I'm the youngest of four kids.
And we had a ladder that went up to this attic.
The attic was the playroom.
That's where all the imagination came in, all the make-believe stories.
I would want to play with my sisters and my brother.
But I never had a speaking part.
So I would therefore be the pet of the family.
But I had so much emotion
and wanting to be heard as the youngest.
When I was seven or eight, I started doing these camps with my friends.
And we did three musicals a summer.
And that, like, sealed it for me.
I just loved having a space to be seen and heard.
So much mugging, and so much being a ham.
And it was like, I could do it for my job.
It was amazing.
I'm unstoppable
I'm a Porsche with no brakes
I'm invincible, yeah, I win every single game
I'm so powerful, I don't need batteries to play
I'm so confident, yeah, I'm unstoppable today
Unstoppable today, unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
I'm unstoppable today
Most superheroes start from something very traumatic.
Wanda Maximoff,
orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building.
Something that they'd use and overcome.
And become a hero version of themselves.
But they're always still vulnerable.
There's a notion that vulnerability is not heroic.
But Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, is such a troubled and tragic heroine,
and yet still manages to be an incredibly powerful character.
Wanda in the Marvel Universe...
...is one of the strongest superheroes ever.
Her vulnerability and her emotional life is when she's at her most powerful.
We get to see that feelings are okay.
You took everything from me.
And sometimes, life is not easy.
It can be very turbulent.
But you have everything you need inside of you.
We are the source of our own power. Trauma happens to all of us.
That's just part of life.
We can't reverse death, no matter how sad it makes us.
But we can get through it.
I lost the person closest to me, too.
There are extreme issues that these characters are dealing with.
I can't control this pain anymore. And I don't think I want to.
But we can take their motivations
and bring it into our own lives, and it empowers us.
I think there's something about the power of "I can"
that somehow rings a bell.
And your superheroness shows up at that door.
Who is Wanda Maximoff?
Very complicated answer.
I think at the most simple, it's...
Wanda came from an immensely traumatic childhood.
She was radicalized and was given the power of the Mind Stone.
Wanda Maximoff is from a made-up Eastern European country called Sokovia,
who lost both her parents at a young age from a Stark bomb.
So she thinks that Tony Stark, Iron Man, is one of the worst people on Earth,
and volunteers for a program that could do experiments on her
to potentially avenge her parents' death with her brother.
When we first meet Wanda in the movies, she's part of Hydra, um,
and she's being experimented upon in their facility with her brother.
And she's framed as this kind of creepy,
uber-powerful goth girl with telekinetic powers.
But once she realizes that she's being somewhat manipulated by Ultron...
You said we would destroy the Avengers, make a better world.
It will be better.
When everyone is dead?
She changes her tune and, and joins our heroes
and, and becomes a part of the Avengers.
She loses her brother,
who's her everything.
He was her last remaining tie to her humanity.
And so the Avengers becomes a surrogate family for her.
So she's now processing a lot of grief and trauma
that she has dealt with as a displaced person.
But she's able to sort of keep moving forward
but not really at a full version of herself.
We see her almost as a young, fragile girl who's encouraged to seize her power.
Doesn't matter what you did or what you were.
If you step out that door, you are an Avenger.
It's a character that has a huge evolution.
And Elizabeth was the perfect person to play this
because she has such depth and complexity as an actress,
and such vulnerability.
But to see where the character's gone, I honestly never could've imagined.
She's a magical gal in a small-town locale
He's a hubby who's part machine
How will this duo fit in and fulfill...
With WandaVision it was this gorgeous opportunity
to see so many other sides of her.
Wanda WandaVision
- Is that... - Yeah, it looks like her.
You move at...
In WandaVision, we get to see her be funny, and silly,
and sweet, and charming, and effervescent.
Yes! Yes!
Such a strange sensation. It's kind of fluttery.
Jeez Louise, did you have to learn to walk?
I finally got to be funny.
- WandaVision.
You're welcome to draw your own conclusions,
but that's just where I'm at.
Wanda's literally trying to escape her grief through television.
This dream world where she doesn't have to face any of her sadness.
Zip. Zero. Zilch.
She has an entire town captive, living in a sitcom space.
- What are we lookin' at here? - It's a sitcom.
The comfort for her are these TV shows that she loved as a kid.
And because she happens to be an enormously powerful psychic individual,
she can literally physicalize that comfort for herself.
Well, we're just tickled pink.
It's the most ambitious possible concept.
It's over decades, it's through sitcoms, it's just unbelievable.
WandaVision!
What are they?
What the stone was warning me about.
These superhero movies become the highest stakes every time.
The world's ending or computers are taking over.
There's something so massive.
But the really human experience of falling in love
and finding a partnership and a comfort...
- We should've stayed in bed.
...is such a basic desire and need.
So that is the element that we took from these movies
and blew up for WandaVision,
and made it the central relationship to root for.
So as opposed to saving a planet,
it became trying to save this relationship.
We wanted to bring a little bit more of that personal journey for her
and how it can be developed with Vision.
Thank you for humoring me and wearing this ridiculous getup.
I know you have a secret thing for Mexican wrestlers.
- Oh!
In the comic books, Wanda Maximoff was a mutant.
She was born with the power to manipulate probability,
which is a crazy power,
and so was always a bit on the fringes of people not trusting her,
people not understanding how she could be heroic
when she didn't punch the hardest or shoot bolts out of her hands.
And then later, in the Avengers, people not quite understanding
her relationship with the Vision, because he was a synthezoid.
In the comics, Wanda and Vision's relationship
is a big part of the story that we wanted to bring forward.
So it was exciting to me that that's where I ended up with WandaVision
and we were able to honor the comics.
I loved seeing Wanda Maximoff
in this flourishing, loving relationship with Vision.
Aw.
I loved seeing her as a mother.
We get to live in a bubble with her for a little while
that she never got to live out.
Wanda Maximoff gets her own space in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And we get to see what an ideal life for Wanda and Vision actually looks like.
Through Vision, she has found comfort...
All I feel is excitement, happiness.
...after the loss of her parents and her brother.
And so this idea of family being this ultimate need for her
is the "why" for WandaVision.
I remember whenever I watched those movies...
I haven't actually ever eaten anything before, so...
- May I? - Please.
...seeing those little moments between them,
and just feeling so much for them in the middle of all this chaos.
- What is it?
The irony is not lost on me
that the most human of the Avengers happens to be the android.
I'm sorry.
His purity and vulnerability is so tender.
So I was very excited to be a part of something
that took those little moments and drew them out.
The arc of Wanda and Vision in the movies and in the show
is the love story of people who find this commonality
in being different than everyone else.
So, when the Vision is taken from her at the end of Infinity War...
...you also understand the psychology that thrust her into WandaVision.
No!
It was the ultimate loss that she could have.
After the loss of her parents and her brother,
then for Vision, who helped her find her footing, to be ripped from her.
Really at that point, she truly had nothing.
We always knew that WandaVision would be the story of Wanda's grief...
What is grief, if not love persevering?
And that we wanted to see her become the Scarlet Witch.
And so to do that,
we aligned the episodes according to the stages of grief.
It's a special day!
- Perhaps an evening... - Of great significance...
- To us both! - Naturally.
You really are very dashing.
Mmm. Thank you, darling.
- It stopped. - Yes.
The first three episodes really are in the denial space...
Have a good day, dear!
...especially the first episode in the 1950s.
I mean, that's post-war optimism and it's peak sort of appearances only,
where Wanda didn't have to plum any of her own depths at all.
And looking at shows like The Dick van Dyke Show,
and Bewitched,
there's this real sort of frothy, sexy innocence to those couples.
And to see Wanda and Vision be loose and in love and unencumbered.
- You were tremendous, Glamour. - As were you, Illusion.
There is an element of denial in there.
I have everything under control.
Wanda creates a safe place
where she can try to live out the life she thought she was owed.
Welcome home.
Shall we stay in tonight?
If I could create my own world and be happy for a short time,
wouldn't we all do that?
We wanted to pay Wanda the respect of taking her mental health seriously.
And so we had a grief counselor come and speak to the writers of the show,
which was really helpful making the story of Wanda's pain...
...a black dress.
...have all of those layers.
It's so helpful when you know that the people behind the scenes
identify with your character.
Teyonah's character, Monica Rambeau, of course, loses her mom.
When we first meet Monica, she's trying to process
what it's like to lose her mom.
- Dr. Highland! - I can't believe it.
Where's my mom?
Your mom, she died, honey.
- What? - The cancer came back.
Okay, stop, stop. No, you're... My mom is Maria Rambeau.
I have a really, really close relationship with my mom,
and she's pretty much my best friend.
I cannot imagine going through life and some of the things I've been through
without her support and love.
But how Monica feels with the loss of her mom
is she just wants to get back to work.
Monica Rambeau, S.W.O.R.D.
She doesn't want to deal with falling too deeply into the loss.
She is really compartmentalizing,
and says, "You know what?
"That will be dealt with, but right now there's other things to do."
Maximoff located.
Well done.
She's also processing her grief by trying to help Wanda...
This is Captain Monica Rambeau. Can you hear me?
...by just being a voice of reason for her.
I just wanna talk. That's it.
Both of them are in denial,
trying to not address what they really need.
And I think that's a big part of the show, is like, figuring out what you need.
Who are you?
Wanda's really good at anger.
At the end of Episode Three,
Wanda sees Monica as being a threat.
Wanda feels threatened at the moment she becomes a mother.
Wanda...
And so mama bear really kicks in.
And any other that feels like a potential threat to her and her family,
like, just forget about it.
You're definitely not my friend.
And then we see in Episode Four
that she kicks Monica out of this hex that she created.
But what Wanda didn't realize
was Monica Rambeau, the person that she feared the most...
...was the woman who was her real, honest ally.
But what took over her judgment was anger.
But Monica keeps going,
trying to be a voice and an ally, really, for her.
The thing that is always unspoken is their mutual pain of loss.
And that is something that really connects Monica and Wanda.
At the end of Episode Five,
we see Wanda wants to keep things as they are.
Our big bargaining moment is when she storms out of the hex...
Is this yours?
...then interfaces with Hayward.
Stay out of my home.
You don't bother me, I won't bother you.
I wish it could be that simple.
It's her trying to, you know, have her cake and eat it, too.
You've taken an entire town hostage.
Well, I'm not the one with the guns, Director.
But this is not something
where, like, she, doesn't have a handle.
It's like, no, actually, she is very much in control of everything.
What could you possibly have to offer me?
With bargaining...
What do you want?
...Monica tries to move in
with the least amount of impact and destruction.
It's about understanding really what's going on with people
and trying to untangle things.
I want to help you.
Monica is coming in, saying,
"Let me help you."
And that's just not the place that Wanda is in.
- Wanda. - Stand down.
She's going through grief.
And she didn't want to accept that this woman
is potentially someone that could help her.
And so she goes back to this safe space she created.
Look, we've all been there, right?
Letting our fear and anger get the best of us,
intentionally expanding the borders of the false world we created.
We had a lot of fun with Episode Seven,
leaning into the tropes of depression, you know.
She's in her pajamas, and her hair's messy,
and she's eating, and she's watching TV,
all that sort of like "girl who's been dumped,"
you know, like, "can't kind of keep it together."
I'd get up, but... I... just don't want to.
But the subtext is so much more profound.
Who hasn't had those moments of depression, or anxiety, or pain?
It's probably just a case of the Mondays.
Am I right?
And there's something different on the inside
than they're presenting to the world.
I mean, it's so human.
You really can see how vulnerable she is, how fragile she is.
I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.
I'm fine.
Everyone goes through loss...
I'm fine.
...and to explore that on such an intimate level,
I found really, um, cathartic.
My dad died almost seven years ago of cancer,
and so I knew how difficult it was to go through that.
You lose a little bit of yourself and implode a little bit.
We all in different ways can relate
to a feeling of either loneliness or abandonment
in different aspects of our life.
And feeling like there's no bottom to hold you.
Her acceptance is when Agatha offers her
the opportunity to live without pain.
The name's Agatha Harkness. Lovely to finally meet you, dear.
What I thought was so brilliant was that we would see
Agatha first playing a character called Agnes,
this nosy neighbor trope that we've seen in sitcoms
throughout the entirety of sitcoms.
Oh!
Hello, dear.
- Hiya, kids.
Hi, Agnes, come on in.
I think it was really fun and challenging to write Agatha.
That you should stumble when you walk into a room so he can catch you.
Because she is a mentor and a villain and a friend.
And to kind of set her up as Agnes, who's like that friend that's there
and always comes in when she needs help.
Auntie Agnes is here, and I've got a couple of tricks up my sleeve.
- Why don't we give your mom some me time?
But then you see that she is like a succubus,
constantly on the prowl for more power.
Agatha Harkness is a centuries-old witch...
...that has been told that she was bad.
You have betrayed your coven.
Please...
I can be good.
No, you cannot.
And so what happens to a being...
...that is told that they are not worthy?
Is that of course it becomes this person.
I think that's very relatable to anyone
that, like myself, would consider themselves a weirdo.
When I was a kid in Cleveland, I had a lot of feelings of self-doubt.
But I knew I was gonna be an actor.
I felt the biggest, and most beautiful and powerful,
and most myself, when I was performing.
And to be able to have scale and have voice and have power
was a really thrilling thing about this part.
And I think Agatha considered herself
the most powerful witch that there ever had been
before this young hotshot showed up...
...who's created a world and held hundreds of people captive.
A lot of jealousy and a lot of also just
trying to figure out how, and then steal it.
Wanda, Wanda.
You didn't think you were the only magical girl in town, did you?
So finally, Agnes shows herself as Agatha to Wanda.
I need you to tell me how you did this.
I didn't do anything.
From Agatha,
Wanda is given this gift of knowledge and tools...
You'd rather fall apart than face your truth.
...that help her process her grief.
Parents dead.
Brother dead.
- Vision dead.
What happened when he wasn't there to pull you back from the darkness, Wanda?
- I can't do this anymore... - Come on, Wanda.
You are right there.
And one of her tools is the Darkhold.
Did you know there's an entire chapter devoted to you in the Darkhold?
That's the Book of the Damned.
And it's something that Wanda learns from.
Your power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme.
I'm not a witch. I don't cast spells.
Oh, really?
She didn't really know the extent of her powers.
They'd gotten away from her.
And she's forced to look inward to solve that problem,
once she learns from the Darkhold
that she's created this bubble so she didn't have to deal with her grief.
We feel your pain.
- No. No, stop. - Your grief is poisoning us.
- Please, let us go. - Please stop.
Once Wanda realizes that the reality is of her own making,
she can't un-know.
And we go with her on a journey of self-discovery.
She has to choose between this false world she's created
and the safety and happiness of innocent people.
And Wanda Maximoff is, in her core, a hero.
I will let you go. I will. I will.
She owns her power, quite literally,
and embraces that part of her that she was running away from.
It's her acceptance.
Come on, run!
The lesson is, maybe you have more power than you think you do.
That's Wanda's whole arc.
And it's only by realizing that the power is inside her...
that she can control her power.
And we see her become the Scarlet Witch.
We all have to confront grief sooner or later,
but this makes you stronger.
I have personal losses in my life.
And I tell you that it's two ways,
you go down or you go upward.
And she became strong through acknowledging this,
so she could become the Scarlet Witch.
And so now having this new discovery of her own mythology,
of being this witch,
is where we pick up with her in Doctor Strange.
The Darkhold.
You're familiar with the Darkhold.
I know it's the Book of the Damned.
The Darkhold only showed me the truth.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,
that power has grown even more since she started to study the Darkhold.
If you knew there was a universe where you were happy...
- Chocolate! - Hey!
...wouldn't you wanna go there?
She wants to recapture this family nucleus
that she created from WandaVision.
I'm going to leave this reality,
and go to one where I can be with my children.
This is where she uses the most power
that she has yet.
And it's for the love of her children.
In a negative way,
Wanda Maximoff could be distilled into female hysteria.
But the way I like to think of her arc
is through mental health.
We're in this amazing time of embracing mental health,
and it becoming less taboo to use the language
of depression, and panic and anxiety.
And the more we can tell stories about it,
- then the people having the experiences, -
potentially, could stop feeling shame
or isolation.
And that's a very important topic for me
because it's everywhere and we don't see it,
because it's private,
but you need to communicate with someone.
It shouldn't be an, an isolated experience.
I am Dr. Janina Scarlet.
I am a clinical psychologist, author and a full-time-geek.
And my favorite character in the MCU is Wanda Maximoff,
aka the Scarlet Witch.
When I was a small child, my family and I lived in Ukraine,
and I was exposed to Chernobyl radiation.
I spent most of my childhood in and out of the hospital,
not knowing if I would make it to adulthood.
When I was 12,
my family and I managed to immigrate to the United States
as refugees in secret
in order to get away from violence.
I had experienced health trauma, I had been subjected to bullying,
antisemitism.
And so I was that awkward and weird kid
that didn't quite fit in.
I thought I was the only one going through
PTSD and depression and anxiety,
but I didn't know any of those terms,
because nobody talked about mental health.
And so I really became fascinated with Wanda
when I went to see Age of Ultron.
Watching the way that she deals with trauma and grief
really resonated with me.
Like Wanda,
I had to learn that the only way we heal is by processing our emotions.
And, like Wanda,
it was a really painful lesson for me to learn,
but it was a life-changing one.
A lot of times,
what I do with my clients is ask who their favorite superhero is.
And if there was a time that character went through loss, grief, or trauma
that they can relate to.
Because realizing that there is at least one other person,
or even a fictional character, that has gone through something similar
can allow that person to feel less alone.
And can actually help people understand that their traumatic experience
is merely an origin story,
but the rest of our life choices are up to us.
Seeing Wanda become the Scarlet Witch was a really important reminder for me
that I had my identity change from the little quiet girl that I was,
to the woman that I am now.
And that I was able to find what my own superpower is,
so that I can help other people find their own superpowers, too.
I think most people can find a superhero that they specifically relate to.
I think that's the power of, of superheroes.
Oh, no!
If watching WandaVision...
Oh, that's better.
...And seeing these women in these roles
had helped anybody through a tough time,
or helped them to find their own power,
or to not be afraid to be weird or not afraid to come out,
not afraid to, like, be exactly who they are
in their beautiful, whole selves,
then I'll never forget it, and I'll hold that to my heart forever.
Superheroes are not always successful,
and they don't always make right choices.
But to see someone try to use their power for good
I think is just so important to internalize and to aspire to.
Playing this character,
it's quite literally been watching a young woman become a woman,
and have emotional growth...
...and acceptance and love for herself.
And I think we all in different ways in our lives...
I love you.
...can relate to Wanda's journey.