Given Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch’s (Elizabeth Olsen) experience with alternating and bending realities to her will, it’s no surprise that one of the most powerful characters in the entire MCU would play a massive role in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.” And now, we are getting a small glimpse of how she aids the title wizard in a brand-new featurette released by Marvel Studios.
Though the featurette doesn’t get too spoilery, it does see the cast and crew provide some details as to how the multiverse functions within the MCU. Judging by what we’ve seen so far, there don’t seem to be any definitive rules but there’s plenty of room to explore our favorite characters through this interesting concept.
“Part of the Madness of the Multiverse is we get to see different realities, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said. “And we get to see different versions, primarily of Doctor Strange, but we do see other versions of Wanda Maximoff.”
That statement is a bit interesting as we’ve seen footage Wanda interact with herself. While we are lead to believe that she was just watching a memory of herself, it’s quite possible she could communicate with a different version of herself from an alternate universe. And if that much is true, it means we will explore more of Wanda’s arc and her character trajectory in ways that could not be done in the films or “WandaVision.”
“I think ‘WandaVision’ was this journey of her, for the first time, taking her own life into her own hands, and it was fun transitioning from her experience into this movie,” Olsen said. “It was fun looking at it from a different perspective.”
Later on in the trailer, we overhear Wanda talking about the Multiverse to Doctor Strange and Vision’s theories on the matter. “He believed it was dangerous.”
“We wanted to satisfy the WandaVision fans and take them to the next level with a character they love,” director Sam Raimi said. “In the multiverse, there are alternate versions of everyone. It gives the characters a unique opportunity to meet themselves, to recognize qualities they may have been blind to.
Meeting alternate versions of themselves is not entirely unexpected. And getting to see these characters the paths they took to get to where they are now will surely factor into the story. So just which Wanda are we seeing in the footage? Is the Wanda that Doctor Strange speaking to even the one that we know of or is she a variant like Loki? So many questions, so little time. But there’s no doubt that we are going to get another fantastic performance from Olsen.
“It’s magical,” Cumberbatch describing Olsen’s performance as Wanda aka the Scarlet Witch. “She owns that character so well. It’s a very powerful performance, with a very powerful character.”
Here’s the official plot synopsis:
In Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, with Michael Stühlbarg, and Rachel McAdams. The film opens in theaters on May 6, 2022.
