Marvel Phase 4 theory reveals Scarlet Witch could be the MCU's new villain
Will Wanda Maximoff replace Thanos as Marvel's big bad?
by Mae AbdulbakiAhead of the Disney+ launch this November, Scarlet Witch is getting a lot of buzz. Sure, it’s because she’ll be starring in WandaVision and then making an appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but it’s her potential connection to the creation of the multiverse itself that has fans speculating about her journey.
With vengeance on her mind, will Scarlet Witch travel down a darker path? A shocking new theory might have the answer to that question, speculating that Wanda Maximoff will become the villain in Phases Four and Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speculative spoilers for Marvel’s Phase Four and/or Five below.
After the death of Vision in Infinity War and the failure to bring him back in Endgame, Redditor u/cdhelt1225 suggests that Scarlet Witch wants to bring her BF back so badly she “becomes obsessed” with the idea and ends up altering reality, creating the X-Men, removing Spider-Man from the timeline, and bringing the Fantastic Four to the MCU as well.
Sounds ridiculous, right? Not really, especially when we consider all the evidence surrounding Wanda’s current state and the connection the Disney+ series will have to future Marvel movies,
Scarlet Witch held her own against Thanos, so she can definitely take down the Avengers if she ever turns evil.
There’s no doubt that this theory also provides a clever workaround to merge the 20th Century Fox Marvel properties into the MCU and explain Spider-Man’s absence. It might also create multiple timelines and parallel universes for Phases Four and Five. After all, we know things are going to get weird in the Doctor Strange sequel, and WandaVision is set to lead right into that movie.
Plus, the series itself is already flirting with alternate timelines. WandaVision has been confirmed to be set in the 1950s. So time travel/alternate timeline could also explain how Vision is alive on the show. Is the 1950s setting fake? Did Wanda create it to live out her life with Vision without realizing the consequences of what she’d done to the timeline? Does the reality of his death break her?
All of this and more could come true, especially since her powers include manipulating reality with magic. Avengers: Endgame launched her into the limelight as one of two superheroes with the ability to take on Thanos single-handedly (the other being Captain Marvel). Imagine all of the terrible things she could accomplish if she used those powers for all the wrong reasons.
Thanos could've left well enough alone, but he might've created the next big bad.
But let’s backtrack. The entire reason Wanda went after the Mad Titan was because he killed Vision. As the saying goes, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Thanos was the direct cause of Wanda’s fury. Now that the villain is dead, she can’t avenge her significant other, so why not attempt to bring him back instead? Could she become obsessed with resurrecting Vision to the point that it drives her over the edge and toward evil? After all, it wouldn’t be the first time obsession has driven characters to do terrible things. Thanos was obsessed with collecting the Infinity Stones and look where that got him.
Another theory previously suggested that the destruction of the Mind Stone in Infinity War expanded upon Wanda’s already powerful abilities. Perhaps when she realizes that Vision is really dead and isn’t coming back, she’ll become even more consumed with bringing him back and that’ll cause her powers to control her instead of the other way around. Of course, we’ll have to wait until WandaVision premieres to get the real answers, but the combination of magic, altering reality, and obsession never ended well for anyone.
WandaVision will premiere on Disney+ in the spring of 2021.
