Tickets just went on sale for the highly-anticipated, mind and universe-bending film Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness. Wanda Maximoff's Scarlet Witch is heavily featured in the film's promotional material, and the limited series WandaVision contains tons of clues as to why she's so important in Doctor Strange's film.
Although Maximoff joined the MCU in Avengers: Age of Ultron as a relatively small character, she has become a favorite character and her significance has grown over time. Not only did WandaVision prove that she was one of the most powerful individuals in the MCU but it also revealed her emotional state and motivations might just shape up the multiverse as the MCU knows it.
Wanda's Tragic Past And Grief-Stricken State Of Mind
Fans know Wanda has dealt with a lot but perhaps didn't realize how severe the trauma was until the penultimate episode of WandaVision. Playing out like the worst MCU clip show, for the first time, fans got to see the worst and most tragic moments of Wanda's life that lead to her creating the Westview Anomaly.
Coping with grief is a major theme for Doctor Strange as well, as he gained magical powers as a response to losing his surgical skills, and his What If...? episode shows him unable to handle the loss of his love interest. The upcoming film will likely feature Wanda using her great powers to subdue her grief and the multiversal implications that ensue.
Wanda Desires The Normalcy Portrayed In American Sitcoms
WandaVision's sitcom-inspired elements and structure are based on Wanda's idealization of American sitcom life. She dreams of a life where problems are just shenanigans and everything is fine by the end of a 25-minute episode (as opposed to Wanda's actual life experiences, which are strewn with death, trauma, and isolation).
Her idealization of American life is made that much more tragic considering that her childhood was horribly disrupted by Tony Stark's American-designed weapons. Unfortunately, American sitcoms are notoriously unrealistic, and just like them, Wanda's Westview fantasy is unsustainable.
Wanda Was Born With Powers
It is implied in Avengers: Age of Ultron that Wanda's powers came strictly from Mind Stone experiments conducted by Hydra scientist, Strucker. But in WandaVision, Agatha Harkness deduces that Wanda already had powers as a child and even used them to stop the Stark shell from killing her and Pietro.
This natural power symbolizes Wanda's inherent worth and how she doesn't owe it to anybody; no one gave it to her, and no one can take it away. It points to the larger themes of destiny and independence and underscores her status as an abnormally powerful being, likely leading to conflict in the upcoming film.
WandaVision Introduced The Darkhold
Agatha Harkness brought the Darkhold into Westview, after apparently studying it for years. She uses it to inform Wanda of her especially superpowered status, letting Wanda know that not only are her powers magic, but also that she is a being of mythical status, and finally coining the name Scarlet Witch in the MCU.
The Darkhold's MCU origins are not yet known, aside from Harkness calling it the "book of the damned," but in the comics, it has ties to the multiverse and specifically the Dark Dimension. Doctor Strange and the other sorcerers deal in magical texts, even forbidden ones, and the negative consequences of using them, so it's likely we'll see some backlash for Wanda's use of the Darkhold.
Wanda Is Supremely Powerful
According to Agatha Harkness, there is an entire chapter in the Darkhold devoted to the Scarlet Witch, AKA Wanda Maximoff. In that chapter, it says the Scarlet Witch's power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme, a title carried by exceptional magical beings like the Ancient One, Doctor Strange, and since Thanos' Snap, Wong.
Wanda also inadvertently demonstrated her immense power via the Hex (or Westview Anomaly). Without effort or even awareness, Wanda performed highly advanced magic to transform the New Jersey town into her own pocket reality, feats that magic users like Harkness and Strange can only achieve after years of hard work and study.
Wanda's Significantly Expanded Skillset
Wanda's powers in earlier films were formidable but largely restricted to clumsy telekinesis, thought manipulation, and mind-reading. But WandaVision reveals that she can manipulate the fabric of reality, fully mind-control thousands of people all at once, and create sentient avatars from nothing, all without Wanda even knowing that it was her powers doing it.
Maximoff is also shown in the post-credit scene of WandaVision's season finale to project into the Astral Plane, while her physical body remains conscious and active. All of these powers are unprecedented in the MCU and will likely continue to be poorly received in the upcoming Doctor Strange film.
Wanda's Immense Power Incites Challenge
Nobody seems to quite understand Wanda's power, and just like Vision said in Captain America: Civil War, people can't help but be afraid and consequently antagonize her. In WandaVision this happens with both Acting Director of SHIELD Tyler Hayward and Agatha Harkness.
Of everyone involved, Harkness is the closest one to understanding Wanda's predicament, and even she challenges Wanda by attempting to steal her powers. This trend will likely continue in the Doctor Strange film, as the powerful beings teased in the trailers may antagonize Wanda in similar ways.
Wanda Wants Her Children Back
Wanda is highly motivated to reunite with her children, who, unfortunately, don't exist in this universe outside of the Westview Anomaly. Maximoff manifested them in a strange and clearly loved them deeply, but, sadly, she ultimately lost them when she had to dismantle the Westview Anomaly.
This grief, coupled with having also lost the love of her life, Vision, multiple times and adapting to her immense powers makes her vulnerable to manipulation and attack. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may see Wanda targeted by beings in the Dark Dimension, similar to Shang Chi's father in Shang Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings.
The Scarlet Witch's Destiny Is To Destroy The World
Agatha reads an excerpt from the Scarlet Witch chapter of the Darkhold to Wanda, which includes a line about her destiny to destroy the world. This may be common knowledge to the authoritative figures teased in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailers, possibly leading to them persecuting Wanda.
It should be noted though, that a similar world-ending prophecy occurred in Thor: Ragnarok, which actually defeated the main villain in that film, Hela, and allowed Asgard to start anew on Earth. Considering the possibly broken state of the multiverse in Spiderman: No Way Home, this destructive reset might be just what this universe needs.
Wanda Is A Nexus Being
The commercials in WandaVision carried deep messages regarding Wanda's past, present, and future. In a later episode, the Nexus commercial, a spoof of anti-depressant medication commercials, lists some intriguing effects like "anchoring you to reality... or the reality of your choice," and side effects like "seizing your destiny."
The term Nexus in Marvel comics has multiversal implications, but fans have only seen it once in the MCU, referring to timeline-altering events in Loki that interfere with the plans of He-Who-Remains. Wanda's Nexus Being status will also likely ruffle the feathers of powerful beings in the upcoming Doctor Strange film.