Is Wanda dead? Exploring the potential return of Scarlet Witch following 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'

Wanda Maximoff is one of the strongest characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have ever existed. Her latest outing with the Master of the Mystic Arts in Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was clearly at, at the end of her own Disney+ show WandaVision.

Her willingness to learn and use Chaos Magic in WandaVision was seen as she took over the entire town of Westview and made her own fantasy world while dealing with her grief over the love of her life, Vision. In the process, she created two twin boys like her sons Billy and Tommy, who she seemed to love dearly. But post the showdown with Agatha Harkness, Wanda had a premonition to shut down the illusion and return to the real world.

Note: This article contains heavy spoilers!

However, following these events, she became the Scarlet Witch and was seen in exile out in the woods, studying the Darkhold, when she heard the sounds of Billy and Tommy from other universes. This particular motive of finding her sons in other universes sets off a chain of events about Wanda's desire to harness the true power of the Darkhold and battling all of Kamar-Taj's sorcerers, Doctor Strange and America Chavez in the latest Doctor Strange film. But things went sideways for her and it did not end well.

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Is Wanda really dead at the end of Doctor Strange 2?

The answer is quite complicated. Looking at the end of the film, where Wanda sacrifices herself at Darkhold, a beam of red energy emits as the tomb at Wundagore Mountain falls. This indicates that Wanda used her Chaos Magic to either disappear into another reality or contain herself within the tomb alongside Chthon, the God of Chaos.

Further speculating on her death, Marvel won't kill an important character off-screen. When WandaVision first aired, viewers and fans of the MCU turned out to sympathize with Wanda's loss and her desire to have a normal life with Vision and kids.

Plus, Marvel does not kill a core character off-screen without a proper farewell or an on-screen corpse as proof. Other theories speculate that even if Wanda had died, she would revive herself from the mountain using Chthon, who still remains deep within Wundagore.

Chthon was the God of Chaos who wrote the Darkhold in the Wundagore Mountains to give the reader unfathomable powers of Chaos Magic and show how it can fulfill their deep desires. Driven by the desire to be with her kids again, Wanda becomes seduced by it and becomes the true Scarlet Witch.

This also means that other universes, where Vision is still alive or does not exist altogether, do not attract her to Chaos Magic or the Darkhold and Wanda is still a mother to Billy and Tommy. However, after the ultimate sacrifice of Wanda of Earth 616, it is pretty hard to say that the Scarlet Witch is truly dead.

Elizabeth Olsen, who plays Wanda Maximoff, responded in an interview when asked about Scarlet Witch's signature line 'No More Mutants', and said:

"Yes, I mean, I hope so. I’m excited for all the crossovers in the future. I do think this film opens up lots of opportunities with the multiverse. But yeah, the immortal words are [‘no more mutants’]. I mean … I would love to be able to say them in some capacity to make it work for the MCU."

Furthermore, when asked about her appearance as Scarlet Witch in future MCU films, Olsen said:

"Again, I never know what we’re doing next, so I’m always just kind of like in these interviews, just saying whatever sounds cool to me, as well. But yeah, it’s not in anyone’s control besides Kevin Feige."

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What is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness all about?

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness introduces fans of the MCU to new characters, new universes and concepts of Incursion and Dreamwalking. Amongst those lies the powers of the Darkhold and Multiversal travel. The entire plot of the film revolves around Wanda showing her true powers as The Scarlet Witch to pursue a multiversal traveler by the name of America Chavez so she can absorb her powers and travel through the multiverse to be with her kids.

In order to do that, Scarlet Witch fights off Doctor Strange from different universes, Wong, the entire army of Kamar-Taj and the Illuminati consisting of Professor X, Mr. Fantastic, Black Bolt, Captain Carter, and Captain Marvel. After the Darkhold was destroyed at Kamar-Taj by one of the sorcerers, Wanda traveled to the Wundagore Mountain, where the God of Chaos, Chthon, wrote the Darkhold and was imprisoned by other gods within the mountain range.

Once she enters the caverns of the mountains, she notices that the guards of the mountain had been waiting for her arrival and the mountain rather is not the tomb of Chthon, but the throne of The Scarlet Witch who contains all the knowledge there is about The Darkhold. Hence, this sets her to become the one and only true Scarlet Witch.

Following these events, when she Dreamwalks into her Earth-838 self, she takes over her innocent self and destroys the Illuminati. Once Scarlet Witch captures America Chavez and kicks Doctor Strange of Earth-616 into another universe, she takes her to Wundagore Mountain to absorb her power.

However, Doctor Strange fights off his other variant, Sinister Strange, and learns the ways of the Darkhold (after the Book of Vishanti was destroyed by Wanda) of that universe to Dreamwalk, a corpse of Defender Strange he had earlier buried on Earth-616. Using his corpse, Strange travels to Wundagore Mountain to fight off Scarlet Witch alongside Wong and Chavez.

Chavez then opens up a portal to Earth-838 where Scarlet Witch meets her kids Billy and Tommy, who now fear her for what she has done to Wanda of their universe. Upon seeing this, Wanda of Earth-616 realized that her Chaos Magic had run too far and she decided to sacrifice herself so nobody could get hold of the Darkhold in her or any other universe.

The film ends with a surprise appearance from Doctor Clea Strange from another universe and Doctor Strange of Earth-616, opening his Third Eye. Fans across the world are in awe of this 126 minutes long mind trip and absolutely love director Sam Raimi's return to Marvel. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is running in theaters worldwide.