@SC: I'd make a few arguements for difference between Dark Phoenix and Scarlet Witch
1- Proximity. 

 "In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then, they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew … Then they came for the Catholics. I didn't speak up then because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up. "– Reverend Martin Niemoller, German Lutheran pastor arrested by the Gestapo in 1937.

Jean killed billions of faceless beings far away in space.  Not saying its right but it's abstract enough to float somewhat.

2 -Extenuating circumstances.  She was bonded with something greater then herself. Her rage was triggered after outside forces had been manipulating her mind compromising her normally sane mind.  She was essentially pushed into losing it. She thought Cyclops was dead and her perception of reality was completely out of whack because of the Hellfire  Club and Mastermind

3 - A sentient cosmic force overwhelmed her - these thing have been know to happen just ask Hal Jordan.

Over all I feel that Jean has at least a stronger case to say - it wasn't me and here's why. Jean was otherwise a fairly stable individual driven beyond her capacity by outside forces. Wanda appears to be unstable and have her finger on the history erase button.

@SC said:

I do know (this is a general point, not intended to anyone in particular) that Jean Grey killed billions more sentient people when she went Dark Phoenix, and she of course was welcomes back as a hero, because her actions were made justifiable (wasn't really her fault, and etc etc) and there was stuff with retcons that in essence... it was complicated but main point is character killed, character came back and was treated as hero by characters and fans. So I am not sure I understand those who think its impossible for Wanda to be redeemed. Question it? Sure, that makes sense. 

But that wasn't Jean Grey. That was the Phoenix Force masquerading in a physical body resembling Jean's in all respects. The Fantastic Four found Jean in the energy cocoon beneath the Hudson River. Essentially, it wasn't Jean who killed all of those beings, so she was innocent.

Wait is she dead? or has she just not been used?

I prefer she come back as a villain or not at all.

Has a new Sorcerer Supreme been chosen since Brother Voodoo died? If not, why not have Doctor Strange play a teacher/psychiatrist role training Scarlet Witch for the job? Seems like the perfect job for a nexus being like Wanda.

@Hawkeye446 said:

Yes, Yes, YES! Bring Back Wanda to the home team, and put her back on the Avengers! Finally something good to come from Bendis' run.. If it actually happened...

Bendis run? Sure he started it with Disassembled but Children's Crusade isn't his story (luckily). Where Wanda goes from here depends on where Heinberg leaves her.

Hero or villain... she's haaawt!!!! :D

Seriously, is there really such a thing as "too late to atone" kinda BS in comics?

@SC said: 

For me, personally Wanda has a stronger case, because I know that she was not even the first choice of catalyst for writer Brian Michael Bendis. Catalyst you say? Marvel just needed a plot device/character device to disassemble the Avengers so Avengers could get a major roster restructure and mutants could be trimmed. These don't exactly sound like issues characters can face, and if Wanda was second choice it means any Marvel character including all the peoples favorites in this thread who want them as heroes could have potentially been chosen. Chthon decides to use <insert name here> as a tool to... 

You will make me cry... Well you won't, I am in to good a mood, but I know your right. THIS ^ is what angers me most. SO many hate her, but it is how Marvel and Bendis have utilised her like they do every character. However, I loved Avengers Disassembled, and Bendis did great writing on it, so why can't people just embrace the story, instead of singularly targeting her. Anyway, I could do an SC worthy quote about now.. eh...

I think she's too powerful to be a team player again... and its not like Jean when it comes and goes w the Phoenix... this is all her... she needs to become a Dr. Strange or Hulk like character, a loner who is too powerful to mingle in the everyday meddling... 

@Hawkeye446 said:

@SC said: 

For me, personally Wanda has a stronger case, because I know that she was not even the first choice of catalyst for writer Brian Michael Bendis. Catalyst you say? Marvel just needed a plot device/character device to disassemble the Avengers so Avengers could get a major roster restructure and mutants could be trimmed. These don't exactly sound like issues characters can face, and if Wanda was second choice it means any Marvel character including all the peoples favorites in this thread who want them as heroes could have potentially been chosen. Chthon decides to use <insert name here> as a tool to... 

You will make me cry... Well you won't, I am in to good a mood, but I know your right. THIS ^ is what angers me most. SO many hate her, but it is how Marvel and Bendis have utilised her like they do every character. However, I loved Avengers Disassembled, and Bendis did great writing on it, so why can't people just embrace the story, instead of singularly targeting her. Anyway, I could do an SC worthy quote about now.. eh...

Awwh oops? Oh yeah, yeah see you know what I mean. That was why the story was so emotionally poignant, I liked House of M and Avengers Disassembled as well. It had lots of weird moments, like that Janet and Wanda moment? Uhm, Wanda already knew, and like another poster mentioned, Wanda had already dealt with a lot of the whole twins deal. Then the bit about Chaos Magic. That being said Bendis didn't write her as a villain and thats why that situation was so hard and emotional for the Avengers to deal with. It was like a double whammy with Civil War as well. Its why they were so relieved with Skrull Invasion. Avengers have been hard on Wanda and they have been hard on themselves, because many of them, like many X-Men, have that amazing human quality to ask what if? What if we went to Wanda early and recognized her emotional turmoil. All my favorite characters at various points have been guilty of poor decisions and actions, but for many the consequences are written to be less, but as far as how it bears on the responsibility of the person? Its a discretion thing. Thor went crazy once and almost killed a bunch of über powerful characters. If he had went crazy on Earth he would have probably killed much weaker characters by the dozen with every hammer throw. What about Reed and Iron Man and Bill Foster?  Excuses and justifications come out. Of course Wanda's consequences are greater than say Iron Man and Reeds, then again, Reed and Tony had full mental faculty with their decisions, hell even Wolverine when he decided to punish Rachel when Rachel went to kill Selene who has killed far more people than Wanda was fully aware of his actions. What's his excuse? (justification? X-Men don't kill... except when I do it) ((of course thats why I like Wolverine, he is a short, furry, flawed, aggressive, hypocrite)  So I think thats pretty much why and how we have different people targeting and then those that don't. Its about how we interpret her actions and Marvel is being purposefully vague about whether she is to blame or not, and to what extent her blame (because she has a small part to pay, depending on what we look at, of course, just like a lot of characters hold themselves accountable for their fallings but up to a certain extent (Xavier and Onslaught i just remembered). Though this whole thing sort of echoes of blame the victim mentality I thoroughly dislike. The way the Avengers are suppose to act to me, would have meant no more Disassembled or House of M, or Siege. Team members are suppose to look after their own, physically and emotionally and all are guilty of snapping at some point in their career. I pointed out Thor, another poster pointed out Ironman, Pym and Reed and Spider-man have hit spouses (lol I wrote hot initially)  Plus to address power levels, we already know she won't come back that powerful unless Marvel want to make her like a Spectre type character. She didn't get boosted to those powers levels in House of M, because thats how her powers were going to organically evolve, or because it improved her as a character, it was done for company wide creative plot reasons. Marvel plans on culling Avengers or Cosmic characters next? Scarlet Witch is one of the best examples of a character used as a deus ex machina.  Sorry mini rant Hawkeye =p I agree with you! I don't get what you mean with the last part though? *looks confused*

This should not even be a question about this. Wanda's absence has been way to long and handled badly to begin with. 

Anyway, with the bold.. I am going to cry again... *sigh* 

@SC: I don't think Wanda is completely guilt or innocent. She had some awareness of what she was doing at times but was fragile enough to not control it. In some ways, she was a victim of her powers. If they needed to retcon it, it would be easy to say Chthon or some Elder God was acting through her. But, especially during the start of the House of M arc where she is weeping and Pietro is with her, she acknowledges that she killed the Avengers (implying she was out of control) but, especially towards the conclusion, it really seemed that she made conscious decisions and they were just ideas that her brother convinced her to act on. This is why it's hard to really put her in the same category as Jean - retcon or not, during the last battle Jean was horrified by what she had done while overwhelmed by the power of the Phoenix. I'm not sure we ever saw this response from Wanda (I haven't read "The Children's Crusade, yet, so perhaps it happens in there) in regards to M Day. She was upset that she killed Avengers, but later on, she killed Hawkeye again when Stephen Strange confronted her, and she didn't seem too bothered since her powers could be used to bring him back. 

i will have to write this again .... is the phoenix effect    she is now too powerful to come back

What would be awesome is if the Avengers Illuminati found a way to decrease her powers... which once finding out the truth would make her turn into a villain hell bent on restoring them!

JOIN THE NEW AVENGERS, PLEASE? But have Luke Cage HATE her, due to all the bad stuff. Think about it, it would be the perfect place for her. Thunderbolts is a team with too much grit for her, but the Extradimensional response team is perfect for her magic based powers :)

I say bring her on back. Wanda has never truly been an evil or malicious character, but her mental state is questionable at best since the loss of her children.

Now that the children are alive again (in soul anyway), maybe things will look up for her but she should never be made a villain.

Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Polaris have really taken some trips to CRAZYTOWN, but i wouldnt expect anything less from Magneto's kids (lol).

@Hawkeye446 said:

Anyway, with the bold.. I am going to cry again... *sigh* 

Ah maybe this might cheer you up! Now I am a Ms Marvel fan, but imagine if she didn't attack and abuse a poor defenseless Inhuman and hit like a nuclear reactor causing it to explode killing more people than Nitro? "Don't need control got power see" in fact unnaturally amp up and hero character in Marvel to Universe level reality warping and see how long they go before screwing up. Pssht.

(Poor Lockjaw)

I'm with Wolverine on this one.

Have Wanda bring back the mutants! I think the top heads at Marvel messed up big time with their handling of the X-Men. They missed a big opportunity handed to them by Grant Morrison to make the comic relevant once more. X-Men has been a comment on racism since its first issue and with the global population of mutants numbering in the millions we could see deeper, more mature storylines that just aren't possible when mutants are a tiny fringe group. The X-titles have been in a rut ever since and no one is quite sure what direction is the right one. Just give the title to someone who will shake things up. The whole Scott scowling at Logan thing has gotten really old, as has the "turn Xavier's best schoolboy into a ruthless @$$hole." Give us something All-New, All Different.

If they're not going to scale back her powers then they should at least make her the Sorceress Supreme. Since Brother Voodoo could not last more than 2 issues in that role and Dr. Strange is a hack now. Just give the title to Wanda. I think it would be a good fit for her, provided that she receives the proper training of course.

Part of me wanted Scarlet Witch to be evil. Another part of me wanted Scarlet Witch to be good. She better be dead making everyone aware of how dangerous she could possibly do a lot of damages on the world. (Evil grins)

I would agree that she should be a team player with the Avengers, but she is too powerful, as some have pointed out. It would be great to have her back on the team but she needs to be dulled down some. We have all seen some accidents happen in the comic book world. She needs to meet up with one, and be humbled some.  
That right their would be the writing for the first eight books!!

I can't imagine her ever really being a villain...
 
She HAS been brought back.  I can't help but wonder exactly HOW she's going to try and make-up for what she did.  We know she wasn't exactly sane at the time, but now that she is (or at least we hope) what's to be done?
 
Seriously, millions of lives were changed.  thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of lives were LOST.  Many of those who went through 'House of M' suffered, for example, Spider-Man who is now tortured with the memories of being Married to Gwen Stacy and having a son...
 
So...What's to be done...  I can imagine a Scarlet Witch series in which she goes about trying to right the wrongs that she can.  Perhaps one life at a time....  That actually would be quite interesting.

RE earlier posts about  not liking Bendis- Not sure why?! I like him, I think he's good, is a talented writer actually.  really enjoyed most of his work. 
 
as far as Wanda is concerned, I'd say bring her back!! she's great, a great hero, she just had a mental breakdown, made a really interesting story, House of M is an amazing miniseries! now its time to bring her back and see how all the different characters rebuild their trust in her.. i kinda think that Wolverine and her should have it out all ending with him being one of her biggest allies just as he was so ready to kill her with a snap!

I love Wanda. Of course she needs to come back. The Scarlet Witch is one of Marvel's best characters.  I want her latest villainies to be Loki, not Wanda.
 
The Avengers just are not the Avengers without her. Need to bring back the Vision too. He's the heart and soul of the Avengers, like the Martian Manhunter is for the JLA. While I'm at it we need Quicksilver, Goliath and the Wasp back as well.

That last image reminds me of a page from Bloodties of Exodus.

Honestly, I never really saw her as a villain. Yeah, I know, it sounds a little farfetched, but it's more so loss of control! And even with the brotherhood she never gave off that vibe of super villain. But being an Avenger again? it's a little too soon. I kind of would like to see her as the Sorceress Supreme. Let her finally have control of her powers for once. And as you said, in the comic book world, everyone has been on both sides of the law. whether it was in the mainstream or in an alternate universe. So holding her past against her isn't really a good idea. But they can still be skeptical. I'd say give her a chance.

Hero

This has aged interestingly