Real Name: Wanda Maximoff (once Wanda Frank)

Class: mutant , mage

Occupation: former gypsy , magic user and adventurer

Affiliations: Avengers , disciple of Agatha Harkness

Scale of Operations: New York / New Jersey, nationwide

Powers: Wanda Maximoff is a mutant who would have been able to manipulate energy much like her father Magneto manipulates magnetism. During her birth, however, she was affected by the mystic energies surrounding the mountain of Wundagore, and as a result, she was able to manipulate chaos magic. Only recently was she able to understand this abilitiy more fully, and for most of her life, was only able to lob what she called "hex spheres," concentrated chaos magic which causes improbable, random events to occur to her target. (Examples include: guns misfiring or flying apart, structures collapsing, people fainting, and even metals instantly succumbing to rust.) Wanda would never have exact control of her hexes, but they would always work to her benefit. Currently, she is able to control her hexes more completely, with intense concentration.

Wanda is also a novice magic user.

History: Wanda Maximoff is the daughter of the mutant called Magneto and the gypsy Magda. Just prior to her birth, her mother fled from her father, terrified of the bizarre powers he suddenly manifested and his intentions of world domination. Seeking refuge in the scientific citadel of Wundagore in the Balkan Mountains of the tiny nation of Transia, Magda was taken in by Bova, a woman evolved from a cow by the master of genetic acceleration, the High Evolutionary. Magda gave birth to twins, a body and a girl, with Bova as her midwife. Still afraid, Magda left Bova her children and walked away to perish. Bova was relieved when several nights later, an American couple vacationing in Europe, Robert and Madeline Frank, also came to Wundagore seeking midwife assistance. Bova intended to award the couple the days-old twins to raise along with their own newborn. Unfortunately, the couple's child was stillborn, and Madeline died in childbirth. Frank fled from Wundagore upon hearing of his wife's death, nearly insane with grief. Bova then presented the twins to her master, the High Evolutionary, who agreed to find foster parents for them.

The High Evolutionary found Django and Marya Maximoff, a gypsy couple camped nearly who had lost their own twin children, Ana and Mateo, during World War II. They cared for the children as their own. As adolescents, Wanda and her brother Pietro discovered that they had peculiar talents. When Django began to steal food to feed his starving family, enraged villagers attacked the gypsy camp. Using his phenomenal speed, Pietro fled from the camp with his sister. The next few years, Wanda and Pietro wandered central Europe, living off the land.

One day, Wanda accidentally caused a house to burst into flames with her uncontrollable hex powers, and was chased by superstitious townspeople. Despite Pietro's attempt to defend her, the pair were soon overpowered. They were about to by lynched when Magneto came to the rescue. Unaware that he was their natural father, Magneto impressed them into service in his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, costumed them, and named them Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. For months they served Magneto out of a sense of obligation and fear of retaliation if they left him.

When the extraterrestrial Stranger transported Magneto from Earth, the siblings left the Brotherhood and soon petitioned for membership in the hero team Avengers. They quickly were allowed to join, and Wanda and her brother began a long tenure with the team. They separated from the team only once, when Magneto manipulated Wanda and her brother into joining with him once again, but they soon realized the deception left. They both rejoined the Avengers during a conflict with the extradimensional Arkon.

Wanda soon found herself attracted to the android Avenger, the Vision, much to the chagrin of her brother. Despite his condemnation, she pursued a long courtship with the Vision. (Later, Wanda would meet Wonder Man, the hero whose brain patterns were used in creating the Vision and who proved to share similar dispositions.) Wanda and the Vision were eventually married by the ruler of Limbo, Immortus. The couple continued to serve the Avengers, during which time Wanda began studying true sorcery under the tutelage of the witch Agatha Harkness.

An encounter with the Whizzer led Wanda and Pietro to believe he and Miss America were their true biological parents. Months later, however, after being mystically abducted by Django Maximoff and freed by Avengers, Wanda and Pietro took a leave of absence from the team to investigate the secrets regarding their childhood origins. Returning to Wundagore Mountain, they met Bova and learned the truth of their parentage. It was also revealed that Wanda had been imbued with an abnormal facility for magic at birth by the demon Chthon, who was trapped within the earth and hoped to escape using Wanda as a host body someday. Returning to the mountain allowed Chthon to possess Wanda, but she was soon freed by the Avengers and her adoptive father Django Maximoff, who sealed Chthon inside Wundagore before dying.

Wanda soon had herself and the Vision take a leave of absence during a membership reshuffle, in search of a more normal married life. They set up residence in a suburb in New Jersey. There, they led a relatively quiet life, interrupted on rare occasions by menaces. At one point, she discovered that Magneto was her true biological father and denounced their relationship.

Wanda and the Vision were soon contacted to help the Avengers against Annihilus' "null-field" that was surrounding Manhattan. Vision was seriously injured in the accident, and Wanda served as an Avenger while her husband recuperated in the mansion's lab. Eventually, the couple again retired from the Avengers in the face of government harassment over the rejuvenated Vision's misguided and failed attempt to take over the world. They had their own series of adventures against the Salem's Seven. Later, Wanda used a combination of magic and mutant ability to allow the couple to have a child, and Wanda soon gave birth to twin sons, Thomas and William. She began to mend fences with Magneto, who at this time was attempting to reform.

The family continued to stay in their home in Jersey until they agreed to help the Avenger's West Coast branch during a membership crisis. Since he returned to the Avengers, the Vision was captured and dismantled by an international intelligence watchdog coalition, effectively ending their marriage with his complete change of personality. Wanda tried in vain to find a way to restore Vision's mind, angrily denouncing her teammate Wonder Man for refusing to assist in the restoration of Vision's mind, not realizing Wonder Man wanted her for himself.

Wanda's problems continued, as she was chosen as a host for That Which Endures, and soon discovered her twins were actually captured essences of Master Pandemonium's soul, and were absorbed back into him. Wanda's sanity momentarily slipped, and she joined her father Magneto in wanting to claim total mutant supremacy over the Earth. The Avengers soon helped bring Wanda back to her senses.

Wanda and the Avengers were confronted by Immortus, who claimed to be causing these tragedies to befall Wanda in order to create her into a "nexus being" through which he could control the space-time continuum. Harkness, the Avengers, and Pietro managed to free Wanda from Immortus, who was defeated.

Wanda continued to adventure with the Avengers' West Coast branch (while the Vision spent his time with the East Coast branch.) During this time, Wanda finally resolved to put her relationship with Vision behind her, and she even briefly dated a love-struck Wonder Man before breaking it off with him. She was later elected chairperson of the team, leading them for a brief stint, although very soon after, the East Coast Avengers voted to shut the West Coast branch down.

Wanda joined other former West Coast members in the briefly formed "Force Works" team, where she lent her hex powers to fuel a trouble-spotting computer. She continued to act as field leader, although her teammate Iron Man often acted as one as well, to her chagrin. Later, Force Works and the Avengers were forced to combat the menace of Kang (actually a disguised Immortus). During the battles, Wanda ended up separated from both teams, traveling with the similarly-displaced Hawkeye. She soon found herself back in the Avengers' fold, and she rejoined the team.

Wanda was among the Avengers who defeated the menace of Onslaught by seemingly sacrificing herself to absorb its energies. In actuality, she was displaced in another universe and was later returned to our reality with the rest of the heroes.

Shortly after her return to reality, Wanda joined the Avengers who reassembled to fight agents of the sorcerous villain Morgan Le Fey. Wanda was ultimately captured and used as a conduit of magical energy as Morgan reshaped reality to fit her whims. She was nonetheless effective in breaking the Avengers free of Morgan's spell as well as temporarily resurrecting Wonder Man, who had died on a mission with Force Works. After the adventure, Wanda helped reorganize the Avengers and used the opportunity to rededicate herself to learning about her magic and her powers with Agatha Harkness. At the same time, the Vision took the opportunity to sever any romantic ties the two may have been experiencing, to Wanda's regret. Also, after a confrontation with Avenger leader Captain America, Wanda assumed the post of Deputy Leader for the team.

During this time, Wanda would occasionally resurrect Wonder Man during battle, and ultimately at her desire. This began a romantic relationship between the two. With the walls between death and life broken, Wonder Man's dead brother, the villainous Grim Reaper, managed to resurrect himself. Wanda, with the help of Harkness, fully brought Wonder Man back to life, who then brought the Reaper with him, ending his threat to the Avengers. Wanda and Wonder Man began a romantic relationship and would adventure together with the Avengers. However, Wonder Man eventually decided to move to California to run a charitable foundation of his own design, and he and Wanda grudgingly accepted a long-distance relationship.

When Kang attempted to conquer Earth, he interned many of its citizens in large camps, including a captive Wanda. Similarly captured, Wonder Man was placed in the same internment camp. Wanda had realized during their time apart that she was no longer in love with Wonder Man, just as he realized he was no longer in love with her-- the two of them having come together more from passion, loneliness and a sense of obligation than true love. The couple amicably ended their relationship and Wanda admitted she was still in love with Vision, though she did not expect to act on it since he had finally moved on. Wanda helped Wonder Man escape internment and eventually Kang was defeated by the Avengers, whereupon Wanda returned to active duty.