How did the MCU's favorite witch go from a sitcom-loving superhero to the multiverse's
most dangerous threat?
And how does "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" match up with the Wanda we last
saw in "WandaVision?"
The Marvel Cinematic Universe's Wanda Maximoff has come a long way since first appearing
in a credits stinger for "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" before popping up as a
secondary antagonist-turned hero in 2015's "Avengers: Age of Ultron."
In the Infinity Saga, Wanda joins the Avengers after her brother Pietro dies fighting Ultron.
Her growing pains as a superhero-in-training serve as one of the catalysts for Tony Stark
and Steve Rogers' feud in "Captain America: Civil War," and she finds love in the most
unexpected of places in the Mind Stone-fueled android Vision.
Of course, Thanos murders Vision in "Avengers: Infinity War" before snapping Wanda and half
the universe out of existence for five years.
With many of the original Avengers dead or off planet after "Avengers: Endgame," Marvel
Studios has leaned hard on Wanda to provide a throughline for Phase 4's stories so far.
"WandaVision" caught up with the character just after the Infinity Saga ends in one of
Marvel's most inventive projects, showcasing Wanda's power growth as she grieves Vision's
death.
In "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," Wanda returns as the Scarlet Witch, more powerful
— and scarier — than ever.
MCU fans have long-held suspicions that Wanda is among the universe's most powerful characters,
based on both the original comics and examples from the movies.
The 2021 Disney+ miniseries "WandaVision" only further fueled that notion when she alters
reality within an entire town's borders, turning it into a fictional sitcom revolving around
her.
Wanda's grief for Vision made her personality less balanced and her powers more dangerous.
She steps into even more of a moral gray area after besting Agatha Harkness and acquiring
a copy of the Darkhold, combining her rare chaos magic abilities with dark magic forbidden
even to masters of the mystic arts.
"That's the book of the damned."
In "WandaVision," Agatha tells Wanda that the Scarlet Witch's power surpasses even the
Sorcerer Supreme's.
Stephen Strange is not actually the Sorcerer Supreme by the time the new "Doctor Strange"
movie starts, but he also directly acknowledges to Wanda that she's more powerful than any
Avenger still on Earth when he tries to recruit her to help him and America Chavez.
While Wanda acknowledges her mistakes in holding an entire town against its will during "WandaVision,"
she dreams of the life she wishes she could have with her sons more than anything else.
By the time "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" starts, Wanda has basically lost
everything.
Vision is dead, and White Vision went missing after regaining Vision's memories at the end
of "WandaVision."
After the incident in Westview, Wanda does not even have a reality in which she has her
children.
The prospect of a new reality with her children drives her first and foremost.
While Strange has nightmares concerning the details of his variants' lives across the
universe, Wanda says her nightmares begin when she wakes up each morning and remembers
that her chance at having a family is gone — unless she finds another one in the infinite
multiverse.
"You opened the doorway between universes and we don't know who or what will walk through
it."
Wanda uses the Darkhold's disturbingly powerful magic to dreamwalk — possessing alternate
versions of herself — and send monsters after America Chavez throughout the multiverse.
Wanda's emboldened usage of the Darkhold in her pursuit of America and Strange turns her
and her possessed Earth-838 counterpart into monstrous villains.
Wanda displays her significantly scaled-up power level multiple times and warns Strange
that her violent destruction of Kamer-Taj constitutes her attempt to be reasonable.
Wanda actually succeeds in her attempt to capture America.
Even after bringing her back to Earth-616's Darkhold Castle, Wanda still must fend off
desperate attacks from Wong and Strange, who dreamwalks into an alternate Strange's corpse.
America finally uses her portal-opening abilities intentionally, sending the Scarlet Witch to
Earth-838, where that universe's Wanda does live happily with her children.
At this moment, Wanda learns why she can't make this reality her reality: the other universe's
Billy and Tommy recognize the Scarlet Witch as the evil and threatening entity she has
grown into, not the loving mother Wanda wishes she could be.
Wanda comes to a conclusion similar to the one that is reached at the end of "WandaVision,"
but this time, her grief and desperation have caused significant harm to multiple universes,
rather than just one town.
In a sudden change, Wanda uses her magic to destroy every copy of the Darkhold in existence
and disappears.
It's unclear what may happen to the character in the MCU moving forward, but it seems she
finally learns the lesson she should have after "WandaVision" — she can't use her
powers to force her desired universe into existence.
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