Warning: contains spoilers for Scarlet Witch (2024) #2Wanda Maximoff can never catch a break, but theScarlet Witchis nothing if not resilient. In her journey to escape the Witches' Underworld,Scarlet Witch#2sees Wanda fighting againstthe Cthulhu-like Moridun, who insults her by transformingthe iconic hero’s costume into her “original” green outfit, depicted on the cover of her first appearance 60 years ago but never seen before in canon.
Whilebattling the cosmic entity known as The Griever At The End Of All Thingsthe Scarlet Witch was killed and sent to the Land of the Dead, saved bythe Queen of Nevers, who tasked her with an important mission.
Scarlet Witch#2, from writer Steve Orando with artists Jacopo Camagni and Frank William, is the first time in main Marvel canon that theScarlet Witch is shown in the green costumefrom 1964’sX-Men#4 -which was colored by Stan Goldberg- with Moridun mocking the hero by calling her a “verdant amateur.”
July 17th, 2024
Variant Covers:
Corin Howell, Jessica Fong, Dike Ruan
The Scarlet Witch is trapped in a realm where her survival depends on the strength of her will — and the benevolence of its overseer, the Queen of Nevers! And Darcy Lewis, convinced Wanda’s never coming back, chooses to bet Lotkill’s survival on the aid of a sworn enemy…
But why was the “Scarlet” Witch depicted in green?
When the Scarlet Witch first debuted inX-Men(1964) #4 she was simply another member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, shown to be sister to Quicksilver and possessing “hex” powers. However, the cover ofX-Men#4 and X-Men #5 showed Wanda wearing a green costume. Many have asked why Stan Goldberg colored her costume green, and the answer is quite simple, with Stan Lee answering a fan in a letter, “Sometimes we change a costume’s color on the cover just to balance the design a bit.” Magneto wears red, and was the center of both covers, meaningWanda’s red costume could have distracted from the intended central figure of the art!
Sometimes we change a costume’s color on the cover just to balance the design a bit.
Since Scarlet Witch was a new character, Goldberg probably assumed that readers wouldn’t mind the artistic shift, something an artist could simply not get away with today. In fact, Goldberg changed Wanda’s coloring and shifted Pietro’s costume from green to blue. Unlike Wanda, whose name literally contains the word “Scarlet,“Quicksilver has donned both colored costumes in the main comic canonoften, something the Scarlet Witch can now say as well. In their fight, Moridun calls Wanda a “verdant amateur,” or green amateur, referencing the fact that she “wore” this green outfit in her first issue, when she was still acting as a villain and was incredibly new to her powers and responsibilities.
The green costume has already been replaced
The Scarlet Witch has been an Avenger for years, and while the Avengers are not known for their high-fasion, they are known for switching up their costumes throughout different eras to represent their brand, and Wanda Maximoff is no different. During the X-Men’s Krakoan Era, the incredibly talented artist Russell Dauterman redesigned the Scarlet Witch’s look to include instantly iconic celestial hair, with an absolutely gorgeous modern costume.Wanda’s green costume remained her comic look for years- colored in scarlet, of course - and was even homaged in the MCU’sWandaVision.
While Moridun used the Scarlet Witch’s 60-year-old original green costume to mock and insult the incredible magical hero, that green look was quickly replaced by one much more disturbing. The issue ends with Moridun possessing Wanda’s body, turning theScarlet Witchinto a Chthulu-inspired villain, and forcing Wanda to fight within her own mind to regain control of her destiny.
