WandaVision Creates A Scarlet Witch Age Plot Hole In Civil War

Marvel Studios put Wanda Maximoff at the forefront of its storytelling in WandaVision, revealing new information about the character, but in the process, it also created a Captain America: Civil War plot h0le about her age. The MCU is properly expanding on the small screen through Disney+ with their first TV project kicking off Phase 4. WandaVision focused on Wanda and Vision as they attempted to live the ideal suburbia life in Westview.

As the series was initially presented as a sitcom-inspired project with the couple going through normal and mundane daily activities, it’s clear from the get-go that there’s something wrong with their situation. Lo and behold, it was eventually revealed that their life exists in a pocket reality accidentally created by Wanda using Chaos Magic during her emotional breakdown. Throughout the nine-episode Marvel fare, WandaVision established a lot of new information about Scarlet Witch including a more in-depth profile that divulged her life in Sokovia before she and Pietro Maximoff joined the Avengers at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

WandaVision also revealed her official age; as it turns out, she and her twin were born sometime in 1989 in Sokovia to Oleg and Irina Maximoff. This makes Wanda 28 years old when she was snapped out of existence in Avengers: Infinity War and while five years have passed, she maintained that age when she was resurrected in Avengers: Endgame and several weeks later in WandaVision. Given this new information, the character was around 27 during Civil War. This dispels Steve Rogers’ claims that she’s still a kid in the aftermath of the Lagos incident when Tony Stark suggested that she be put on probation at Avengers HQ. At this point in the MCU, there was an assumption that Wanda was still in her late teenage years due to various factors. In Age of Ultron, it was revealed that the Maximoffs were 10 years old when their parents were killed by a Stark bomb and since Tony stopped creating weapons in 2008, it was presumed that their family tragedy also happened that time. Later in the film, Hawkeye implied that she should’ve gone to high school if she didn’t want to join the final battle.

Steve claiming that Wanda was still a kid could be justified when considering the fact that he was about 100 years old around the time of Civil War. While his old age didn’t show physically until Endgame, the former Captain America was well aware that he’s a man out of time, so he understandably saw Scarlet Witch as a juvenile. Nevertheless, Wanda’s age wasn’t exactly the best way to defend her slip-up in Lagos. Although she had been training alongside her fellow new Avengers, no one could really teach Scarlet Witch how to control her unique powers making her immune to mistakes. This was exactly what Agatha Harkness was proposing during their final confrontation in WandaVision; as a witch who has been practicing sorcery for decades, she can properly mentor Wanda.

In hindsight, it makes so much more sense that Scarlet Witch is in her late 20s in the MCU, which is closer to Elizabeth Olsen’s real-life age. What’s curious is if there was a change in Marvel Studios plan for the character recently considering that it’s implied she’s supposed to be in her late teenage years in Captain America: Civil War. Regardless, after initially playing a supporting role, Wanda is clearly going to be one of the major players in the franchise following the events of WandaVision.

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