Multiverse of Madness: who is the father of Wanda's twins?

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen, takes us on a two hour trip through alternate universes as Strange tries to get America Chavez away from Wanda. I absolutely love the film. I know it's divisive, with people saying the plot is messy and that some aspects, like the Illuminati, are disappointing, but I had a complete blast.

So I went back to the film to tackle the big questions people have about its character turns, its plot holes and the general issues I see popping up. That includes why Wanda's kids are the same even though Vision isn't there, who their father is, why Reed Richards is the dumbest smartest man on Earth, and why Gamora didn't cause an incursion. Full spoilers ahead.

Why Wanda's twins on Earth 838 are the same as the ones she made in WandaVision

The first big question is why Wanda's kids are identical in the 838 universe. She created them using magic in WandaVision, so surely they wouldn't be exactly the same, since the ones in the alternate reality were conceived the old fashioned way while the ones in the Hex appeared out of nowhere. It's confusing unless we accept that the Westview versions weren't the ones who came first. Billy and Tommy are roughly 10 years old, I think, so the real ones would have had to be alive for that length of time.

The events of WandaVision took place late in the MCU timeline, so the Westview twins would have been created after the real ones in the alternate universe. Earth 838 in general is far more advanced than the 616 timeline, because the snap never happened there and its people had five extra years to develop things. That's why we see a Reed Richards at the height of his powers when we haven't even had him show up in 616 yet. They might even be more than five years ahead, but either way there's a major time difference in how advanced they are.

As for how Wanda made two kids who are exactly the same, the movie explains it through dreams. We learn that when someone dreams, they're seeing their alternate self in another reality. So in 616, Wanda would likely have dreamed about her alternate self, met her kids that way and then subconsciously brought them to life. We also learn that in every other reality Wanda is with her kids, whereas in 616 she isn't, so she would definitely have encountered them at several points.

Who is Billy and Tommy's father on Earth 838

That leads to the next question: who is the daddy? It would be easy to say Vision, but I doubt he exists in the 838 universe, and even if he does, the events of WandaVision definitely didn't happen. We never meet Tony Stark in this reality, so it's unlikely he exists there. We do meet Ultron bots, which is why everyone on the internet thought Tom Cruise could show up as Superior Iron Man.

I don't think the bots were created by Tony. Instead, I believe Reed Richards was the person behind them. He's dubbed the smartest man on Earth, and if he really is, he probably created them without the flaws, and the main Ultron wouldn't carry aspects of Tony's personality. Reed likely figured it all out, and because Ultron works, he never tried to make Vision the way we saw in Age of Ultron.

Even if the events of Age of Ultron did somewhat happen and a version of Vision existed, his time with Wanda would have been very different. The movie tells us the Illuminati killed Thanos on Titan, which means he never went to Earth and ripped the Mind Stone out of Vision's head. Because that didn't happen, Wanda never grieved him, never created the Hex and never became the Scarlet Witch. Ultron working as intended changes the course of the MCU, and I think Billy and Tommy's dad is probably just some random guy, which is a nice message, I suppose.

Why the Illuminati didn't see Wanda as a threat

That feeds into why the Illuminati don't care about Wanda, even though Strange desperately warns them she's coming. As they explain, in their reality Strange is the biggest threat. After dreamwalking too much, Supreme Strange caused an incursion that killed trillions of people because it wiped out an entire reality. To them, Wanda isn't as big a threat, even though we in the audience know how dangerous she is.

It also explains why, at one point, Captain Marvel says they can handle Strange's little witch. Because the prior events like Age of Ultron, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame and WandaVision never happened there, their Wanda is depowered. She'd probably be about Age of Ultron level, which is why they think they're fine sending lots of Ultron bots after her, since she was scared of them in that film.

In the comics, the arrogance and hubris of the Illuminati always led to their downfall, and they don't see Wanda as a threat because they're used to dealing with their own Wanda. They've probably also looked into other realities and seen that in 99.9 percent of them she's a full time mom who spends most of her days making her kids ice cream. That arrogance and underestimation is why they wade into the battle completely unprepared, and why Reed even tells her about Black Bolt's power. They're pretty idiotic.

Were the Illuminati a wasted opportunity

Many fans have said introducing the Illuminati like this was a wasted opportunity, and I do agree with them on some level. However, the whole point of them is to make us think Wanda has finally met her match, and then she completely overpowers them. They're supposed to represent the best team on one of the best Earths, and the fact that Wanda turns them into pasta elevates the threat.

I know much of the chatter online is about how we waited years for Professor X and for John Krasinski to show up as Mr. Fantastic, so throwing them away seems stupid. But I believed in my heart of hearts that all these characters would be back in some form or another. And Black Bolt? Sure, get him back from another Earth. Whether the Illuminati's inclusion was disappointing depends on whether you're more bothered about the cameos than about what they're supposed to represent.

How incursions work and why Strange and Christine can't be together

With the Illuminati comes plenty of exposition about incursions, which pulls heavily from the comics. Two worlds start moving toward each other on a collision course that will destroy both of them. Those on the worlds either accept their fate or fight to the death until they destroy the other reality, which ties into the Secret Wars event. At the time, I thought this would likely be the big arc coming around the corner.

We also discover that if someone enters another universe through dreamwalking, it starts to create a footprint there. That will eventually cause an incursion, and the incursion will destroy the reality. This is why Strange and Christine can't be together, even though they both have feelings for one another. If they lived in a reality together, it would eventually pull either 616 or 838 toward it, leading to a path of destruction. So they say goodbye at the end, with Strange telling her he loves her in every universe. I'm not crying, you're crying.

Why America Chavez and Clea don't cause incursions

America Chavez and Clea can travel between realities safely because neither uses the Darkhold to dreamwalk. As we see, Clea cuts open reality into the Dark Dimension, so she can enter and exit whatever universe she wants that way.

We also discover that America is the only version of herself in the entire multiverse. Her being anywhere means there's no other version of her to pop into in another reality, so no incursions are caused.

How the Darkhold mirrors the Book of Vishanti

There's another similarity between the Darkhold, the Book of Vishanti and America that the film reveals. The Darkhold was created for the Scarlet Witch, and we even see statues of Tommy and Billy at the fortress later on. Chthon created it in every universe to bring about the prophesied Scarlet Witch, which is why there's a Wanda and a Darkhold in every reality.

There's only one Book of Vishanti, though, because there's only one America. Each of them is represented by their own book, and when we see the pages of the Book of Vishanti, there's even a star on them like the one America has.

Why Gamora and Steve Rogers didn't cause incursions in Endgame

Gamora doesn't cause an incursion in Endgame because, technically, she's from the same reality as the Gamora who died. The events of Loki hadn't transpired at that point, so every time a branch timeline was created, the TVA shut it down. Loki also told us Endgame was meant to happen the way it did, so they would never wipe out Gamora. She comes from 2014 in that reality, so when her past self travels to the future it doesn't create an incursion, because she's still from 616.

The same goes for Steve Rogers. He used the quantum tunnel to travel back through time within the 616 reality, and it was from there that he created a branch timeline with Peggy Carter. The way light is used in the film also reflects the different worlds, with 616 looking the same throughout.

Does Multiverse of Madness undo Wanda's WandaVision arc

A major criticism I've seen is that the film undoes Wanda's arc from WandaVision. Personally, I don't see that as true. The WandaVision post-credits scene left Wanda studying the Darkhold, looking for her kids, and this film picks up with her studying the Darkhold, looking for her kids. It's getting compared to Daenerys from Game of Thrones, but I think there's way more setup here.

Wanda is also corrupted by the Darkhold, which is why she's not reasonable anymore. If you can accept that Sinister Strange was turned evil by it, then you can accept that Wanda was too. Remember, this is a book that prophesies the rise of the Scarlet Witch, so it was written purely with the intent of corrupting her and turning her into someone who would rule the entire multiverse. There is precedent, even if they rush some of the character development.

Her apparent death at the end could also explain how we get Agatha's solo series on Disney Plus. At the end of WandaVision, Wanda trapped Agatha Harkness in an illusion, and with Wanda's apparent death at the film's close, we could see Agatha breaking out of it, leading into her own show. The film brings a close to Wanda's arc, but we could definitely see her back at some point.

How Doctor Strange grows: the knife, the watch and Clea

The film does the same with Strange, who grows as a character throughout. Early on, Christine says he always has to be the one holding the knife, and her 838 counterpart echoes it. By the end, he decides to hand things over to America rather than taking her power. He no longer has to be the one holding the knife and can now trust others.

Strange fixing his watch in the final scenes also represents a lot for the character. The first film ended with him staring at the watch in the Sanctum, accepting that he was broken but powering through it. This film ends with him repairing it, showing how he has overcome the internal issues he had over losing Christine.

We're also introduced to Clea in the post-credits scene, and she ends up becoming his wife in the comics. I guess as one portal closes, another one opens, and it's a great way to take the character.