Again, wiser minds than mine may disagree and they are welcome to, but, nonetheless, I march on with my folly. So, as Wanda was, for all intents and purposes, a mutant at the time of House of M #7’s publication both within continuity and in the real world that we occupy, I am going to proceed with considering her a mutant. She thought she was a mutant, her brother thought she was a mutant, her then-father Magneto thought she was a mutant, Professor Charles Xavier the world’s foremost expert on mutants within the Marvel Universe thought she was a mutant, and who do we think we are to argue with Charles Xavier?

However, my argument for her inclusion in the face of the enormity of the continuity retcon is that, at the time of House of M, she was a mutant by all standards. Again, probably a good reason to disqualify Wanda from the ‘best mutant’ discussion and, if you choose to hold that against me, I can’t stop you. In fact, going forward, they weren’t even the children of Magneto anymore. Sometime between the publication of House of M in 2005/2006 and now, there was a patented Marvel retcon where Wanda and her brother, Pietro, were altered to no longer be mutants. Or, half of the reason why.īefore I continue, I should address the elephant in the room: the fact that the Scarlet Witch is… not actually a mutant. I think, though, that Wanda uttering the phrase “No more mutants” is precisely why she is the best mutant. It is largely seen as a negative for the character. Wanda was just the sacrificial character who made that happen.

One of Joe Quesada’s goals when he became Editor-in-Chief at Marvel was to decrease the number of mutants to make the ‘feared and hated’ element more prevalent again.

“No more mutants” was an editorial edict hung on Wanda. I can see where someone might get that impression it is nothing if not logical, on surface. Using one’s powers in an attempt to eliminate all mutant powers seems like the sort of thing that only the very worst mutant would do. Those three words should disqualify Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, from any discussion of the best mutant in Marvel’s comics. But that raises a question which Shelfdust are going to try and answer! Who is the Best Mutant? We’ll be inviting some of the best writers in comics to argue their case! There are so many X-Men out there! You can’t walk round your private island paradise anymore without bumping into twenty mutants.

House of m brian michael bendis