Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is getting closer and closer to hitting theaters on May 6, 2022. The wild ride through the Multiverse will serve as the MCU's first film of 2022, led by Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange and Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff, now known as the Scarlet Witch. The pair will be joined by actress Xochitl Gomez, who will be making her debut as America Chavez.
The sequel is possibly one of the MCU's most anticipated projects to date, and marketing has recently been ramped up to promote its release. During Super Bowl LVI, the latest official trailer was revealed to viewers along with a 30-second TV spot that also showcased new footage.
The last time fans saw Wanda was in the Disney+ series, WandaVision. She was at odds with Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness in the town of Westview, a fantasyland for the Scarlet Witch that enabled her to live a life with Paul Bettany's Vision and their two children. After lifting her spell from the town, she had to say goodbyes to all three characters, but it has been made clear that she will stop at nothing to see if she can get them back in the Multiverse.
Westview wasn't the first time that Wanda used her powers to take over the minds of other characters, and leading up to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel reminded fans that she did it to some of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Wanda's Age of Ultron Actions
Marvel UK recently shared a batch of photos on Instagram from 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron. The images come from the scene in the movie where Wanda Maximoff uses her powers to get inside the minds of a few members of the Avengers and makes them briefly live out something from their past that haunts them.
The post was also accompanied with the caption "For a moment, it was real to them," a callback to Black Widow when Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova stated that her assigned family was "real to [her]."
Wanda first gets inside the mind of Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff and transports her back in time to when she was younger and still training to be a Black Widow in the Red Room.
She saw a group of young girls performing ballet and then saw herself shooting a gun at a target before she was tasked with killing someone who looked to be a prisoner.
When Wanda gets inside the head of Chris Hemsworth's Thor, he awakens on Asgard where he is confronted by Idris Elba's Heimdall.
Heimdall tells him that he will become "a destroyer" and Thor then sees the events of Ragnarok, the destruction of Asgard.
Chris Evans' Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, was sent back to the mid-1940s during his time in World War II.
He walked around what seemed to be a party and then was confronted by a younger version of Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter, where she asked him about the dance he promised her before he flew a plane into the ice in 1945.
It is also important to remember that Wanda showed Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark a vision as well. He saw events that would transpire at the hands of Thanos, with Steve Rogers telling him that "[he] could have saved [them]" in his dying moments. This is likely what would have happened if Tony hadn't sacrificed himself in Avengers: Endgame.
Multiverse of Madness' Villain
From the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness footage that has been released, it seems as though Wanda will be completely unhinged. Her time in Westview only made her more loving toward a family that the real world doesn't allow her to have, and if there is any chance for her to bring them back from somewhere in the Multiverse, she is going to take it.
Getting inside of people's heads and casting believable illusions through Chaos Magic is only part of what makes Wanda so powerful. Now that she is in possession of the Darkhold, even the Sorcerer Supreme, whether that be Doctor Strange or Wong, is in danger.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will likely be the first time that viewers are shown just how much Wanda can do and also just how dangerous she can be. The magic that she performed on the Avengers in Age of Ultron will more than likely be seen again in the upcoming film as Wanda sets out on her quest to retrieve her family.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will debut in theaters on May 6, 2022.
