Marvel's Elizabeth Olsen Reflects on Similarities Between Scarlet Witch's WandaVision and Doctor Strange 2 Arcs

One the most contentious debates in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was the story arc of Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff – who finally became the full-fledged Scarlet Witch fans knew from the comics (costume and all). Now, since enough time has passed since Scarlet Witch's debut in WandaVision, and her villainous role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it seems Elizabeth Olsen is ready to speak more freely about the turn in her character's story.

 Olsen's exploration of Wanda got some long-overdue depth when she starred in WandaVision. The Emmy-winning show saw Wanda's grief over the many losses in her life (parents, her brother Quicksilver, her love, The Vision) made her reality-altering powers spiral out of control – taking an entire town with her. Wanda ultimately found some measure of redemption by the end of the series – but not without a cost. She once again had to say goodbye to her entire family (real or not), giving up on her fantasy conjuring of Vision and her sons, Billy and Tommy. 

However, when Wanda also took the Darkhold book from Agatha Harkness, she was corrupted by its touch and became obsessed with searching the multiverse for a version of her family she could reclaim. Wanda murdered a lot of people in her own reality and parallel ones to achieve her goal – and there were many Marvel fans who felt betrayed by the way director Sam Raimi chose to portray the character. 

Elizabeth Olsen Tried To Get WandaVision's Story Into Doctor Strange 2

Elizabeth Olsen is currently starring in the HBO crime drama series Love & Death, but Vanity Fair had the actress do a rewatch of some of her onscreen performances – including WandaVision. Naturally, rewatching WandaVision brought up the topic of what happened in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Now that she's more removed from this time in her career, Olsen reiterated something previously reported: that the creative team of Doctor Strange 2 did not incorporate the character work and progression of WandaVision into their film:  

"[WandaVision] it's a similar arc that I had to play in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. There could be parallel stories being told there, of dealing with grief and loss. Well, I proposed that to the writers who wrote Multiverse of Madness. I said 'Do you know what we're doing in WandaVision? Have you seen it?' and no, they had not seen it, because it wasn't finished yet."

That left Olsen in a strange middle ground: trying to honor the character work she'd done, which the makers of the next project didn't know about. Needless to say, it made for a tricky Scarlet Witch performance in Multiverse of Madness (to say the least): 

"So I had to try and, I don't know, play it differently, right?" Olsen explained. "I had to attack the same themes in order for it to be interesting for me, I think, and potentially for the audience. I just had to come at it from a different point of view so that it wasn't repetitive."

There are always going to be some Marvel fans who simply don't agree that the depictions of Wanda/Scarlet Witch in WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness sync up – but kudos to Elizabeth Olsen for trying, right? 

It seems like the stress of it all was taken into consideration, at least, because Elizabeth Olsen previously teased that Kevin Feige may be letting her have more say about where Scarlet Witch's MCU story goes next... 

You can stream WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on Disney+.