Warning: this story contains spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In the infinite multiverse, there’s a version of Doctor Strange 2 where even more people die at the hands of Wanda Maximoff. “You have no idea just how reasonable I have been,” the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) warns Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) outside Kamar-Taj, ordering the Masters of the Mystic Arts to hand over America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) and her power to travel the multiverse. “I do hope you understand what’s about to happen — this is me being reasonable.”
What happens next: corrupted by the Darkhold, a grieving Scarlet Witch uses her reality-altering powers to wage war on Doctor Strange and anyone else who stands in the way of her reunion with her twin sons Billy (Julian Hilliard) and Tommy Maximoff (Jett Klyne).
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That includes the multiversal Illuminati, Earth-838’s powerful superhero team consisting of Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell), Captain Marvel (Lashana Lynch), Black Bolt of the Inhumans (Anson Mount), Professor Charles Xavier of the X-Men (Patrick Stewart), and Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four (John Krasinski) — all violently killed by Scarlet Witch.
The Scarlet Witch killing the Illuminati “was there in my first draft of the script,” screenwriter Michael Waldron told Variety. “That was the madness of the multiverse to me, really. You introduced this superhero team that makes the audience feel like they’re finally safe, and then the Scarlet Witch eviscerates them. It was a great way to knock the audience off their feet. And then hopefully, you spend the rest of the movie terrified of Wanda and what she’s capable of.”
Olsen previously confirmed with Variety that the Dreamwalking witch was “supposed to kill more” as she slaughtered all opposition standing in the way of her traveling to another universe to be with Billy and Tommy.
Asked to expand on Olsen’s vague reveal, Waldron explained with a laugh, “Well, there were more people. Maybe not necessarily in that [Illuminati] sequence. But I talked about her as kind of a [Terminator] T-1000 in that assault on Kamar-Taj. She’s unstoppable.”
“So yeah, there’s maybe stuff that we never even shot but cool little one-on-one fights between her and some of those sorcerers,” Waldron said. “There was some amazing [concept] art that we never actually shot.”
Early rumors claimed Doctor Strange 2 was supposed to open with Wanda decapitating Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Strange’s former friend and mentor who was last seen declaring there are “too many sorcerers” in 2016’s Doctor Strange.
“We haven’t seen her go through the loss of the children. I think, for any parent — I would assume because I’m not one — the loss of the child would always be much harder than the loss of anyone else important in your life,” Olsen previously told Variety, adding she originally killed more people in Doctor Strange 2.
“I had a hard time with it. I was like, these are human beings and Wanda is OK with ending their lives?” she said. “But I just had to buckle down and think all these people are in her way and she’s warned Doctor Strange not to get in her way. And he did. He didn’t listen. And so I just had to go from that point of view.”
Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now playing only in theaters.
