Thoughts on Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda in Captain America: Civil War?...

**spoilers below if you haven’t seen the movie yet**

I started a similar thread to this back when Age of Ultron came out and it was interesting hearing people’s thoughts on her portrayal as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in that movie, her introduction to the MCU. So I figured I may as well do so again and see what everyone thought of her second outing in the role.

I quickly became a fan of her portrayal of Wanda/Scarlet Witch in Age of Ultron, and thought they really should’ve gone to the movie’s title straight off of her somewhat creepy grin – as it was unnerving/gave a feeling of uncertainty of what was to come (like, she may have been the one to succeed in offing one if not more Avengers in that movie had she not joined the good guys’ team by the end). It would’ve been a very strong moment to go to the film’s title…but no, it naturally happened after a Tony Stark moment (of course).

Anyway, I was just so pleased to see more of her character again in this film. I liked that she was one of the first people we saw in the movie and how she was working with Steve, Sam and Natasha. They made quite the team. I loved seeing them work together, using each other’s skills/powers, and especially how Steve interacted with her. I’d gotten a big brother/younger sister vibe from Hawkeye and Wanda in Age of Ultron (which she sorely needed, after what happened to her actual brother), and it was good to see this continued when Hawkeye eventually showed up in Civil War. However, I was kind of getting a similar vibe from the Steve/Wanda relationship in this movie too. The way he talked with her and she responded positively showed that he understood her and how to treat her (unlike certain other characters in the movie). If there was one thing I wish we could’ve seen more of, it was her and Steve interacting, closely followed by her and the others on his team (especially Hawkeye).

I thought Elizabeth did an excellent job of showing all of Wanda’s conflicting emotions on her face. On the one hand, I could sympathise with how she felt after the way she was being treated by the populace, but it was also obvious how guilty she felt about the unintended consequences of her various actions in both this and the previous movie she was in. And it was certainly unfair the way she was being treated, given that she was saving not only Cap’s life, but also everyone else in the immediate vicinity of the explosion on the ground by sending it up into the air. Yes, it had the unfortunate result of detonating into the corner of a building and there were casualties...but what was she supposed to do, let there be casualties on the ground instead? I think it was clear that if she’d had more time, she would’ve risen it up using her powers until it was safely out of the way, but it was taking effort and she didn’t have enough time (it was lucky she even got it as far away as she did, really). So those pointing fingers/blame at her really shouldn’t have been.

I did enjoy her scene with Vision in the kitchen. It was a nice moment, and I have seen it mentioned before that they had a thing in the comics, so I guess this was kind of a nod to that. I did, however, understand her being forced to go against him when Hawkeye came to free her. And, again, she clearly felt great remorse about what she was forced to do. I liked that she saved the butts of her teammates and they returned the favour. It was awesome to see her kicking so much butt and holding her own, but she wasn’t overpowered – in that, there were times she needed help/saving.

One thing I hated, though, was seeing her broken down in a cell in what was basically a straightjacket. She’d more than proven she could work well/be an asset in a team with Cap at the start, so to see that (and her freedom) taken away from her at the end really ticked me off. I wish we could’ve seen her freed again at the end of the film, and her returning to some form of normalcy. It will be interesting to see where they take her character/relationships with the other characters from here in the next movies. I’m hoping that she manages to survive the next two films (given how powerful she is, I could just see them throwing people off-guard by having her, as one of the most powerful of the Avengers, winding up an unexpected casualty in the Infinity Wars movies to demonstrate just how serious the stakes are in those films (since, really, there have been no major casualties as yet and I have a feeling they might try to make up for it in those movies – but that’s just a hunch).

Anyway, I’m hoping others enjoyed Elizabeth Olsen’s portrayal of Wanda in this movie as much as I did. If not, fair enough, but just please try to keep any comments civil. Thanks.


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