Marvel Studios Just Made Scarlet Witch’s Avengers: Doomsday Return Even Less Likely

Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff is probably the most popular name among the unconfirmed characters Marvel fans want to see in Avengers: Doomsday. The crossover left the Scarlet Witch off the character roster when Marvel first unveiled the official cast via livestream in March last year. Wanda seemingly died in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so the omission wasn’t exactly a shock. Still, many fans have clung to the belief that she survived and that Doomsday will bring her back in a surprise appearance. Marvel Studios now seems to have poured cold water on that theory with its recent update.

The studio gave fans official homework ahead of Doomsday’s December 18 release with a Disney+ collection titled "Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday." It contains 14 movies and one series that are essential viewing for the Avengers film, but one notable absence points toward Wanda sitting this movie out. The included titles are: X-Men, X2, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Loki, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Deadpool & Wolverine, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The glaring omission is WandaVision, the Disney+ series that delved into Wanda’s grief after Vision’s death in Avengers: Infinity War. It explored her complexity and the childhood that shaped her. Its fallout feeds directly into Multiverse of Madness, where Wanda is crushed at Mount Wundagore. That film is included, while WandaVision is not. If Wanda were in Doomsday, leaving out the series would be odd since its events are pivotal to understanding why she turned to villainy and how she reached that end.

Multiverse of Madness earns its place for another reason entirely. It explains the MCU’s multiverse concept more clearly than any other title and defines an Incursion, the phenomenon at the heart of Doomsday. Wanda is central to that story, but the recommendation is about the multiversal framework rather than her survival. Loki is there for a similar reason, laying out how MCU timelines work and what happens when they’re tampered with.

The theory of Wanda's return didn’t come from nowhere, though. Marvel returned to Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con in July to peel back the curtain on the Avengers crossover, releasing new footage and cast announcements. During the event, Latverian witches’ costumes on display in the San Diego Convention Center’s Exhibit Hall ignited discussion about Wanda’s possible return. The costumes led many to theorize that one of the witches could be Wanda, a theory rational enough, given that Multiverse of Madness leaves a sliver of doubt about her death. But the costumes were atmosphere, not confirmation, and leaving WandaVision off the essential viewing list makes a comeback harder to imagine because that series is so pivotal to who Wanda became.

Could Scarlet Witch Return in Secret Wars Instead?

The essential viewing list is curated specifically for Doomsday, but Avengers: Secret Wars is a different case altogether. Even if Wanda does not show up in the first half of the two-part finale, she could still return in Secret Wars. Based on what the trailers have teased, it’s very likely that the heroes lose in Doomsday, and Secret Wars is when they properly fight back against the Latverian. 

If Doom succeeds in creating Battleworld, his power will be at its mightiest, and the heroes would need all the firepower they can get. Bringing Wanda back to fight alongside them would be a huge boost because, Doctor Strange aside, she’s the only other MCU character who can stand a chance against Doom in a battle involving the mystic arts.

On the flip side, she could return as one of the Latverian witches working for Doom. There have been reports that Doom will have allies in both films, and it would make sense for the Scarlet Witch to play on the side of evil once again since she’s already taken that path before. Doom is a cunning master manipulator capable of influencing others to do his bidding, and Wanda has shown multiple times how easily she can be turned when something or someone she loves is at stake.

Also, Secret Wars is the finale of the Multiverse Saga, and Wanda’s demise was left vague rather than fully resolved. A closing chapter in a saga she helped shape would be the perfect opportunity to give fans closure on the character, her current status, and where she goes next in the MCU.