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Again, I have to ask you guys to edit these messages down and make them more concise. This could have been one or two short paragraphs.

I mentioned the M C U costume briefly when it was first leaked. At the time, the discrepancy in her skin tone was not yet apparent. I did write about it later on Twitter, which you obviously wouldn’t find here. You’re welcome to read that thread, but it attracted a lot of bad faith arguments.

Realistically, I’m not surprised that the game includes M C U costumes, and I’m not going to waste my time or energy getting upset about it. The choice to actually change the character model’s skin tone to be more in-line with the actress is strange– I don’t believe any other characters in the game undergo this dramatic of a shift, so it definitely stands out. For anybody who is sensitive to issues of race and representation, seeing a character who was designed as a woman of color be literally, visually turned white is jarring. The developers are clearly aware of Wanda’s Romani background and were intent on representing that by taking cues from her current design in the comics. This awareness and sensitivity makes the literal whitewashing stand out even more.

Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a perfect solution to this. Retroactively making Olsen’s character into a Romani woman of color, as they did in the TVA comic, is awkward in its own right– but I agree that treating it is as cosplay is probably a better option. Let the characters dress up as their movie counterparts, rather than trying to make them actually be their movie counterparts. For Wanda, at least, I think that would have been a better way to commit to their intention.

I also want to add something that I brought up in the Twitter thread– as important as it is for Romani characters to be represented with darker skin and ethnic features, superficial details like skin tone are ultimately less important than historical + narrative context. We know that the M C U versions of Wanda and Billy are emblematic of whitewashing and Jewish erasure, and that this informs many problematic aspects of their portrayal. This is why we have to be critical when they show up outside of the M C U– especially in comics, and especially in pieces like this. It saddens me that so many fans lack maturity and insight to have that conversation with going “but the multiverse,” or pulling up older artwork where the characters look white.

I’ve learned not to set too many expectations or get too invested in speculating about comics that aren’t out yet. I feel like that’s where a lot of the outrage in comic book fandom comes from these days, and I just don’t want to play into that.

We don’t know much about the series yet. There are black doors appearing around the world which seem to mirror Wanda’s Last Door; Vision is going to be mortally wounded in the first issue; and the Grim Reaper is there. In a recent interview, Orlando specificaly refers to the doors as “Death’s Door,” and the solicit for #3 states that Wanda and Vision will travel to someplace called the “Graverealm,” which, as far as I can tell, is a new setting.

The Grim Reaper is apparently connected to Death’s Door, but I doubt that he’s the mastermind here. I expect that his role will be similar to the Wizard’s– some kind of herald or pawn for a much greater antagonist. In the preview pages, he seems to be wielding some kind of dark magical power against Vision. I’m guessing that Vision will be critically injured in this fight, and Wanda will heal him, which is when he’ll turn white. I assume that there will be some other side-effect, but I doubt that it will be the same as last time.

I’m very curious about this “Graverealm.” There are already counltess afterlife realms in the Marvel universe, and I feel like it would be redundant to add another one so shortly after re-vamping the Land of the Dead/Witches’ Underworld. All I can say is that I hope it’s something a little more unique. I do wonder if this exploration of life and death create new avenues for Vision to examine how he defines his own humanity and state of living. The interview also mentions that we’ll see how Vision feels about his relationship with Billy and Tommy, or lack thereof. I don’t know if we can expect them to actually show up, but I do hope so.

Beyond that… altogether, this series has been running for over two years now. Orlando’s done a great job of bringing new characters and concepts into Wanda’s world, but I’m ready for him to start doing more with what’s already there– like how the Last Door has changed and revealed new functions over time. I want to pick up some the loose threads with characters like Lore, Nicholas, and Hexfinder; I want to spend more time in settings like New Salem, the Witches’ Road, and Planet Amanna. Wanda’s world would feel much richer and more immersive if some of this stuff could just sit and marinate for a while.

I have a post about this queued for later! Sometimes if I’m writing in the evening I schedule the post to go up the next day :)

Some the variant covers have felt overtly romantic, but this is the first main cover that’s actually played into the romance angle. But as you said, Orlando states multiple times that they’re not actually going there in the the story.

I’m definitely excited to see Wanda’s interaction with the Powers-That-Be. I felt like her abscence from G.O.D.S. was a glaring oversight– after everything with Krakoa, it made me wonder if Hickman just, like, personally dislikes Wanda. I don’t think she was even mentioned! Wanda’s more prominent than ever, and she’s really close to a lot of the themes and worldbuilding in G.O.D.S. In my mind, there’s no way she wouldn’t be in the same rooms as Stephen and Jericho when it comes to Big Important Magic Discussions.

Any visual similarities and common motifs between these characters is incidental, but I definitely agree that the Powers-That-Be and Order-Of-Things would make for very cool patrons or counterparts to Wanda and Vision. Wanda herself has often been described as sort of embodying the intersection of magic and science– this came back in a big way in SW&Q as part of her Nexus lore, which was also expanded to include Pietro. I’m very curious to see if any of this comes up in Wanda’s conversation with the Powers-That-Be– on top of, of course, learning why and how Wanda is meeting with her in the first place.

I got a post queued for tomorrow :) I don’t really know what the thought process was, but yes, the next Scarlet Witch costume, which is called “Chaos Gown”, is based on her appearance at the second Hellfire Gala.

The Russell Dauterman design debuted in the 2022 Hellfire Gala special with an elaborate beaded headpiece. In Scarlet Witch (2023), Wanda began wearing the same design, but with a more traditional version of her headpiece, as her primary costume. Both the “Chaos Gown” and “Emporium Matron” skins in Marvel Rivals are apparently based on the same design, with “Chaos Gown” specifically incorporating the beaded headpiece. I’ve seen some speculation that “Chaos Gown” is actually a combination of the Dauterman design with the dress she wore in the 2023 Gala special, mostly due to the shape of the skirt. To be honest, I’m not sure I see it.