The Scarlet Witch has given us some highlights of the MCU, but her biggest story would be tectonic for the franchise. As one of the best MCU characters, Wanda Maximoff is also one of the strongest, and when her powers are truly let loose, reality as we know it goes off kilter.
We saw some of that in Marvel series WandaVision, but there's a much bigger storyline waiting for adaptation – House of M, by Brian Michael Bendis, Olivier Coipel, Tim Townsend, Frank D'Armata, and Chris Eliopoulos. Wanda starts the book in a comatose state after essentially causing the Avengers to implode with her abilities.
Doctor Strange subdues her using the Eye of Agamotto and magical energy, and X-Men character Charles Xavier take over her care on Genosha, using his own psychic powers to counter hers. That can't last forever, though, and eventually she fights free and rewrites the universe.
In this version of reality, everyone’s had their deepest wishes granted. Hawkeye’s alive again, Captain America’s now an old veteran, and Peter Parker’s just a regular, married dude. But not everyone’s new life comes without consequences; Magneto now oppresses humanity with a team of mutants known as the House of M.
Wolverine sees through this, because of course he does, and starts convincing other heroes to join him and stop what’s happening. Members of the Avengers and X-Men band together, but they have a long battle ahead of them against the House of Magnus, composed of Magneto, Quiksilver, Scarlet Witch, and her children, William (aka Wiccan) and Thomas (aka Speed).
Doctor Strange manages to confront Wanda, and the two are gradually negotiating their way out of this mess before the situation goes from bad to worse. Hawkeye interferes and gets killed (again), and Magneto goes into a rage over the idea this timeline’s a fantasy. He murders Quiksilver, and Wanda retaliates by decreeing “No more mutants”.
Ominously, the story fades to white for a second time, and we return to a world that seems similar to the one were originally in. Well, except that mutants are not almost non-existent. Even Magneto himself is a regular man, and Wanda’s taken herself and her brother elsewhere for protection.
The storyline finishes on a mysterious note, allowing space for Bendis to continue his X-Men run. But the creative team established exactly what Wanda can do. House of M lives in infamy within comics circles, and even though Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and WandaVision gave us tastes of this strength, we wonder what letting it all out could do the MCU as a whole.
Maybe that’s how we finally get the X-Men again? Wolverine and Deadpool might want to watch out come the Deadpool 3 release date. We have guides to the Marvel movies in order, X-Men movies in order, and Marvel Phase 5 so you can see what’s already happened in the disparate franchises so far.
You’ll also find our guides on The Marvels release date, Loki season 2 release date, and Echo release date useful as well.