Hi! I found some articles on the web and the Wikipedia enciclopedy page of Wanda, describing her character as “timid, shy, calm and a people pleaser” in the comics. They also claimed that female characters were represented this way once. Do you think it’s fair to say Scarlet Witch is like this? She does not seem either remissive or calm in the comics, but I haven’t read all of them.
Not really. I think people are weird about these very old stories because they’re not quite sure how to talk about them. There are people who have never read a comic from 1964 who believe, wholeheartedly, that they understand exactly what they were like and how every character was written. And the truth is always more complicated than you think it’s going to be.
On top of that, it is possible to read those old comics and ignore everything positive or empowering about the female characters because you have blinders on and can’t see it. People see what they expect to see, right? That’s human nature.
Which isn’t to say that there are no problems with the way female characters were written Back Then. Just that there is some hyperbole going around, and with Wanda, as ever, people kind of tell on themselves. So, what do people mean when they call Silver Age Wanda meek or passive? Well, they mean stuff like this:
X-Men vol. 1 #5; story by: Stan Lee; drawing by: Jack Kirby; inking: Paul Reinman; lettering: Sam Rosen
People are weird about the fact that Lee/Kirby era Wanda was afraid of Magneto and seemed weaker around him... and pleaded with him not to kill people. Very, very weird. Now let’s use our 21st century brains and analyze this situation objectively. Magneto is abusing Wanda, physically and emotionally. He is scary, and at this point, she cannot beat him in a fight.
So, when people make a big deal out of her “seeming weak” around him, what are they really saying? Nothing they intend to say, right? They’re trying to say that female characters should be Badass Ladies 100% of the time, and it is a failure of writing if they’re not. But Wanda’s not a Badass Lady when we’re introduced to her. She’s an abused teenager, and this man could easily kill her. And she still defies him. For me, the fact that she still stands up to him and follows her own conscience is more empowering than if she wore an all-black leather outfit and karate kicked people.
Unless this article you’re talking about is saying she is and has always been “timid” and “shy,” in which case... IDK what they mean. Wanda is introverted, not shy, and I don’t really know how someone can read most comics with her and think she is a people pleaser or timid.
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