Something evil this way comes. Literally. John M Chu’s Evil is scheduled for a 22 November release this year and it’s worth a party. The Broadway Musical-based movie is set to explore the concept of the good witch and the bad witch while tying them to a harmonious bond.

Let’s go through some of the best witches that the 2000s have had to offer us so far. Spoiler Alert! You may want to connect the roots of mythology and Shakespeare out of your brain to this one, but hold them tight as you read.

Teen witches

Being an early child, my first exposure to witches was, surprisingly, through the Disney Channel. Back then I was blessed unaware of the crystal ball of clairvoyance that predicted my fall to Hecate and the three witches of Macbeth. What I knew though was that I would have nothing more than being led to the world by Wizards of Waverly Place.

My childhood hug on Justin Russo aside, I was thoroughly inspired by the antiquity of the ramped Alex Russo. This was the time when “witch” was an expression that carries bad connotations, almost like a bad sign in itself, while “wizard” was the preferred alternative. But I was too young to consider the feminist implications of it.

Instead, I was captivated by the rhyming incantations and the fact that a swing of the sink would give Alex access to almost everything. When she surpassed her intellectual older brother and inexperienced younger brother with slight joke, she was what commanded potential that was only associated with tricks and rogue, yet she eventually came victorious in the magic heritage.

It is unclear which message Disney wanted the children to receive with that bow. Maybe something towards emotional maturity, though it should be noted that Alex’s pranks remained endless, even after she became the only possessor of her family’s magic – thanks to the useful reunion film. Alex grew out to an indomitable, yet happy adult, and it is the only takeaway that matters.

Comics

With a more marked taste for media that controls you in your teenage years, you can’t help but be captivated by the compelling Wanda Maximoff. For starters, MCU’s favorite enchantress has evolved to unaviously embrace its final form of Scarlet Witch and cement her inheritance as one of the most iconic witches that the big screen has to offer.

Wanda begins as a gullible hero, one whose fear is felt in echo, as the audience is wondering if she will be able to protect what she loves. So when she loses it all, our hearts fall in the wake of her grief. We accept that this is a thematic circumstance that a always has to lose to better, better, better. Except for, Wanda becomes a villain.

From the clumsy, which does not disadvantages the knots of her powers to exercise the damn book, Wanda’s character development is unusually crushing, which is precisely why you can’t sing enough praise for it. If the descent to madness does not convince you, you can imagine being caught for generations of sitcoms where you are forced to play doll to someone desperate enough to defy the reality to avoid her pain.

If that sounds absurd, I have to inform you, it’s all part of MCU’s Canon and there’s a full series on it. It is an expert stake herd. It’s power. It’s Scarlet Witch. And fun fact she was made by a collective effort. Guiding Wanda’s villain was as formidable as her and maybe even as powerful – Agatha Harkness.

Agatha Harkness’ Darling debut in Wandavision wasn’t a seasonal thing. The experienced witch earned its place in the dark corners of our hearts by first having his naughty reveal through a song that a real blasé-curse brewer, and then as a well-matched enemy revealing hex-caster Wanda’s true colors, expose the protagonist to a crisis that had been built since the beginning of the season.

Agatha’s charm and the mysticism of her rich lore got her a spin-off series, Agatha all the time, named after the song itself that put her in the limelight against climax in Wandavision. She is enjoyed as not only an undisclosedly evil, power-Thie witch, but also as someone who fools you into sympathizing with her despite depriving you clear answers.

It is a risky venture navigating in the line between myth-compatible representation and stereotypical, but Kathryn Hahn’s character goes with it with the grace of a confident wizard. True to her roots, Agatha packs all: the old knowledge, the effortless evil, the evil cackle you name it.

Witches turned

In comfortable contrast sport Agatha’s Coven members of modern touches to their mythical roots. Existing no different from any nuanced individual, the debunk baseless theories and sexist stereotypes, while also beautifully deficient. They stand for the fact that “good witches” also justify fictional investigation, and so do those who are labeled “witch” after the passing of goodness.

Maleficent is an easy example that comes to mind. Although she is only ambiguously characterized, she follows all the steps that create a witch from the cruelty to the curses. But if there is one thing that the 2014 movie has taught us, it is that nature is a retaliatory strength. Everything Maleficent does is in the name of revenge and she is rewarded long -lasting closure for it at the end.

Game of Thrones Fans often also see these fragments of complexity in Melisandre. The priestess is admired for the devoted worshiper she is. Her loyalty to Lord of Light is unwavering, then her sense of purpose is when it comes to helping the fight for the throne. Although she is considered a cultist in the world of the series, she is not on purpose malicious. Rather, she is an ambitious magical practitioner who had thrown a path in the dark into a brighter world.

To drive the point back, Elphaba – the evil witch in the west – falls into this category. Like the musical questions, is a truly born evil or is evil being thrown on them? Elphaba reminds us that witches essentially not feared more for their evil intelligence than they are for what they look like.

Trailers have offered a promising glimpse, but here hopes that the 2024 movie emphasizes more about how outcasts are done, what they are, which does not necessarily have to turn against the villain. If trickster fae can be linked to having refined personalities, there is no reason why witches should remain isolated. After all, magic gives way to more options.

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