I’m glad someone agrees that she’s not in her teens in IW, I’ve seen so many claim she’s 18 in that one and it doesn’t really make sense to me. Tho if what SJ said about the timeline is correct I personally would put her more in the 22-23 age range, especially *because* of what you said about her wardrobe, cause it’d fit more I think with your theory. But anyway I wanted to ask – you’re the only person who headcanons her at this age and I’m curious what makes you think of of her being 22 in AOU?

Well, for one, unlike Tom Holland and Letitia Wright, who were clearly chosen for youthful features that would continue to pass as very young, Elizabeth Olsen didn’t look like a teenager at the time of casting, even in the movie:

They already knew when Infinity War would be, and that the actress would be 27/28 at the time of filming it.

For two, even if she had meant to be 18/19 in Age of Ultron, I think the new creative team from Civil War on wanted her to be older than that.

And let me talk about the wardrobe they used to communicate that (bear in mind I’m talking Hollywood costuming technique–if I say “unkempt” I mean, Hollywood unkempt):

So, in Age of Ultron, her look is meant to communicate “young and rebellious”. This could have been expressed in a lot of different fashion styles, but some elements say those things in just about any of them: her hair is relatively unkempt, her make-up is smudged and dark, she wears lots of patterns and layers and her clothes are generally a little bit more worn and rough looking. This is less to do with her living in impoverished Sokovia than one might think–Pietro has a much more kempt style to him, and his clothing doesn’t suggest as much about his age as hers does.

This character could read as a teenager, this is true. But if the creative team of Civil War wanted her to continue to read so young, we would have continued to see the smudged make-up, etc. Instead:

The costumers are careful to give her something close to the same style she wore in AoU, but they went out of their way to age it up. Solid colors, her clothes are much nicer, her hair is highlighted and styled, her make-up is refined, the silhouette becomes more defined. The costuming is telling us “this is the same person, but more put together and defined”–matured.

In IW, we only know of two outfits that she wears (and likely the only two we’ll see her in), so these outfits have to say a lot. Her fashion sense is still a little grungy, but she appears to be wearing pants (!), less layers, less make-up. Her hair is not unkempt, but it not quite noticeably less styled then in CW.

This matches with what we see of her in the hotel room, and that .1 second shot of her in costume in Wakanda. The “less make-up” thing is really pointed especially.

The fact that she is wearing contemporary fashion at the time of IW’s shooting isn’t as meaningful. They styled her in a way that would read as older than her CW self and significantly older than AoU.

You might think "Well, sure, she did age after all”, but so has every other Avenger, and they haven’t been given costume-based age jumps. Even a character like Peter has stayed consistently dressed over the three movies we’ve seen him in–because it’s important that we continue to see him as a young teenager, even if he’s supposed to have matured between now and SMH.

And that’s what I’m getting at, if Wanda was meant to be very young and always read that way, her costuming would communicate this. In my opinion 22 is still too young for these jumps to have made sense, especially relative to the other Avengers who are no younger than 35 at this point.

Oh and quick note–someone mentioned that Wanda was wearing boyfriend jeans when I said “mom jeans” here–I think the line is a bit blurred between those two as distinct fashion styles, but IMO, boyfriend jeans are generally looser, lower cut, and straight-legged. The key is they look masculine in style. Wanda’s are tight, past her navel, and tapered. Definitively feminine. I don’t mean to say she’s meant to look dowdy (all the Avengers dress in something that can be seen as fashionable, even Steve) but she’s definitely meant to look older.

Finally–and this is 100% me being biased–if we want to see Billy and Tommy, our chances are better if she’s a bit older than 22.

Do you think they will say something about Pietro on Infinity War? I thought it was really weird they didn’t on Civil War, especially on that scene that shows the Sokovia destruction in front of Wanda (and they made it look like in the trailer that Wanda was upset by it, when actually it was about that other thing on the beggining of CW)

Well, we see Bruce and Wanda together here:

image

I’m not sure if the movie has room for it, but they have at least a little bit to talk about together, so it might come up.

That
said, I think part of the reason for killing Pietro was so that Wanda
could have a story without needing to tie back to him. With every second
of screentime being so important, they might not feel Wanda bringing up
something we already know, that can’t affect the story anymore–she
loves and misses her brother–contributes enough to her development.

I think is normal that they treat her like a kid. Someone on their early 20’s is often seen as a kid by the 30+,40+ that the others are, specially if you consider the power thing, with experience and such. So yeah, she might be 25 on Infinity War, 24 on Civil War and 22 on AOU, if this timeline is correct.

She is young, and yes, inexperience plays into the way the Avengers treat her. But the writers have said it’s also a matter of fear-born condescension. You can see it in the argument Steve and Tony have over the pens. When coming to a head about what Steve feels is internment and Tony feels is due caution, Tony defaults into dehumanizing Wanda, Steve defaults into infantilizing her.

Wasn’t Ragnarok supposed to be set 2 years after AOU and Ragnarok right before Infinity War? They confuse me with their ever changing timeline. Do you think it’s possible Scarlett made a mistake? Because maybe she thought since Civil War came out in 2015-2016 (filming / release), and this one in 2017-2018, that she just assumed it all happens like that in real time since actors are rarely (especially when in such a big franchise) up to date with changes like that.

Well, she did say 2-3 years. Going with ‘2′ makes sense.

Wanda is 22 ?

Wanda is probably a bit older than some people are thinking! I’ve seen the idea that she’s still a teenager pop up surprisingly often lately, but she’s definitely not a teenager, and she wasn’t one in Civil War.

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, writers of Civil War and Infinity War, have said so in this podcast (timestamp: 7:53):

Q: Let’s keep talking about Wanda for a second. One of the things that’s going on with the film is that everyone’s kind of treating her like a kid. I mean, she’s literally sent to her room, for a big chunk of the movie. And it made me think, how old is she supposed to be? Because Elizabeth Olsen isn’t a teenager.

A: No.

Q: It makes me think it’s just a lack of experience. Because there’s a generational aspect to this story that I think is really interesting.

A: We’re not saying she’s 16. It is just a lack of experience, and a level of condescension frankly, on some of their parts. Like “let’s put her in her room”. But it’s also a certain level, I think, of fear, because they don’t understand her power. She doesn’t understand it either, but they can’t quantify it. So the more childlike you make her the less of a threat she is, in a way.

We haven’t ever gotten a specific age on her, but I’m guessing more like 25 around the time of Infinity War. I think the fact that the costumers have felt comfortable giving her such big leaps in the “age” from the very youthful AoU, to the more college aged CW, to mom jeans:

image

indicates to me that she was never supposed to be so young that these costume-based age jumps would seem odd. Notably, every other character in the MCU has not aged in terms of clothing styles except for Wanda.

Sorry, this might be a rather unusual question, not Scarlet Vision related, but in Paul Bettany’s twitter description he says “Opinions not my own- often they’re Robert Fisk’s” and I was wondering what he meant by that?

Robert Fisk is an English journalist. Bettany is presumably saying he respects Fisk’s writing enough that Bettany’s opinion is shaped by it, and repeats what he says. His twitter has at least a few retweets of articles by Fisk!