MCU Theory: Wanda Already Rewrote The Timeline

According to the WandaVision finale Wanda, as the Scarlet Witch, is destined to end the world – but a possible theory posits that she already did, and rewrote history during Avengers: Endgame, allowing the Avengers and their allied forces to defeat Thanos against the odds. WandaVision has shown Wanda to be immensely powerful, although not fully aware of her own power. If the Avengers had begun to lose, and the only way for Thanos to be defeated was on a thin margin of probability, could it be that Wanda "ended the world" by going back in time and choosing a diverging path that afforded that scant hope?

Wanda's encounters with the Mind Stone left a mark on her beyond just her enhanced abilities. During the Halloween episode of WandaVision, she dressed in a costume reminiscent of her comics counterpart; a shout out made striking by Wanda's vision of the Scarlet Witch costume in the Mind Stone. This could indicate that the Mind Stone was simply reflecting something from Wanda's alternate future – a future that some part of her still recalled, having gone back in time to fix it. Certainly, no other character empowered by the Mind Stone has been shown to receive any visions of the future, and it seems like a property better fitted to the Time Stone.

While the current timeline has not been gentle to Wanda, a timeline where the assembled Avengers forces outright lost would be far worse, with even the remaining people close to her slain, and their murderer triumphant. While this theory does rely on the idea that there was only one possible path to victory, which proved very costly for Wanda, the Infinity Stones have shown a cost to all bearers, including Thanos in his Soul Stone scene after sacrificing Gamora. In addition to being emotionally reactive, bearing or being empowered by an Infinity Stone has proven physically or emotionally devastating for all bearers to date, as events play out around them.

Wanda Saw Scarlet Witch In The Mind Stone Before Age of Ultron

In episode 8 of WandaVision, audiences got their first look at Wanda's exposure to the Mind Stone from her perspective. While Avengers: Age of Ultron gave some background on the process by which Wanda and Pietro received their superpowers, this was the first time it had been shown from Wanda's perspective. Her experience included a vision that she appears to have forgotten. The Scarlet Witch outfit, familiar to comic readers, did not make an appearance in the movies until Wanda manifested it. Given that the costume had a Mind Stone-shaped tribute to Vision, it seems unlikely that this costume was innate to the Scarlet Witch, but rather influenced by Wanda's own choices and experiences post-Age of Ultron.

If Wanda received a vision of a costume that she had yet to ever see or wear, influenced by someone whom she had never met (and who had not yet been created), it seems possible that this was instead a half-remembered echo of a possible future. The Mind Stone does not notably connect to prophecy, with projections of the future being the purview of the Time Stone. It could very well be that the Mind Stone was showing Wanda a vision from her own mind, sealed away, from when she had adjusted the timeline to set into motion the one universe where the Avengers could win.

Scarlet Witch’s Survivor’s Guilt Would Let Her Sacrifice Herself

From the WandaVision finale's goodbye to Wanda's twins, to her having to destroy Vision in an effort to save the world, Wanda's character has been defined by loss – and guilt. In addition to her general love of the sitcom format, the fact that stories in sitcoms tend to work out with nobody getting badly hurt seems to be a telling part of Wanda's choice of medium for her reality bubble. In truth, Wanda has a great deal of unresolved grief, and while she may try to rationalize her choices, guilt over hurting others and from surviving the incidents that killed her loved ones defines her character in a way that also speaks to her motivations moving forward.

Because of this, it would be entirely in-character for Wanda to make a sacrifice play. Having already lost so much – and potentially more than audiences were ever shown – the Scarlet Witch could destroy reality, using her connection to the Infinity Stones, to remake the world into the one possibility in countless potential timelines where the Avengers could win. With her tendency toward self-flagellation at times of failure or loss, she might well have been willing to sacrifice her power, herself, and the world she lived in, all in an effort to create a better one. And she potentially already could have done so.

The Current MCU Timeline Was Rewritten After A Failed Endgame

While it makes sense from a narrative perspective that the audience would be shown the timeline in which the Avengers were ultimately successful, a great many "coincidences" needed to occur in Avengers: Endgame for the story to work out precisely how it does. Everything from the precise timing of Captain Marvel's returns to Earth, to Tony Stark's change of heart, from Professor Hulk's ability to get his rage under control, to just when Ant-Man returns to the timeline from the Quantum Realm. All of these factors would have to be precisely timed, and some of them only work at all due to wildly improbably events – like a probability hex could cause, on a grand scale.

While Wanda still has a long way to go in the current timeline in order to fully become the Scarlet Witch, Wanda from the theoretical "original" timeline would be a motivated learner. Even with only some of the Mind Stone's power at her disposal, the sorcerers of Earth have the capacity to perform tremendous feats when working in conjunction, and if the fight were going awry she might well have their assistance. If the Scarlet Witch were destined to destroy the world, and have the power of "spontaneous creation", then destroying and remaking the world – just as Thanos threatened to do – would be within her grasp.

Doctor Strange 2 Is About The Rewritten Timeline

A passing reference is made in WandaVision to the Sorcerer Supreme, a title traditionally held in the comics by Doctor Strange. Although MCU Strange hasn't yet attained that title, his relatively short career as a sorcerer has been marked by some significant highlights, including his defeat of Dormammu, and his ability to outfox Loki with his sorcery. As a member of a band of sorcerers dedicated to protecting the Earth from otherworldly threats, and having used the Time Stone to predict the one scenario in which the Avengers could win in their confrontation with Thanos, Strange would almost certainly know if Wanda was going to rewrite the timeline.

This could very well be the source of the title of the upcoming film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Strange having to deal with the multiverse implications of Wanda's rewriting of the MCU's reality. Agatha Harkness makes a good counterpart to Mordo, Strange's one-time friend and mentor, whose opinion of the doctor soured due to his reckless use of the Time Stone; the same arrogance that allowed for that might give Strange the idea to allow Wanda to do the rewrite. Having seen the one-in-billions chance at success, he would not even have been able to tell Wanda of her eventual fate, for the same reason that he could not warn Iron Man; being just humble enough to realize that his own intervention could cause the very slim hope to fail.

Whether or not Wanda has the capacity to rewrite the past, WandaVision has certainly implied that the Scarlet Witch's story is not yet over. If she hasn't rewritten reality yet, this may be on the docket in the future – Wanda from the comics has certainly managed similar feats – and many of the apparent mysteries like the Mind Stone vision could be explained that way as well. Doctor Strange's own magical breakdown could be coming, as a result of existing in a world that is similar to, but distinct from the one that he knows. If there's one thing that WandaVision has shown, it's that reality is subject to change.

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