Scarlet Witch’s confirmed MCU death is still hurting Wanda Maximoff

Summary

• Wanda Maximoff’s journey in the MCU is betrayed in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
• It is necessary to watch WandaVision before Doctor Strange 2 to understand Wanda’s motivations and actions.
• Scarlet Witch’s portrayal in the MCU mirrors her darker moments in the comics, but there’s still a possibility for her to return as a heroic character.

Tea Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has popularized many prominent heroes and villains among mainstream audiences, an example of which is The Scarlet Witch. Also known as Wanda Maximoff, this former Avenger transformed from a scared young woman to a hero, a mother, and an absolute monster. Unfortunately, the said development was seen by many as inorganic and the presence of Wanda Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness This was ultimately a big heel turn for the character.

Additionally, as confirmed, the character’s seeming death in the film was meant to stick. Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline, This proves Scarlet Witch to be dead set as a villain, making her follow a somewhat similar path to her comic book counterpart. While this may be accurate to the source material, it ultimately shows where she was headed after the events. wandavision, Thus, his story ended in another doctor strange The film is a huge missed opportunity.

Updated by Robert Vaux on March 14, 2024: Into the Multiverse of Madness is an important film for the MCU post-Endgame, and its fate for Wanda Maximoff is sparking discussion among Marvel fans everywhere: perhaps even more so than their miniseries WandaVision. The article has been updated with new formatting to match CBR’s current guidelines.

Doctor Strange 2 teases Wanda Maximoff’s journey in the MCU

Debut via post-credits scene Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff and her brother Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff were two young adults from Sokovia who possessed incredible powers. This led to both of them becoming pawns of Hydra, believing that their actions were creating a better world. Similarly, his parents were killed by missiles made by Tony Stark’s company, causing him to deeply hate the American industrialist-turned-superhero. Ultron (the “spawn” of Tony himself) uses this to recruit them to his side, pitting the Maximoffs against the Avengers.

Ultimately, however, they realized the truth about Ultron, with the Scarlet Witch taking the Avengers’ side against the evil artificial intelligence. This turn towards goodness continued even after the death of his beloved brother Pietro. Thus, end of movie Avengers: Age of Ultron Has she officially become an Avenger? His place in the comics was somewhat echoed as a member of the “Caps Cookie Quartet”, under the tutelage of Captain America. Unfortunately, his loyalties are tested due to the initiation of the “Sokovia Accords”, in which he is imprisoned due to his immense power. Even though he is essentially her jailer, she develops feelings for the android Vision while under house arrest.

Due to these events they hide with each other until the time of the events Avengers: Infinity War, That film saw Vision being destroyed by Thanos, who was trying to extract the Time Stone. Following Wanda’s resurrection through the climax of Avengers: Endgame, she becomes incredibly complaint-obsessed. The main reason for this is that she is no longer able to perceive vision. Given how important a role she played in defending the universe against Thanos, she was one of the staunchest heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sadly, his reaction to Vision’s death set him on a path of extreme villainy.

Doctor Strange 2 negates Wanda’s development in WandaVision

After everything Wanda endured, many of her actions make no sense in Doctor Strange 2

base of series wandavision In it, Wanda Maximoff was creating an illusory reality for herself and her family (composed of husband Vision and their sons Tommy and Billy) in the town of Westview. Eventually, Agnes’ character is revealed to be the magical Agatha Harkness, who tries to take the Scarlet Witch’s magical power for herself. After the Scarlet Witch loses control over them, the citizens of Westview plead for freedom from the altered reality. Wanda frees them, but opening the barrier too much causes her family to disappear from the illusion. After defeating Agatha, Wanda comes to peace with what she has to do and eventually banishes her false family.

This gives rise to the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of MadnessWhere? Wanda is obsessed with the idea of ​​an alternate world in which her sons still exist., Sadly, her method of trying to reconnect with them completely subverts her character. Upon learning that America Chavez can travel freely across the multiverse, Wanda aims to kill the girl and steal her powers. After this, her ambitions are to find a world in which her boys still live, kill that world’s version of herself, and repair her lost family. The plan almost works, but the alternate versions of Billy and Tommy are frightened by the evil “witch”. Shortly thereafter, the Scarlet Witch is killed in the comics when her home, Mount Wundagore, collapses.

Needless to say, this was a complete change in the pace of Wanda’s development. wandavision, Although the show ended, she still wanted to somehow reunite with her children, yet she realized the mistake of her actions in Westview. Thus, it made no sense for him to suddenly become murderous with Billy and Tommy. Likewise, her plan to steal Chavez’s powers was similar, as it might have been a better idea to befriend the young girl and avoid unnecessary murder. It completely flew in the face of what audiences had already seen and turned one of the Avengers into an almost cartoonish villain with an increasingly loose grip on reality.

Ironically, this is a major criticism Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness In this way it made a TV show worth watching. viewers who did not watch wandavision I had no idea who Billy and Tommy were, which made Wanda’s entire scheme seem completely random. Even for those who watched the Disney+ series doctor strange A sequel made no sense, especially with how unnaturally evil Wanda had become. wandavision She was already potentially on the path to villainy before her sacrificial heroism was solidified, so re-enforcing it but making her beyond redemption was the ultimate insult to the character. Additionally, the film’s conclusion confirmed that Wanda Maximoff is gone forever, with the character yet to appear again since.

All of this puts the MCU’s Wanda on a path similar to her dark moments in the comics. The most notable of these was “Decimation”, aka The Fallout from M’s house, Due to the trauma caused by her mutant father Magneto (who has been relegated to no longer being related to her and Pietro), Wanda returns to reality, using her powers to destroy the mutant gene among most species. fundamentally influenced. This made him a mentally unstable villain in the comics and now the same has happened in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Still, Scarlet Witch could return to the movies even sooner Current Multiverse Saga ends, although this revival will have to grapple with a lot of the narrative to make it work.

The story of the Scarlet Witch is not over yet

It’s not uncommon for comic book heroes and villains to come back from the dead

Comic book deaths are a concept that many fans mourn, and for good reason too. These temporary lapses in mortality soon come to an end and bring the characters back in at times incongruous ways. The result is that the death is cheapened as a dramatic device, causing the audience to lose faith that it actually occurs. The MCU has only briefly toyed with this idea, with rumors Dead members of the Avengers were set to return Suggesting that the shared universe was diving into such a revival. This can certainly be done cheaply and ridiculously, but with characters like the Scarlet Witch, there’s still a lot of story left to tell, keeping her crushed by Mount Wundagore.

Through the use of the multiverse, a version of the Scarlet Witch may be introduced who lived through the events of wandavisionbut no Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thus, she still wants to be reunited with her sons but has still not turned to her more murderous path. The end result of this could be him working with the main Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Doctor Strange and perhaps even sacrificing himself for the sake of alternate versions of his children. This would cement that despite her grudges and suffering, the Scarlet Witch always maintained the heart of a hero, not a monster.

There’s also the fact that a Young Avengers team is reportedly being introduced. This team is now hinted at through a post-credits scene Miracle, with Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel meets Kate Bishop, the new Hawkeye. Other characters who have been members of the Champions and Young Avengers teams are also introduced, including Ironheart and Stinger. In the comics, Billy Kaplan is a Young Avengers member Wiccan, although he began life in the comics as William Maximoff. It’s possible that the MCU Wiccan is the alternate version of Billy seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of MadnessWhich means he would be terrified of the Scarlet Witch and see her as a monster.

The only way to undo this is for her to interact with a truly heroic version of Wanda, though this likely won’t be done with the currently deceased Avatar. Similarly, the introduction of mutants into the MCU could mean that Scarlet Witch will receive her more traditional origin as Magneto’s daughter. This may especially be the case when it comes to subsequent reboots. avengers: secret wars True, and this might be the best way to get Scarlet Witch back on the path to heroism. However, in the present, she is stuck between a literal rock and a hard place, with her past actions having greatly damaged the character.