When did the Scarlet Witch change her hair color, and why?

[CJStriker]

The Marvel Wiki Says Wanda's Hair Is Auburn. But Black, Auburn or Red Wanda's hair is very well done, IMO.

[Siryn]

Hey, aside from Scarlet Witch and Black Widow and Spider-Woman II (Julia) and Hellcat and Starfox and Firestar and Red Hulk and sometimes Wasp, how many redheads have the Avengers ever had on their roster? (That's including "chestnut" hair, and so forth).

Crystal? Just off the top of my head.

[chariset]

Maybe it's naturally black and she dyes it. Wiccan has black hair, after all.

I think a lot of heroines were redheads just because it was an easier color to make than brown.

[PwrdOff]

Maybe it's naturally black and she dyes it. Wiccan has black hair, after all.

I think a lot of heroines were redheads just because it was an easier color to make than brown.

Seems more to me like it was just to make the characters stand out more, red hair always looks pretty distinctive and it can still be used to great effect, see Batwoman for a great example of that, or look at how visually unimpressive the Phoenix 5 were without that flaming scarlet mane.

I do want to see a blonde Wanda at some point, just for the hell of it. Maybe a more strawberry blond-ish color, though.

[CJStriker]

Seems more to me like it was just to make the characters stand out more, red hair always looks pretty distinctive and it can still be used to great effect, see Batwoman for a great example of that, or look at how visually unimpressive the Phoenix 5 were without that flaming scarlet mane.

I do want to see a blonde Wanda at some point, just for the hell of it. Maybe a more strawberry blond-ish color, though.

Well, you do have the Dark Avenger Toxic Doxie that gave us a Glimpse at what a Blonde Scarlet Witch would look like!

[The_Greatest_Username]

Crystal? Just off the top of my head.

Crystal is also blonde... sometimes

[Ventura]

Ventura, thanks for doing the homework.

In universe, I have no trouble believing that a young woman occassionally dies her hair to suit her taste of the moment.

Very easy. She dyed her hair black for a while. Then went back to Chesnut. I mean her sister dies it green, it could have been worse.

When has coloring ever been uniform and constant? And when have girls ever not been into changing their hair often?

Right! In real life, women (and guys) can change their haircolor !

I have #81 in front of me and Marvel wrote this about her return to auburn hair "...he (Tom Palmer) and Rascally Roy discovered that in the early issues of the X-Man, wistful Wanda's hair was indeed auburn--so that color changes since that time must be the result of wigs and/or a touch of Lady Clairol."

I remember there was a similar letter earlier in the Fantastic Four comic, when Alicia all of a sudden appeared with brown hair (FF #79) instead of her usual light orange shade. Alicia's hair would veer between the two colors for years though it seems to have settled down back to the pale orange shade in the last decade or so.

[danielsan52]

Lots of Marvel ladies change their hair color.

[Ventura]

The Marvel Wiki Says Wanda's Hair Is Auburn. But Black, Auburn or Red Wanda's hair is very well done, IMO.

Gorgeous pic (well, with John Romita Sr. inking that's not surprising)! In the actual issue this image is from, Av. #23, her hair is "black"--a gray base instead of the reddish-brown shown here. I wish I had a scanner so I could post it for comparison.

[CJStriker]

Gorgeous pic (well, with John Romita Sr. inking that's not surprising)! In the actual issue this image is from, Av. #23, her hair is "black"--a gray base instead of the reddish-brown shown here. I wish I had a scanner so I could post it for comparison.

A friend of mine posted a similar Pic some time back, Enjoy, I hope it was like the one you where asking for!

As this is a Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch appreciation thread, I'll add my appreciation.

Avengers 105 was the first issue of the original series I ever read, and this picture greeted me.



I fell "in love" with Wanda (and John Buscema's artwork) with that panel alone.

[danielsan52]

That early hairdo reminds me of Eunice from Carol Burnett/Mama's Family......just saying.

[Ventura]

Thank you for posting that. And for doing all the legwork to put that together. :D

Thanks for the kind words, klinton!

Feels very strange to see this thread rising from the grave -- I'd almost forgotten it existed! (Yes, even though I was the guy who launched it in the first place! )

I came to it via the fascinating Scarlet Witch Apprecaiation thread. I'm a long-time reader of the Avengers and X-Men from waaay back and I'm pretty familiar with the progression of Wanda's haircolor--I thought I'd throw my two cents in.

Two months ago I definitely noticed at least one narrative caption which explicitly told us Wanda had black hair Around that time, I also spent several minutes on comics.org, clicking through a gallery of scanned images of Avengers covers from the Silver Age, because I wanted to double-check on just how her hair was actually being presented in the original versions of those stories. And you're quite right -- it was dark, but when I peered at it, it seemed clear the original colorist was using lots of "dark gray alongside black," rather than just "black, black, black, all the way!" They certainly weren't using the coloring approach that was standard for Superman for many years, making his hair so notorious -- tell us it's jet-black, then give it blue highlights!

Right. "Black" for Wanda during her first Avengers stint was, as I mentioned, a dark gray base with black shading. Later on, when her hair would occasionally be colored "black", as in Avengers #103-5, the base was now blue with black shading. Doubtless due to advances in coloring, or a different editorial edict, or perhaps just a different colorist!

Anyway, great topic for diehard Wanda fans...thanks for starting this.

[Ventura]

A friend of mine posted a similar Pic some time back, Enjoy, I hope it was like the one you where asking for!

Thanks, CJ Striker! And in that panel we see the 1970s blue based "black hair" that Marvel used. So in that comic, Avengers #105, Wanda and Sif have the same haircolor (Thor's Asgardian inamorata appears in this Avengers issue). That certainly is a gorgeous panel by Buscema/Mooney. Wanda's hair was colored this way ("black"/blue) in #103 and #104 too.

[Ventura]

The Marvel Wiki Says Wanda's Hair Is Auburn. But Black, Auburn or Red Wanda's hair is very well done, IMO.

Okay, I found this online, and this is how Wanda appears in the original comic (Av #23).

[Ingonyama]

personal preference is for the auburn, but she's not HIDEOUS with black hair. It just doesn't suit her.