Elizabeth Olsen Has One Major Regret About Joining The MCU

Actress Elizabeth Olsen made a name for herself in the world of independent features before becoming Wanda Maximoff, aka The Scarlet Witch, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The true start of her acting career, per her IMDb profile, starts when she portrays herself in various VHS releases starring her older sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. As an adult, she's developed a reputation for riveting performances in motion pictures with smaller budgets.

Rotten Tomatoes reminds us that she first gained critical attention for her work in the 2011 drama "Martha Marcy May Marlene." Her performance in it is described as "mesmerizing" on the review aggregation site. Olsen followed up "Martha Marcy May Marlene" with appearances in movies such as "Kill Your Darlings," "Red Lights," "Very Good Girls," "In Secret," plus the 2013 American remake of "Oldboy" opposite fellow MCU star Josh Brolin.

Even though playing Wanda has definitely exposed her to an enormous audience, it's perhaps unsurprising that the actress has one big regret about taking on Wanda's mantle and spending so much time locked within the character's world.

When you look at Elizabeth Olsen's resumé, it's perhaps surprising to learn that she regrets turning down smaller, independent features that are more attuned to her personal taste to be more readily available for Marvel Studios. In a May interview with The New York Times, Olsen recounted having to turn down a part in 2015's "The Lobster," the Yorgos Lanthimos-directed black comedy starring Rachel Weisz and Colin Farrell, for a Marvel film.

"I started to feel frustrated," Olsen told the outlet. "I had this job security, but I was losing these pieces that I felt were more part of my being. And the further I got away from that, the less I became considered for it." She later added, "[Starring in six Marvel projects in a row] took me away from the physical ability to do certain jobs that I thought were more aligned with the things I enjoyed as an audience member. And this is me being the most honest."

Olsen continues to appear in both Hollywood blockbusters and smaller-scale features between her work as Wanda Maximoff. She showed up in the Hank Williams biopic "I Saw the Light" as the singer's wife, Audrey, and she co-starred in "Ingrid Goes West," "Kodachrome," and "Wind River." Olsen also starred on the Facebook Watch series "Sorry for Your Loss" and the 2014 version of "Godzilla." Her next non-MCU piece will be in the HBO miniseries "Love and Death." Olsen will portray Candy Montgomery, who was accused of murdering her neighbor, Betty Gore (Lily Rabe), in the early 1980s (via Deadline).