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The following contains spoilers for Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.
While Wanda Maximoff was just one of the many characters in the Avengers movies, she became a major favorite with fans of the MCU. After starring in WandaVision, she only solidified that role despite some misdeeds. While she was given some character development in the movies, the ensemble films didn’t allow much focus on her. But, fans have grown to enjoy her complicated story and her relationship with Vision as a result of WandaVision offering more insight into her.
While Wanda is painted as a villain at times in the MCU and a hero at others, the truth is that her actions are often quite complicated. She might do some heroic things, but she also does some pretty awful ones that hurt other people. This is true of most of the main heroes in the MCU, but she might be one of the most complex other than Tony Stark.
Updated on May 17th, 2022 by Amanda Bruce: If WandaVision gives fans more insight into Wanda Maximoff, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness shows the audience just what she can really do. She’s finally completely in control of her power. The movie sees her go full tilt into her grief at the loss of her sons and her determination to get them back. The audience gets to see just how far she’s willing to go, and it allows for some of the worst things she’s ever done in the MCU.
Wanda Lied To Vision About Westview
For casual viewers of the series, WandaVision could get a bit confusing at times, and even big fans of the MCU still have questions about what happened.
When Wanda used her immense powers to create Vision, he wasn’t the Vision from before, but he did seem to be his own entity. The sitcom version of Vision slowly started to realize that things weren’t all good in paradise, and Wanda kept trying to cover up the truth and lie to him.
Wanda Dreamwalks In Her Alternate Self
While Wanda Maximoff is a powerful witch, she doesn’t learn how to dreamwalk in an alternate universe version of herself until she has a copy of the Darkhold. She uses it to gain access to another universe in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, one where not only do her sons exist, but one where America Chavez and Stephen Strange have attempted to escape her.
This action isn’t just invasive for the other Wanda Maximoff of Earth-838; it’s dangerous as well. It’s not Wanda of Earth-616 whose body is in danger and ends up bruised and battered. Using another Wanda’s body also means that her sons are left alone in their house overnight while she is out tracking down Strange and America, potentially leaving them in danger too.
Wanda Kills Several Sorcerers And Students
When Wanda wants access to America Chavez, she’s willing to harm anyone who gets in her way. That includes a large group of sorcerers and students who haven’t yet mastered their craft.
Wanda essentially wipes out all of Kamar-Taj during the confrontation. The only people left alive are a quartet of students, Strange, Wong, and America by the time she’s done with the place.
Wanda Caused The Mishap In Lagos
All of the Avengers are guilty of collateral damage, and, at times, it’s more their fault than others. In some situations, like when they were defending New York City from Loki’s attack, they were just doing their best. However, in others, they sometimes overstepped their bounds, like during the conflict in Lagos where they were hunting down Brock Rumlow.
Both Steve Rogers and Wanda made some mistakes during this mission that ended up costing innocent lives. So, while Wanda didn’t mean to hurt anyone when she saved Steve’s life, it still was an example of collateral damage she was responsible for. The public outcry is so loud that it’s this incident that prompts the creation of the Sokovia Accords.
Wanda Messed With The Minds Of The Avengers
Many fans were upset at first when Wanda was introduced in the MCU because she was given a very different origin story than in the comics. However, putting these choices by the creators of the MCU aside, the truth is that Wanda did start out somewhat as a villain.
It’s easy to see why she would hate someone like Tony Stark, but it’s not simply Tony that she targets. Wanda gets into the heads of all of the Avengers that she can. She shows Tony his worst nightmare, Steve what her dreams of, and makes Natasha Romanoff relive her traumatic past. The only one whose mind she can’t get into is Clint Barton because he sees her coming, and that’s probably why he reaches out to bond with her later.
Wanda Puts Civilians In Danger By Controlling Demons
Wanda’s initial attempts to go after America Chavez aren’t in person. Instead, she uses her runes to control demons and monsters to chase America down and bring the young girl to her. In multiple worlds, however, a version of Doctor Strange comes to America’s aid.
If Wanda was just sending creatures after America, that would be harmful enough. By doing that she’s also putting innocent lives in danger. When America lands on Earth-616 with Gargantos after her, the monster isn’t initially visible, but the chaos and carnage it creates are. Anyone who gets in the way of the creature is then in danger as well.
Wanda Tortures America Chavez
Wanda’s entire mission in Multiverse of Madness is to obtain America’s power. Unfortunately for America, there’s no way to extract the power from her without killing her; neither Doctor Strange nor Wanda know another way.
The process also appears to be incredibly painful for America as Wanda repeatedly forces her to use the ability against her will before she even starts to extract it from her. America’s screams are enough for the audience to know that the process is torture.
Wanda Treats Monica Poorly
Some fans weren’t happy with how Monica was treated in the show even though they loved seeing her become a more important character. It felt at times like she was there to just prop up and excuse Wanda’s bad decisions, and Monica deserved more than that.
Wanda also lashed out at her rather violently when Monica threatened the messed up version of happily ever after that Wanda had created.
Wanda Kept Agatha A Prisoner
One issue that some fans had with WandaVision was that the narrative seemed to excuse Wanda’s actions but not Agatha’s. While Agatha wasn’t a hero or even a good person by any means, Wanda’s actions when she took over Westview might have been just as bad.
So, when Wanda then chose to make Agatha live out the rest of her life as Agnes, it felt like Wanda hadn’t really learned that what she did was wrong. It didn’t seem like a just punishment. Maybe Wanda is more of a villain than fans think and could become the MCU’s next big bad.
Wanda Kills The Illuminati Of Earth-838
Early in her time as an Avenger, most of the people Wanda injures or kills are unfortunate accidents of her not knowing the strength of her abilities, or of her working with the wrong people. That’s not the case when she chases Doctor Strange and America on Earth-838.
There, the members of the Illuminati try to reason with her and ask her to stop what she’s doing. The group thinks together they are strong enough to handle her, but, one-by-one, she destroys them all. The only person left standing is the one person who doesn’t go up against her: Karl Mordo. She doesn’t even show remorse when she makes sure that Reed Richards’ children will still have their mother to raise them.
Wanda Forces Wong’s Hand
While the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange might use hexes and spells against one another throughout Multiverse Of Madness, Strange gets plenty of warning from Wanda as to how exactly she’ll treat him if he doesn’t give her what she wants. Instead of Strange, however, it’s Wong who ends up in her direct line of fire quite a bit.
Not only does Wong end up held captive by Wanda, but she also threatens the lives of his few surviving students to get him to cooperate. When she no longer needs his help, she tosses him from a mountain. Wong definitely gets the brunt of Wanda’s anger when she can’t get to Doctor Strange or America.
Wanda Worked With Ultron
When Wanda and her brother, Pietro, are first shown in Avengers: Age of Ultron, they are villains of the movie who later join the Avengers. And, while their reasons might be somewhat justified, they do willingly work with Ultron.
Ultron seems very clearly to be power-hungry and dangerous, and working with him seems like a lapse in good judgment. However, when they learn that Ultron is willing to destroy many innocent lives, they decide to fight against him in some of Scarlet Witch’s best fight scenes.
Wanda Was A Part Of HYDRA
One of the biggest issues many fans have with Wanda in the MCU is how she was written to willingly choose to work with HYDRA. While the pain Wanda went through when she lost her parents and almost died herself was horrible, it seems strange that she would willingly join up with and then continue to work for such an awful organization.
However, as fans never really learn all that much about how or why HYDRA found her and Pietro, it’s hard to say exactly what happened.
Wanda Enslaved The Entire Town Of Westview
While Wanda has made some poor choices in the MCU where she kept siding with villains, her worst action ever was probably in WandaVision. While, once again, the series tries to justify her actions by saying she didn’t know what she was doing at first, it’s made clear that she does start to know what she’s done.
She is controlling an entire town of people, and we see that they are actually miserable and begging to be released. However, Wanda refuses to let them go for a long time.
But Wanda Still Justified That She Was A Good Person
The other big issue here is Wanda’s justification for her actions. Wanda always has a justification for her misdeeds. She tries to protect Vision, she’s lost in her grief, she just wants her children back, etc. When Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness opens, Stephen even says that Wanda corrected her mistake in Westview, but that’s never really seen by the audience. Sure, she leaves the town and relinquishes control, but she never actively tries to make amends to the citizens for what she did to them.
Likewise, in Multiverse of Madness, Wanda doesn’t attempt to make amends for her actions beyond destroying the Darque Hold and the copies of the spells as books so that no one can be tempted. She doesn’t offer up any explanations to the sorcerers or the citizens on Earth-838 that lost family as a result of her rampage.
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