WandaVision Reveals Why Wanda’s Magic Is So Unique

It’s never been a question in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) is a powerful figure. When the character was first introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron Maximoff twin dubbed to be “weird” by Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) was shown to have impressive powers with seemingly telekinetic and telepathic powers. Later, in Avengers: Infinity War viewers see just how strong she can be, holding off Thanos while simultaneously using her powers to destroy the Mind Stone in an attempt to stop Thanos from acquiring it. However, in WandaVision, we see a side of Wanda’s abilities unlike anything before, revealing vast and unique magical powers. Now, in this week’s episode “Previously On”, we find out exactly why Wanda’s magic differs so much from anything we’ve seen in the MCU thus far.

In the episode, Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) is trying to figure out exactly what Wanda’s deal is because what Wanda is doing is so unusual — specifically that she’s pretty much doing her manipulation of reality automatically and with far-reaching impact. While most magic appears to have to be done with conscious intent, Wanda is largely holding Westview under her spell in a sort of “set it and forget it” situation, and while we do see Wanda do smaller, more deliberate acts — such as when she ejected Monica (Teyonah Parris) from Westview and then rebuilt the whole she created in doing so — the larger creation is something that we don’t see Wanda do directly.

This kind of magic and the extent of its use is unlike what we’ve seen in the MCU and is unusual enough to get Agatha’s attention, which is part of what prompts her to guide Wanda through her past to figure out exactly how Wanda is doing it. It’s through that painful trip down memory lane that Agatha figures it out. Wanda is using Chaos Magic, something that seems to surprise and concern Agatha who tells her “I know what you are. You have no idea how dangerous you are. You’re supposed to be a myth. A being capable of spontaneous creation.” She goes on to tell Wanda that she’s using Chaos Magic and is a being called the Scarlet Witch.

Wanda using Chaos Magic is a big deal because of how powerful it is. While in comics lore it’s referred to as a form of magic that allows for the warping, manipulation, and reconstruction of reality per the user’s instruction, it’s actually massively powerful and can even destroy the entire universe. It’s that aspect that makes Wanda an incredibly dangerous figure especially since she’s had no real training in the use of her powers, something that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige even spoke with ComicBook.com about during a visit to the set of Doctor Strange in 2016.

“Her powers, she’s never had any training, I’m talking about Scarlet Witch. She never had any training; she’s figuring it out,” Feige said at the time. “Arguably, you could say that’s why her powers are much more chaotic and much looser in the way that we showcased those light effects. In [Doctor Strange]… it’s much tighter. It’s all about focus. It’s all about pulling energies from other dimensions in an organized and purposeful fashion, which is why they can do it a lot more than she can in, at least, a much more precise way.”

The first eight episodes of WandaVision are now streaming on Disney+.