1) Wanda and Pietro Maximoff in the MCU were whitewashed. They’ve been Romani in the comics for the last 42 years. If you don’t understand the nuances of Romani culture vs. Romani ethnicity vs. Romani genetics, you can read my original post on it right here. Or, if you don’t trust me as a source, the Roma Culture Centre discusses it right here.
2) MCU Wanda and Pietro willingly work with HYDRA (the ACTUAL NAZIS), and allow HYDRA to run experiments on them both. The most famous Romani superheroes in comic book history join the ACTUAL NAZIS in the MCU.
(ETA: Yes, they joined HYDRA willingly. They volunteered. That’s according to Marvel’s own website, found right here. “Years later, they both volunteered to undergo genetic experimentation overseen by HYDRA’s Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, using Loki’s scepter, to potentially give them powers.”)
Why would they do this? Wanda’s brief tenure in HYDRA in the comics (Secret Empire run) only happened because she was possessed by the Elder God Chthon; she never joined them willingly. If you’re unfamiliar with the Romani Holocaust, you can read about it right here.
3) The MCU draws most of its inspiration from The Ultimates. Writer Jeph Loeb made Wanda and Pietro’s relationship incestuous in The Ultimates, and the MCU decided, for some bizarre reason, to make this part of the films. Elizabeth Olsen admitted in interviews that they intentionally hinted at incest between the twins in Avengers: Age of Ultron. If you’re unfamiliar with incest as a Romani stereotype, that’s awfully lucky for you, but you can read about it right here.
4) Elizabeth Olsen is also an unrepentant racist. On The Graham Norton Show, all the way back in 2015, she used the word “Gypsy” to describe Wanda and was corrected by the host. The actress has never apologized. (Mark Ruffalo was also on the show, and apologized on Twitter for repeating the slur after Olsen said it.) Olsen didn’t apologize because she wasn’t sorry; it wasn’t the first or last time she’d done it. Elizabeth Olsen keeps using slurs and stereotypes in interviews, as recently as last month. If you don’t know the history of the word “Gypsy” in English, you can read about that right here.
If you went into the MCU with no prior knowledge of the comics, or with limited knowledge of the Romani people, I understand that. I even wrote a post about it that you can read right here.
Fortune-teller costumes are only the tip of the iceberg.
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