Though Marvel and the X-Men’s Hellfire Gala was meant to culminate in the grand unveiling of the mutants’ newly terraformed planet, the soiree unexpectedly became the scene of the first major, and seemingly permanent death of one of the X-Men’s most controversial family members (once removed): the Scarlet Witch. Thanks to Comic-Con @ Home 2021, we learned a bit about what’s to come.
We still don’t know who killed Wanda Maximoff or if her death was a murder at all, but the X-Men and a number of other Marvel characters are set to get to the bottom of what happened in the upcoming Trial of Magneto miniseries from writer Leah Williams and artist Lucas Werneck. Speaking on a panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Williams, who previously wrote on Marvel’s X-Factor series, described how The Trial of Magneto will dig into what went down and how Wanda’s status as the Great Pretender still shapes how much of the world sees her. “So it’s a murder investigation, and obviously Wanda has made a lot of enemies in Krakoa, whether or not she intended to,” Williams explained. “It’s just kind of a byproduct of her traumatic past.”
That Wanda happened to die right after showing up to the Hellfire Gala to reconcile with Magneto — her estranged, adoptive father — immediately made it seem as if he might have played some role in her death. Canonically, Wanda and her twin brother Pietro still aren’t mutants, meaning that even if Magneto were to bury the hatchet with them, they wouldn’t exactly be welcomed on Krakoa.
The fact that the X-Men have recently gotten into the important, and highly secretive business of resurrecting people could factor into what becomes of Wanda down the line. But Williams also shared a bit about how her death and the Trial of Magneto are going to pose some difficult challenges for the mutants, who’ve been working very hard to keep some of their tech hidden from the public. “This is a really deep look into the proceedings of Krakoa’s first really high-profile murder investigation that brings a lot of outside attention and threatens a lot of Krakoan secrets, and a lot of Krakoan peace,” Williams said. “It’s also a deep look into, you know, the House of M dynamic. It’s called Trial of Magneto, and trial has more than one meaning.”
While Williams didn’t go into detail about exactly what sorts of “trials and tribulations” Magneto will go through on the literal and metaphorical stands, she did point out that at this point in Marvel’s comics universe, Wanda’s still very much considered to a sort of boogeyman. Some of that boogeyman energy will likely be a part of Steve Orlando and Cian Torney’s upcoming Darkhold Alpha #1, featuring the Scarlet Witch fighting to get ahold of the mystical tome as well. In The Trial of Magneto, though, it’s going to be interesting to see the iconic antivillain have to grapple with this latest example of his family falling to pieces.
The Trial of Magneto #1 hits stores on August 18.
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