Scarlet Witch's Origin Can Explain The MCU's 1st Doctor Strange Plot Hole

In 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it is revealed that Stephen Strange was on a Hydra hit-list because he could interfere with their future plans, even though he was practicing medicine at the time and has no current connection to magic - an apparent plot hole. Zola's Algorithm, a program designed to determine targets for Hydra who were current or future obstacles flagged Stephen Strange, and his name is rattled off in the same breath as Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. But with no magic and nothing currently distinguishing him apart from acute skill as a neurosurgeon, it makes little sense for him to be on the target list - unless Hydra acknowledges the existence for magic, and Strange has been flagged as having the potential to use it well.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Hydra is shown to have empowered Wanda Maximoff using the Mind Stone. By WandaVision, the Scarlet Witch's powers and abilities have grown and now more closely resemble magic as practiced by Doctor Strange and his fellow sorcerers - something that appears to be a direct growth from her initial abilities. As these abilities also directly stem from Hydra experimentation following the acquisition of the Mind Stone due to the events of The Avengers, it would appear that Hydra either knew of magic and was deliberately seeking to activate this potential or may have discovered the existence of magic through these experiments.

Hydra's algorithm is claimed to be able to model future threats to the villainous organization; one of the other targets listed alongside members of the Avengers is an unnamed "high school valedictorian." It is difficult to imagine how such a teenager would pose a threat to Hydra, barring perhaps their participation in the Hydra Miracles experimentation program. If the threat list is credible, and there is no evidence presented in the films that it is not, then by using complex data analysis and current information, Hydra is able to model the future well enough to know that such people are best eliminated directly. Doctor Strange is therefore on the list for what he will someday become, meaning that Hydra may have detected a predisposition toward magic.

How Hydra's Miracles Program Connects To Zola's Algorithm

The information used to empower the Scarlet Witch through the power of the Mind Stone would be the perfect source for information about magical energy. An in-episode ad during WandaVision episode 3 promises that a Hydra-branded product will allow users to "Find the Goddess Within." This seems to imply that Hydra did not induce Wanda's magical abilities but may have instead triggered existing abilities to an active state. While Hydra in the MCU has had a number of leaders, Baron Strucker has been a recurring character in Hydra leadership, potentially tying together the Miracles program with Zola's Algorithm and providing the experimental data required to make the connection.

Perhaps most notable about the flagging of Doctor Strange as a potential future threat is that Hydra was correct to do so. Although a person of apparent general good-intent and ability, the Stephen Strange of 2014 is not yet a direct threat to Hydra, personally or politically. A full two years after he is mentioned in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Strange is involved in a car accident, maimed, and seeks tutelage in the mystical arts of sorcery in order to regain the use of his hands. While it is implied that this is the result of his hard work, Hydra could very well have seen his potential years before it was realized.

Next: Endgame: The Ancient One Explained Doctor Strange Refusing To Fight Thanos