If, like me, you were gutted to see Wanda Maximoff seemingly buried under a pile of rocks at the end of Doctor Strange 2, fear not: rumor has it the powers that be are developing a Scarlet Witch movie for the MCU!
Of all the heroes and villains in the MCU, few have been treated to as fascinating an arc as Scarlet Witch has. From a misguided Sokovian orphan, to being inducted into the Avengers, and then creating a multiverse of madness in her grief, Wanda sure has been through the wringer. But that’s what makes her such an intriguing Marvel character.
Now, according to insider Daniel Richtman, there may be plans for an upcoming Marvel movie centered on Scarlet Witch, with Black Widow and WandaVision writer, Jac Schaeffer, tipped to be working on the project.
It would make perfect sense that Schaeffer would be the one writing and directing the potential Scarlet Witch movie, given her time working with the character on the Marvel series, WandaVision. Schaeffer is firmly rooted in that corner of the MCU, as she is also working on the scripts for Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, and Vision Quest, if that ever sees the light of day.
The last we saw of Wanda, she was closer to a Marvel villain than an Avenger. She was also crushed to death beneath the rubble of Mount Wundagore, as confirmed by the new book, The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline. That hasn’t stopped fans speculating about a Scarlet Witch return, though — after all, no one is really ever dead thanks to the multiverse.
With Marvel’s Phase 5 flagging due to poor reviews and box office failings, it’s no surprise that Kevin Feige and co. may be looking to utilize one of the franchise’s most popular characters to pick things back up in Phase 6 and beyond. I just hope there’s some substance to this, as Scarlet Witch has so much more to give.
The MCU may have taken Wanda on a pretty cool journey already, but we’ve only scratched the surface of what she is capable of. I know we’re all excited for the X-Men to arrive in the MCU, but how cool would it be to see the House of M storyline adapted from the comic books, where Wanda — blinded by rage and grief — wipes out the mutant race. Of course, the multiverse would find a way to clean up this mess and bring the mutants back, but it’d be cool nonetheless.
Or, perhaps the Children’s Crusade arc — where Wanda’s kids are seemingly brought back from the dead in order to appease her and set the universe right again — would be more suitable. That storyline features the Young Avengers, which figures, given the team was teased in The Marvels ending. This path would see Cassie Lang trying to reverse the chaos Scarlet Witch created when she killed Ant-Man and stripped the mutants of their powers.
Both those options are suitably dark, and it’s definitely the way Marvel has to go with this character. We can’t have her snapping Charles Xavier’s head in half and turning Mister Fantastic into spaghetti, and then have the old, nice Wanda back! Until we know more about this, we’ve a guide on watching the Marvel movies in order to keep you busy, or you can look ahead to new movies like Deadpool 3 and the Captain America 4 release date.