In a recent video by Eman's Movie Reviews , the YouTuber broke down an interesting new theory on how the Avengers were able to defeat Thanos in Avengers: Endgame . The theory he poses to his audience is that Wanda Maximoff is the primary reason Earth's Mightiest Heroes came out on top that day. In particular this idea is based on the assumption that Wanda is a Nexus Being that can alter probabilities, just as she does in the comics.
Let's break down this theory and analyze whether it is or is not true.
SCARLET WITCH'S ABILITIES
Before WandaVision , the assumption was that Wanda Maximoff received all of her abilities and strength from the Mind Stone. It turns out, there was a prophecy-like intangible about her that just needed to be awakened. As the aforementioned video points out, it appears that Wanda places a probability hex spell on the Stark bomb that nearly killed Pietro and herself when they were children.
Understanding that Wanda has been a witch all along is vital to understanding the unusual nature of her abilities. As Agatha Harkness points out, the Scarlett Witch has "no need for incantation" or casting spells. This is one of the key traits of Wanda Maximoff in the MCU, her abilities are visual, and you can see her manipulate her power against her enemies, even when manipulating their thoughts in Avengers: Age of Ultron .
Over the course of her time in the MCU, audiences have seen how tragic Wanda's life has become. In this tragedy, her emotions thrust her abilities into incredible heights. For examples, in Age of Ultron she cries out and disintegrates her surrounding enemies after Pietro dies, then in Endgame she has just lost Vision and nearly kills Thanos in her rage, and finally in WandaVision her overwhelming grief leads her to creating her own reality and a new form of Vision.
The use of Chaos Magic is unique to the Scarlet Witch and has proven to bend and shape reality. The residents of Westview got an up close look at the scale of this mystic power, but Wanda may be heading down an even darker path. Agatha said it is Wanda's "destiny to destroy the world" alluding to a possible dark path Scarlet Witch may go down. However, before her villainous destiny comes to fruition, there is one key aspect of her power that is essential to this theory, being a Nexus being.
IS SCARLET WITCH A NEXUS BEING?
The essential piece of evidence that this theory uses is the fact that Scarlet Witch is a Nexus Being in the MCU. However, this has only been alluded to and not actually confirmed yet. It was noticeably missing from Agatha's description of the Scarlet Witch, but there was a commercial focused on a Nexus-branded medicine.
A Nexus Being has the unique ability to affect probability and thereby change the future. On top of their probability powers, these beings transcend the multiverse and serve as an anchor for each reality. The Scarlet Witch is one of these Nexus Beings in the comic books.
Despite no concrete evidence that the MCU will also use Wanda as a Nexus Being, that could have been a major factor in the defeat of Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
COULD THIS THEORY BE TRUE?
In Eman's video, he shares that the probability of success after Doctor Strange saw 14,000,605 outcomes was 0.0000071%. These are extremely low odds and his point is that due to this outrageously low chance of success, an altered probability would be a logical reason for their victory. Just like Wanda changed the probability of the bomb going off back in Sokovia many years before.
Before the very end of WandaVision, Wanda has never explored growing her strength in the mystic arts as a sorcerer. In a lot of ways, her abilities up until this point have been used based on intuition and subconscious decisions. She has gone through training on how to be a crime-fighting Avenger, but not how to be a witch.
Altering a timeline and changing the probability in your favor is an incredibly powerful feat that one presumably needs training to work. However, we've now seen Wanda manipulate people's minds, destroy an Infinity Stone, and change the fabric of a small town's reality with zero mystical training.
So is Wanda a Nexus Being? Did she alter the outcome of Avengers: Endgame ? There is a chance audiences may find out this answer when she returns in Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness on March 25, 2022.
After she is seen astral projecting and studying the Darkhold in the final end credits scene of WandaVision , the assumption is she will now train in the mystic or dark arts to learn the truth about who she is and what she can become. Whether that be more powerful than the Sorcerer Supreme, a Nexus Being, or the destruction of all of humanity, she now knows she is more than a girl from Sokovia that was experimented on by HYDRA.
'The Scarlet Witch is not born; she is forged."
The full video of Eman's Movie Reviews ' theory can be watched below:
