After everything that Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch has done in the MCU as of late, is it possible for the character to find redemption by the end of Phase 6?
The last time audiences saw her, she had just slaughtered nearly all of Earth-838’s Illuminati in her quest to kill America Chavez, an innocent kid. Needless to say, her reputation as an Avenger took a serious hit.
Sure, it looked like Wanda died in Multiverse of Madness—but everyone knows that was a ruse. She’ll be back. Though, the real question is, can the Scarlet Witch be redeemed after everything she’s done?
Elizabeth Olsen seems to think so, as she’s previously mentioned how she is hoping that Wanda will head "towards some sort of redemption."
But what would need to happen?
Kang and the Scarlet Witch
In the comics, Wanda Maximoff is a Nexus being—aka, the most powerful being in one’s respective reality and the anchor point for their timeline’s existence in the Multiverse.
While the term isn’t quite used in the MCU to describe the Scarlet Witch, it’s clear that she is easily one of the most powerful beings on Earth-616. Her actions in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness also show what she can accomplish when abusing her powers across the Multiverse itself.
If she is to be redeemed, she’d have to do something massive in order to earn that redemption. Saving all of existence from Kang the Conqueror sounds like the perfect goal.
But does Kang even know of her existence? Almost certainly.
He’s already referenced his slaughter of the Avengers in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, so there’s no way he’s completely ignorant of the Multiversal waves the Scarlet Witch has been making.
Sacrificing It All for the Multiverse
But how will the two meet? Well, it more than likely won’t happen until Avengers: The Kang Dynasty—though, don’t be surprised if one of Kang’s many Variants gives an off-handed comment about the Scarlet Witch in one of his upcoming appearances prior to the big event film.
Whatever conflict culminates in The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, it will be on a scale grander than ever seen before; it’ll put the entire Multiverse in danger, as He Who Remains teased in Loki.
This positions Wanda in the perfect place to help make things right, especially since she might have been involved in setting these hypothetical doomsday events into motion through her Multiverse-meddling. She might even get the chance to make the big final sacrifice play like Robert Downey Jr.‘s Tony Stark did in Avengers: Endgame.
The Problem With Wanda's Theoretical Sacrifice
There’s one notable problem with a big sacrifice, however: she kind of already did that at the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness when Wanda pulled down Mount Wundagore on top of herself. So, could doing something similar in The Kang Dynasty or Secret Wars feel repetitive and take away from the moment?
Absolutely. If Marvel Studios went through with it, the execution would be extremely important. They’d also have to clearly show that she won’t be coming back this time around.
One possibility that wouldn’t include her dying could be Olsen’s hero taking the role of the Beyonder from 2015’s Secret Wars for the big crossover movie. This would involve Scarlet Witch being the one to save all of existence by piecing together bits and pieces of various alternate realities into a patchwork planet (named Battleworld in the comics).
Even something like that could be used as a sacrifice and take Scarlet Witch out of the fight for the foreseeable future for Phase 7 and onwards. For example, what if she ends up draining all her power to save everything, leaving Wanda completely vulnerable and free of her abilities?
Maybe she’ll be able to reconnect with White Vision and try to hit that metaphorical reset button.
Will There Be No More Mutants?
When people with comic book knowledge think of Scarlet Witch, an iconic line comes to mind: “No more mutants.” Even Elizabeth Olsen herself has shared that "[she] would love to be able to [say those words]."
It’s a line said toward the end of the House of M storyline. That event saw Wanda Maximoff lose control of her reality-warping abilities, leading to the iconic words leaving her lips after she sees the mangled dead body of her brother, Pietro.
As of now, it obviously doesn’t make all too much sense for Wanda to utter those words in any way. After all, in order for “no more mutants” to make sense, there have to have been some in the first place (Namor and Ms. Marvel aside).
Also, in order to say those words, she’d have to have fallen back down to villainy, which would almost certainly be a severe regression of Wanda’s character development and sacrifices made in the Multiverse Saga.
So, sadly, the odds of her muttering that line, especially with the intent of wiping mutants from existence, are slim to none.
Though, maybe she’ll say the opposite and help populate the MCU with the X-Gene instead. It would be a neat homage to the phrase while also making an incredible impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Another option? Along the same lines, perhaps the Earth-616 that audiences have been watching since 2008 is a reality where Wanda already uttered the catastrophic phrase, which would help explain why fourteen years later, the MCU has only seen two mutants.
Elizabeth Olsen's More Immediate MCU Future
The next time audiences see Olsen’s Scarlet Witch might be sooner than expected, and likely before she goes up against Kang.
It was recently revealed that Joe Locke was cast in Agatha: Coven of Choas. If the rumors are to be believed, he’s playing a slightly older Billy—yes, the very same one who is Wanda’s child.
In the comics, there’s a pivotal storyline for the character called the Children’s Crusade. The plot involves Billy seeking out the Scarlet Witch to help reign in his powers, which are getting out of control.
This is a storyline that will almost certainly play out in the MCU before Wanda gets any sort of big sacrifice moment. In fact, it would be safe to guess that this very storyline could factor into the introduction of the Young Avengers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Where Else Might Wanda Pop Up?
While it’s not super clear when the storyline with Wanda and her grown-up children will finally coalesce, there are two other projects she could show up in before Kang’s big plans start to go down.
First, there’s the previously mentioned Agatha. Seeing as the title is Coven of Chaos, the very magic that Scarlet Witch is known for, it seems probable she might show her face—especially when considering Billy’s rumored role in the proceedings.
Then there’s Vision Quest, Paul Bettany’s upcoming solo show as his iconic character.
Hopefully, the story takes after Tom King’s masterful comic run, Vision, which finds the character building his own family. This could create clear parallels to what Wanda did in WandaVision, so throwing Elizabeth Olsen’s former hero into the mix could create some interesting situations.
It would also introduce Viv Vivian to the world, Vision’s daughter and a strong candidate for the Young Avengers roster.
No matter what direction that show goes in, both it and Agatha would be great organic options for Wanda’s next appearance.
WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness are streaming on Disney+.
