Sophia Doshi, Media Director
@sophiadcourant
Before I start, I want to remind readers that the following opinions, beliefs, and feelings stem from my own; while I will be drawing information from proven statistics, research, and pre-existing sources and opinions, the conclusion that I will be making will be based on my assessment.
There are also some exceptions to the Marvel vs DC rule: some of the Marvel and DC heroes only have worthy opponents in their own universe and some end up facing heroes from their own due to the outcome of the draws, as you will see in the following matchups.
These two heroines are a bit of an anomaly since they are so similar in power and formidability. They also stem from the same series of comics, with Jean Grey first appearing in The X-Men #1 (1963) and Scarlet Witch soon after in The X-Men #4 (1964). These two, along with Black Panther and Doctor Doom, are the only other exceptions to our ‘Marvel vs DC’, given that they’re four Marvel characters.
Photos from Peakpx, Den of Geek, Refinery29, and Comic Basics
And now… what you’ve all been waiting for!
In the comics, Wanda Maximoff’s (who later became the Scarlet Witch, and whose actress in the MCU is Elizabeth Olsen) origins are not clear to her or others due to the machinations and manipulations of others. She grew up with her twin brother Pietro (alias: Quicksilver) on Wundagore Mountain in Eastern Europe, believing that they were the children of a Romani couple named the Maximoffs. She and Pietro fell under the wing of the mutant villain Magneto during their late adolescence, but soon became unhappy with his morals and escaped. They later accepted an invitation offered by the Avengers to try and reverse their tarnished reputations.
Photos from Pinterest and Peakpx
Later in her life, after meeting her android husband Vision and magically having children with him, a tragic event caused her to lose her children and subjected her to the manipulation of a powerful sorceress called Morgan le Fay. le Fay introduced her to chaos magic, enhancing Wanda’s powers but causing her to succumb to madness. After a rampage against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and mutants, the reincarnations of her lost sons, Wiccan and Speed, learned that Wanda was in Latvia suffering from amnesia. They helped to restore her memories and convinced her to regain the Avengers’ trust in her. In addition to this, she had to face the immense power of the Phoenix (aka Jean Grey, which is ironic because in our bracket she is battling against her). In the end, she and Pietro were able to work with the Avengers once again, and also were able to confirm that the Maximoffs were their true parents.
If you want a synopsis of all of the Scarlet Witch’s powers in the comics, you can find it below:
Illumination (create, shape, & manipulate visible light), chaos magic, matter transmutation (create and absorb matter and energy, shape, and rebuild it into anything of their choosing), nexus being (a rare entity with the ability to affect the probability of future events, and thus the future itself. This allows them to alter the flow of the Universal Time Stream), powers of Life and Death (user can sense, create, shape and manipulate the essences of life and death, giving and taking both), psychometry (use can obtain historical memories or sensations concerning beings and objects they observe), precognition, mind control, healing powers, reality warping, control of elements, psionics (user can telepathically create illusions of opponents’ fears or wishes), flight, and communication with deceased spirits.
Marvel.com
In the comics, Jean Grey, who was also recently introduced to you as the Phoenix (portrayed by the actress Sophie Turner in some of the movies and by Famke Janssen in others) is an extremely powerful psychic, as she trained under the wing of the sage Charles Xavier (Professor X, as portrayed in cinema by James McAvoy). Her mutant powers first manifested after she witnessed and experienced the emotions during the death of her close friend. Professor X helped Jean hone her powers as she matured, and during her early training, her psychic abilities helped the X-Men to locate and recruit a new member: Scott Summers (aka Cyclops), who she later married. During an escape from a mission, after she was officially part of the X-Men, Jean was dying from radiation poisoning. However, she was saved by the Phoenix Force, which created a duplicate body complete with memories and personality, absorbed a portion of her consciousness, and cast her into a comatose-like state at the bottom of the Jamaican Bay. Once awake, this duplicate Phoenix believed that she was the real Jean. During this time, manipulation by the villain Mastermind caused her to go insane and become Dark Phoenix.
Photos from Paste Magazine and CinemaBlend
After a lot of craziness happened after that, and after she found out that a villain named Sublime sought to get control of Jean’s powers and control all of creation, she destroyed this future reality and effectively destroyed herself. This caused the real Jean Grey to become another, more powerful version of herself named White Phoenix. This White Phoenix existed inside of the White Hot Room, which is the equivalent of the afterlife in the Phoenix Force. The White Hot Room is also like a lounge for variations of the Phoenix Force (like Jean, and interestingly enough, Heimdall) to wait before they are resurrected into reality in what is known as a Phoenix Egg. After her resurrection, the White Phoenix persuaded Scott to stay with Emma Frost (a powerful mutant telepath) in order to create and maintain a new future reality.
You can find a synopsis of the Phoenix’s powers below:
Flight, creation of telekinetic weapons, empathy manipulation (user can manipulate emotions), telepathic defense (psychic shield creation & illusions), mind linking (linking the minds of multiple people at once, similar to the function of a mental walkie talkie), astral projection, matter transformation, telekinesis, psychic siphoning (user can absorb/take away the psychic powers of another for themselves), and telepathy (reading, controlling, and implanting thoughts in minds.
Marvel.com
If you’ve stuck with me so far, major kudos to you.
Now that you’ve read the backgrounds of both the Scarlet Witch and the Phoenix, you can understand why Scarlet Witch has the leg-up. Her abundance of powers and experience using them to their fullest extent for her entire life allowed her to develop more as a sorceress, in comparison to Jean’s inhibition of her powers by Professor X. Of course, Jean received more formal and personal training from Professor X, but Wanda received training (and admittedly manipulation) from a wider cast of characters, and this allowed her to test out her powers more than Jean ever had the chance. Furthermore, in a comic issue called X-Men Forver 2, Wanda takes on the X-Men, demonstrating her immense power. By using her magic, Wanda was able to cripple Jean (pre-Phoenix Force enhancements) with relative ease.
Wanda has another advantage over Jean, and it consists of where they draw their power from. The Scarlet Witch has a direct, constant link with an arcane god of Chaos called Chthon, and that enables her to access her chaos magic and wield it on a constant basis. This link also enables her to exert herself to an inhuman point, as demonstrated in a recent MCU film, Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (you can see my review of that here: Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness Review). Compared to Wanda, the Phoenix Force does not reinforce Jean’s body in any special way, save for enhancing her powers. This means that regardless of her status as an Omega-level mutant, she can only do so much as a telepath, as exerting herself puts a strain on her body. Additionally, although they are both psychics, Wanda has had more experience influencing the minds of mentally and physically stronger people, including Tony Stark, Captain America, the Hulk, and Thor. Sure, Jean Grey was able to tap into Cyclops’ mind and track him down, but canonically and cinematically there is just not enough information about her psychic powers to compare to Wanda’s.
Photos from Fandom, Slash Film, The Direct, Entertainment Wallpaper, Comic Vine – GameSpot, and RTL
Wanda is also more popular among the superhero fanbase across the globe. She first appeared in the end credit scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and has played a central role in the MCU ever since, including starring in her own sitcom/drama/action/thriller TV series, WandaVision. People also love Elizabeth Olsen as an actress, and as a person in her own right. While Sophie Turner is a household name because of her role as Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, the Phoenix simply isn’t as much of a hit as the Scarlet Witch. In the end, Wanda emerges triumphant and prevails over Wanda.
