics have been collected in paperback editions sometime in the last ten-fifteen years, so they shouldn't be terribly difficult to track down. [x] [x] [x] The last one also includes some other fun pulls from the 90s and 2000s.

Also, if you're collecting the full Orlando run, I would absolutely include the 2021 Darkhold miniseries, which is kind of an essential prologue. If you're thinking about buying House of M, I would actually recommend you start with Children's Crusade. It's much kinder to Wanda, and summarizes everything you really need to know while correcting many of HoM's frustrating contradictions.

Why do you think? It's racism and colorism.

There are two types of people who get activated about this-- people who are uncomfortable confronting the fact that their favorite MCU character is whitewashed and a very racist adaptation, and comic readers who, consciously or not, view the characters as white people and want to either minimize or completely ignore the fact that they aren't. Obviously, some people are also just straight-up racist and have a problem with Romani people, visible brown people, or both.

Uncanny X-Men #30 (left), #31 (right)

Yeah, it's not a huge improvement, but I would say that he's technically on-model. I do think that he and Wanda are both a lot lighter these days than they were in the initial run of Scarlet Witch, but this is, unfortunately, just what happens to brown characters. The really weird thing is that Uncanny is colored by Matt Wilson, who is the same artist who did the first five issues of Scarlet Witch. That was three years ago, and given the sheer volume of work he does, I wouldn't expect him to keep notes on individual characters. Makes it weird to talk about, though.

I don't know. I don't want to post anybody's fanart just to bash it, but I'd need some examples if you want me to give clear critique.

I think that fanartists, in general, tend to over-complicate superhero designs, but I also think that superhero fans have difficulty translating other genres or aesthetics, so I can see how more witchy or fantasy-based designs might fall flat. People are also wayyyy too precious about Wanda's classic costume, and I've definitely seen artists try to combine things like the cape, the leotard, or even the pink bodysuit with elements of her more recent designs, and it doesn't usually work. Actually, a lot of people are weirdly attached to Wanda wearing pink, and don't seem to understand how hard it is to make bright pink and bright red look good together, especially in a more mature, mystical design.

Beyond that, though, I'm a big Sylvix obsessive, and my other favorite characters are Claude, Cyril, Lysithea, and Dorothea. My affinity for Dorothea may or may not have something to do with the fact that she looks like just like pre-2023 Wanda, especially when she was in her slightly goth romantic phase

Her dance in one of the trailers from 10 months ago had her dancing Flamenco apparently

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/1u29bhn/leda_is_clearly_a_15th16th_century_spanish_romani/?show=original

I do play Fire Emblem! I haven't played any of the older games outside of the Tellius saga, but I've been actively following the series since Awakening. I love Three Houses and I'm really excited for Fortune's Weave, although I don't know if or when I'm going to be able to afford a Switch 2.

I noticed Leda right away, and I definitely think she may have been inspired by Spanish Romani culture to some degree. So far, the setting of Fortune's Weave seems to be based on various parts of Mediterranean Europe and North Africa. The map contains references to Aragon and Castile, implying that those regions may be pulling from Medieval Spain. Leda plays a vihuela, which is a Spanish string instrument from the 15th century. Obviously, early Romani arrivals in Europe are not very well-documented, but the diaspora most likely entered the Iberian Peninsula sometime in the 15h century as well. So, Leda is a traveling musician with Spanish cultural influence from around the right time period, and she's clearly designed as a person of color with brown skin. I think it's very reasonable to assume that she's gitana. As a person of gitano heritage myself, I'm obviously excited, but also nervous.

Fire Emblem is no stranger to Orientalism. These tropes and archetypes show up most often in exotic desert settings, as well as character classes such as the Dancer, Songstress, or Bard, which can easily overlap with gypsy tropes as well. Leda's design doesn't really read as flamenco to me, and I do think it's leaning into the usual Dancer/Songstress tropes. If I had to guess, I'd say a lot of the people who are assuming this character is Roma are responding to that imagery and conflating it with gypsy archetypes more than anything else. That doesn't mean they're wrong, but I think the conversations that are happening online are kind of irresponsible-- I keep seeing her being compared to la Esmeralda from the Disney Hunchback.

I cannot overstate how badly you have missed the point

The problem with Turin's hair has nothing to do with him being ostensibly Korean. The problem is that he's supposed to be modeled after a specific, individual, real-life person who did not have that hairstyle at all! Turin doesn't share any features or design attributes with Tsoi, so it just feels weird that he was named as an inspiration/reference for the character. That's it!