Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness surprised fans right from the opening moment with the reveal that the Scarlet Witch would be the film's main antagonist. This led to some pretty impressive fight sequences between the MCU's two most powerful magic-wielders, although there have also been plenty of discussions about more of that coming through in deleted scenes.
Most of that focus has been on the sequel's unused opening sequence, which would have featured Wanda Maximoff killing Earth-616's Baron Mordo. She would have beheaded him and given that removed head to Strange when they first met at the farm, leaving no doubt right from the start about who Strange would fight throughout Doctor Strange 2.
Concept art has also teased other deleted scenes over the past few months, including a flashback to Strange losing his sister at the lake and a tease showing the villainous Nightmare in action. Now, fans have another look at more deleted action from the Scarlet Witch, which would have put her and Strange toe-to-toe one more time early on in the Multiversal sequel.
Doctor Strange 2's Deleted Scarlet Witch Battle
Illustrator David Allcock, via Twitter user @itsjustanx, shared a compilation of storyboard art featuring a newly-revealed deleted scene from Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This scene would have pit Doctor Strange against the Scarlet Witch as Strange jumped through the Multiverse with America Chavez after escaping Kamar-Taj.
The scene starts out with Strange using his magic to get Chavez out of the Scarlet Witch's grip as Chavez opens one of her star portals.
Early in the sequence, it looks nearly identical to what came in the final cut of the movie where Chavez falls through with the blue light from her portal surrounding her in-frame.
It would have had the Scarlet Witch actually follow Strange and Chavez through the star portal, using visuals similar to the ones seen when the villain was pushing through reflections only shortly before.
Along with Wanda chasing the superhero duo, they would also have faced other demons while jumping through the Multiverse. There was even the possibility that they'd encounter one of the darker Strange Variants, similar to the way Earth-616's good doctor faced Sinister Strange at the end of the story.
As the Scarlet Witch chased Strange and Chavez, she would unleash more of her true power that she'd gained since diving into the Darkhold's pages.
The villain would have actually grabbed Chavez by the wrist in her pursuit, although it's unclear if the scene would have continued from there the way it played out in the final cut of Doctor Strange 2.
Marvel Similarities Avoided With Deleted Scene?
With Doctor Strange 2 being barely over two hours long, it's not surprising to see so many deleted scenes and pieces of concept art being released now that the movie has come and gone. This particular scene would likely have added a couple of extra minutes to the runtime, and it's unclear if it would have come with the universe-jumping scene or taken its place completely.
Additionally, looking at Marvel's extensive history, this deleted fight has some similarities to another scene that fans watched in 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, which featured Thor, Loki, and Hela. This trio jumped into a similar scuffle after Loki called the Bifrost down to take him and Thor to Asgard, leading Hela to jump in and throw them out of the rainbow bridge towards the unknown reaches of space.
In the end, it appears that this fight between Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch didn't even make it to the pre-vis stage, as this is the first time fans have seen this moment revealed in public. While it certainly would have added another exciting fight sequence to the already jam-packed movie, excluding it kept some of the focus on Strange and America as they took their first dive through the Multiverse.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now streaming on Disney+.
