Is Scarlet Witch the perfect villain in Multiverse of Madness?

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen, sees Wanda chasing down America Chavez to steal her powers so she can be reunited with her kids. Some people have called the character Wanda-mentional, but I think she's the perfect villain for this film, which feels like the first horror hero movie we've had in the MCU.

I know her turn is very divisive. Even so, I absolutely love it, and I'd argue she's one of my favorite comic book movie villains ever, helped along by the horror movies Sam Raimi pulled from to make her scenes even more intense.

Wanda's tragic MCU history sets up her turn to villainy

Wanda has been through a lot in her life. Her home was blown up with her parents inside it, and she was experimented on by Hydra when she was very young. That led into the events of Age of Ultron, where her brother was killed in front of her. Then came Civil War, where the whole world turned on her and blamed her for killing many kids.

When Infinity War rolled around, she had to kill the man she loved to save the universe. That proved pointless when Thanos brought him back and killed him in front of her. Then there was WandaVision, where she created a perfect life for herself only to have it all taken away. Since she was first introduced in 2015, she's arguably had the most tragic arc of any Marvel character.

The Darkhold tempts Wanda the way the devil tempts people in stories

There's criticism that Wanda pulled a Daenerys and went crazy all of a sudden. But you have to remember she was out in the wilderness with the Darkhold for months. Most of the time, when the devil is described in stories, he doesn't come to you trying to kill. His tactics are often far more subtle. That embodiment of evil is often someone who tempts us to give up our morals to get what our heart desires.

That's very much what the Darkhold represents. While it corrupts Wanda, it also promises her a better life. Once it gets its claws in her, we find her buried under rubble inside her own mind while the Scarlet Witch shows up at breakneck speed.

In the film we discover that every universe other than 616 has a version of her who is happy with her kids, and every night Wanda goes to sleep dreaming of this better life. Upon waking up she's faced with the cold, hard truth. Even without the Darkhold, you can see how this would break someone mentally.

Wanda's comic book history and her role as Doctor Strange's opposite

Much like in Age of Ultron, Wanda was first introduced as a villain in the comics, but over the years she transformed into a hero before her power proved too much. In stories like Avengers Disassembled, we've seen that she can do exactly what she wants, and therein lies her downfall. Like Silas Stone says in Zack Snyder's Justice League, the challenge isn't doing it, it's not doing it. Wanda is one of, if not the most, powerful people in the universe, and therefore she should be able to have what she wants.

Her being the villain makes her the perfect opposite to Strange. Wanda is unwilling to sacrifice what she wants for the greater good, and she will happily kill dads on Mother's Day just because there'll be someone to look after the kids. Strange, by contrast, could have had a happy life, but he sacrificed the Time Stone, got dusted and came back five years later to find the love of his life had moved on. To make things worse, her husband is a big Doctor Strange fan, and Strange has to stand at the wedding pretending to be happy as she walks down the aisle.

Wanda also tempts him with another universe where he can be with Christine, but he turns it down because the cost of killing America would be too great. That puts them at opposite ends of the spectrum: two powerful magical figures who could both have what they want, but who choose different paths. Just before they meet at Kamar-Taj, Wanda says it won't be her who comes for America, it'll be the Scarlet Witch. Her tempting Stephen there shows the extent of her possession. She's using the same tactics the Darkhold used on her, offering him a better life where he'll finally find the happiness he lies about having.

The horror movie villains Sam Raimi drew on for Scarlet Witch

Wanda's design in the movie is based heavily on many movie villains. There's Samara from The Ring, whose infamous TV crawl she imitates when exiting the Mirror Dimension. There are the Wicked Witch of the West's Haunted Forest trees, which we somewhat see at her home when the illusion is broken. There are elements of Carrie in the oil all over her face, and of The Terminator when she limps after the heroes with her eyes glowing red, like the machine at the end of the first film.

Snow White even plays on a TV in the other Wanda's home, and there's a nod to The Exorcist when she appears from the corner and snaps a neck. All of these references plant the idea that she's a classic horror monster who is completely unstoppable.

When I looked at The Batman, I talked about how Matt Reeves leaned into villains like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees to suggest Batman was somewhat of a supernatural being, using his slow walk to intimidate those he faced. Wanda pulls from those same archetypes. Making her one dimensional also makes her a force of nature: whatever Strange and company throw at her, she can get around it or bounce back.

The Illuminati scene shows how powerful Wanda is

I know there's plenty of criticism about how the Illuminati are handled in this movie, but personally I think what happens to them is a brilliant way to make us realize how powerful Wanda is. For years fans cried out for John Krasinski to be cast as Mr. Fantastic, and we were desperate to see Professor X in the MCU. The film gives us both, and just when we think they're going to save the day, Wanda rips them apart, which rips our hearts out too. My heart broke in two watching Professor X get his neck broken.

I thought everyone would have a knee jerk reaction to it at first. But at the time, with the X-Men and Fantastic Four both getting movies in the future, I thought it was safe to say they'd be back, and that those who hated this might even come to appreciate what a deliberate provocation toward fans it is. Ralph Bohner showed us Kevin Feige likes to troll.

Watching Wanda drop the coldest lines I've ever heard in a comic book movie elevates the scene enormously. She delivers the "What mouth?" line and the bit about Sue Storm being there to raise Reed's kids back to back, and it shows she will no longer let anyone stand in her way.

Multiverse of Madness is a versus movie that skips the bait and switch

Though it's not labeled as such, this film is very much a versus movie. We've had a number of them over the years, like Godzilla vs. Kong, Batman v Superman and Alien vs. Predator. They're a staple of big franchises, and though I like them, I have to admit that at this point they all follow the same formula. When Godzilla vs. Kong was first being filmed, I think we all knew it would end with the pair teaming up to stop a bigger threat that was secretly controlling everything behind the scenes.

Most movies in the genre end with the two opposing sides putting their differences aside to fight a bigger bad guy, and that was even somewhat the structure Marvel used for Captain America: Civil War. Many people expected a secret villain here too, and when those Chthon looking monsters showed up in the trailers, it seemed like that was what we'd get.

Instead, Multiverse of Madness keeps the Scarlet Witch as the main villain, and because of that it doesn't cheapen her in the end. The Dark Knight Rises showed that you can strip away one of the main talking points of your film with a bait and switch at the end, and I think it was smart of Marvel to simply say: nope, Wanda is the bad guy.

Why only Wanda could defeat the Scarlet Witch

The film ends with Wanda coming face to face with her children and a version of herself, whom she attacks. This scares her children so much that she realizes the monster she's become, and she lies through her teeth, saying she didn't hurt anyone. She's then faced with a version of herself who is the mother she should be. That Wanda tells her the kids will be loved, which finally breaks her and makes her realize her wrongdoing.

Even in this moment, the Scarlet Witch is so powerful she can only be defeated by herself, and taking her into the life she could have had makes her see where she went wrong. At her core, Wanda is still a hero, even though we've just watched her brutally murder people for two hours. Over seven years we followed her as she went from villain to hero and back to villain. She's arguably been on the most complex arc of any MCU character, and pushing her off the deep end like this was surprising and divisive, for good reason.

We often don't want to see the faults in heroes we respect, but watching her corrupted by her selfish attitudes acts as an example of what not to do. That's mirrored in Strange, who could potentially be with a version of Christine at the end of the film but gives it up because of the incursion it would cause. Strange is such a hero in this moment because Wanda has been such a big villain throughout, and having them at opposite ends of the spectrum is the perfect way to drive the narrative.

Wanda feels like a monster from an '80s kids movie, back before everything got heavily sanitized, and the horror she brings is used expertly to terrify both the characters and the audience. It's masterful storytelling that lets her become the perfect villain this film needs. In anyone else's hands, I think Wanda may have underdelivered. Instead, Elizabeth Olsen knocks it out of the park and delivers what's probably her most memorable performance in the MCU. The Scarlet Witch was incredible.