With Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness coming to a close on its first weekend, reactions have been somewhat mixed, but the film has been extremely successful at the box office. While the Doctor Strange sequel follows its titular character, it also puts the spotlight on one of the most complicated Avengers and now villain, Wanda Maximoff.
While Wanda more recently has seen quite the extensive MCU treatment with WandaVision and now Multiverse of Madness, her history in the MCU prior to Phase Four was much different. The Avenger was first introduced in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and her path throughout Phases Two and Three of the MCU centered on her membership on the iconic team.
It was not until WandaVision that Wanda took on the mantle of the Scarlet Witch, and it was not even revealed she was a witch until then. Recently, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told Bionic Buzz that her more magic-focused arc was the original plan for the character, rather than the Avengers arc. Feige stated:
At one point, one of the initial ideas we had for Doctor Strange was to introduce Scarlet Witch in the Doctor Strange movie because those two characters were always two we really wanted to see together and sort of fit in that same world. Obviously, we ended up introducing her in [Avengers: Age of Ultron], and thank god we did, because we got to do all the other things with her. But this is really something that has been in the works for a very long time, and finally, here we are.
Kevin Feige
Had Wanda not been introduced as an Avenger, we may not have seen her pivotal roles in Avengers stories. For example, her loss of control of her powers in Captain America: Civil War sparked the Sakovia Accords, and it was through the Avengers that she met Vision. While she may have been able to have been utilized in a similar way had she been introduced in the original Doctor Strange, her journey surely would have been much different.
After Multiverse of Madness, the Scarlet Witch is cemented in the magical realm of the MCU, though history would suggest a return to the Avengers is still an option down the line. While the character had a seemingly tragic ending in the Doctor Strange sequel, all bets are on the Scarlet Witch returning in the MCU.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now playing in theaters worldwide.
Source: Bionic Buzz
