So how would you describe Steve and Wanda's relationship?
They’ve been friends for something like ten years in the comics (my math, it is not great). They didn’t meet until she joined the Avengers. He didn’t recruit her; that was Tony. For anyone who doesn’t know, it was the two of them, Pietro, and Clint, and they were the funnest, most disastrous Avengers team. He was a Silver Age jerk, and she had a crush on him. Specifically, she liked that he was strong (but gentle!), and also, she liked watching him work out. There are some people who read that era as ‘well, he was their dad and he took them in,’ but that isn’t how I read it at all. He wasn’t their dad. He was slightly older and in charge. And he was a Silver Age jerk about it.
There is also this idea that he’s some kind of father figure to her in general or that he’s like a brother to her, which isn’t true. Wanda has had more than enough fathers, and she and Steve don’t refer to each other as “brother” or “sister.” Other characters sometimes refer to them as being “like family,” but I kinda think they’re friends, not family. Nothing about their relationship feels particularly familial to me, and if people are trying to say they’re like siblings to imply their relationship is platonic, well, that ship has sailed. And anyway, Steve calls other white dudes “brother” all the time, and people have no trouble glossing over that. But I digress!
The crush eventually goes away, and they settle into this friendship that’s rarely in the foreground but stays consistent. She has this unwavering faith in him. It’s not hero worship. She just believes in him and doesn’t doubt him at all. And that’s born of all the years they knew each other, and this trust that they built. He trusts her and believes in her too, even after… everything. He thinks she’s badass too, except when he’s being too protective and forgets that she could totally kick his ass. But he’s not afraid of her the way that maybe a rational person would be.
There’s this ease to their relationship, overall.
STEVE: Wanda. Can I help you?
The Scarlet Witch doesn’t even bother to ask how he knew she was in the control booth.
WANDA: What are you doing in here, Steve?
Captain America Annual 1999 by Joe Casey & Pablo Raimondi
She’s sitting around watching him practice, and he somehow knows she’s there, and she doesn’t even question how he knows anyone is there, let alone her. Of course, he knows.
They sometimes disagree, but it’s never a huge deal, with the possible exception of the end of Avengers West Coast where she was probably as mad at him as she’s ever been. Even that didn’t feel mutual. It was more her being pissed off at him. They have some philosophical differences. It is a rare but not unheard of thing for her to be portrayed as having a more European mindset when it comes to politics and that’s used to contrast her with the American characters. There are also times when he’s not being a very good leader, and she has to tell him that. But he listens to her, even if he has to go sulk first.
I think the primary difference between their friendship and a lot of the other relationships Wanda has had with men in her life is that he never acted like he owned her. He was never trying to control her or having sex with her when she had amnesia (ahem). Steve just always respected her as a person and her opinions.
STEVE: Wanda, we’ve known each other a long time, and I consider myself a friend to both you and your bother. But I have to tell you that the idea of choosing between two loves is only Pietro’s. If you were to lose him in order to gain the Vision, it would be his choice… not yours. You don’t have to play his rules.
Avengers Vol. 1 #110 by Steve Englehart & Don Heck
See how he supports her and gives good advice and yeah, I love everything about this panel.
There are other things I feel obligated to mention: One time, he bought her a magic book as a present, but it was haunted! She once healed his jaw by stroking his cheek! Sometimes, he draws her and it makes me happy! There is also this minor implication that he could tell how powerful she was before anyone else. I don’t know if I buy that, but I think he noticed she had more potential than she seemed to have.
And then… Disassembled. Without getting into all the details and the different interpretations, they, uh, made out? He’s off doing something dangerous, and she keeps showing up to save him, even though he tells her not to. He’s being way too protective and kinda condescending (the way he sometimes gets with his girlfriends), and then she kisses him. And he kisses her. And she spends the night at his apartment and wakes up wearing his clothes, but they don’t have sex.
This is all complicated by the fact that she was messing with his head at the time, showing him visions of herself and of Bucky (who was still supposed to be dead at that point). I don’t think she was doing it on purpose, but she did it nonetheless. There’s a lot of different ways of looking at what happened. I’m not going to come down on any one side since we don’t know. Remender said he was going to clear all of this up, but then he never did.
And Steve still trusts her and still believes in her and was very adamant that they not kill her when everyone had the “we should totally just kill Wanda” meeting. Different writers have contradicted each other about whether or not he still has feelings for her or if he was ever “in love” with her. It’s up in the air as to whether that will be followed up on. There have certainly been hints in Uncanny Avengers that something is still lingering there, but I don’t know if they’ll amount to anything.