WANDAVISION Director Shares His Thoughts On DOCTOR STRANGE Sequel's Villainous Scarlet Witch

WANDAVISION Director Shares His Thoughts On DOCTOR STRANGE Sequel's Villainous Scarlet Witch

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' portrayal of the Scarlet Witch divided fans, and WandaVision director Matt Shakman has now shared his thoughts on where Marvel Studios took the character...

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By JoshWilding - Feb 08, 2023 07:02 AM EST
Source: ComicBook.com

Despite initially lending her newfound abilities to villains such HYDRA's Baron Von Strucker and Ultron, Wanda Maximoff eventually saw the error of her ways and became an Avenger. We followed her path of redemption through a number of movies, though it was made clear fairly early on that the Sokovian was struggling with her powers. 

Following The Vision's death in Avengers: Infinity War, Wanda completely lost control and created her own reality in the New Jersey town of Westview. However, after embracing her identity as the Scarlet Witch, the hero broke bad and went on a murderous rampage in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Understandably, that didn't sit well with a lot of fans and while she did (mostly) do the right thing in the end, it will be hard for Wanda to come back from killing Earth-838's Illuminati.

During a recent interview with ComicBook.com, WandaVision director Matt Shakman shared his thoughts on the character's descent into villainy following the Disney+ TV series.

"I talked a lot to Michael Waldron and I talked to Sam Raimi and we also shared lots of the art department as we were creating the Darkhold and her costume and other things that would continue on, so there was a lot of synergy on it," he recalls. "I'm aware of, certainly, the conversation on the internet about Wanda and her character."

"I'm so proud of everything we did on WandaVision. That show is really special, working with Lizzie, and telling that story was so unique and fun."

"When you're in this universe, you have to pass the baton," the Fantastic Four director added. "I think they made decisions they needed to make to make that story work and I thought it was a super entertaining movie."

Marvel Studios can still make things right with the Scarlet Witch, especially as she's bound to be invaluable when Earth's Mightiest Heroes reunite to battle Kang the Conqueror. We've heard conflicting reports about whether Wanda will appear in Agatha: Coven of Chaos, though we're sure Marvel Studios has plans for Wanda somewhere in Phase 5.

Do you think the Scarlet Witch can find redemption?

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FilmGuy7878
FilmGuy7878 - 2/8/2023, 7:59 AM
Hot take incoming...

I actually liked Wanda more as a villain than a hero. I know they rushed to the whole thing but Wanda was just so creepy, fun, and honestly kinda hot as a full on ruthless maniac and you can tell Lizzie was acting her heart out.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 2/8/2023, 8:03 AM
@FilmGuy7878 - same. If they ever do a Midnight Sons, I kinda want her to be the villain. Mephisto could be fun, but I prefer seeing Elizabeth Olsen
TheBlueMorpho
TheBlueMorpho - 2/8/2023, 8:04 AM
@FilmGuy7878 -

She was a good villain
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 2/8/2023, 8:17 AM
@FilmGuy7878 -

Wanda as a villain makes perfect sense, regardless of the Darkhold's corruption. As much as I loved both WandaVision and Multiverse, there are lines in both of these projects that try to paint her as more sympathetic and more kindhearted than she actually was:

Monica: "They'll never know what you sacrificed."
Stephen: "But you put things right in the end."

What the multiversal f#ck are either of you talking about? She mindwiped and mentally imprisoned an entire community, and then fled when confronted. She's a villain; Own it!
Origame
Origame - 2/8/2023, 8:47 AM
@FilmGuy7878 - id just rather they acknowledge she's doing some f@#$ed up sh!t rather than try to paint her as a hero by the end. Like, the villains of wandavision were literally just trying to stop Wanda from enslaving a town. That's who she's considered a hero for stopping.
FilmGuy7878
FilmGuy7878 - 2/8/2023, 9:02 AM
@DrReedRichards - Yeah I never got that either. She's committed multiverseal manslaughter and town enslavement and they tried to write her off as a hero again. It really irks me.
MosquitoFarmer
MosquitoFarmer - 2/8/2023, 9:19 AM
@FilmGuy7878 - She has had a really brutal journey through the MCU (so has Thor), but I do really appreciate that as of now we've made a full circle loop from her starting as an antagonist to becoming a full on villain. It was pretty cool, and certainly unique from one of our heroes.
FilmGuy7878
FilmGuy7878 - 2/8/2023, 9:23 AM
@MosquitoFarmer - Yeah, it's an interesting arc for sure.
SATW42
SATW42 - 2/8/2023, 9:29 AM
@Origame - @Origame - wait, what? The villains of wandavision were Agatha and Hayward. They literally provided false video of her stealing Visions body, she never did that. Hayward is purposefully violating the Sokovia accords byy even having Vision, and manipulated Wanda so that he could lawfully have a reason to have his SWORD controlled Vision.

The show also didn't shy away from Wanda being a monster. I also think they could've done more, but it's clear she's a villain of the show by the end when the town is absolutely terrified of her.
Origame
Origame - 2/8/2023, 9:55 AM
@SATW42 - 1) Agatha didn't do that. Just Hayward. And he was framing someone who already did a much worse crime. Still bad, but not enslave an entire town bad. And so what about the sokovia accords? Those were deemed unenforceable now, while Wanda TOOK OVER AN ENTIRE TOWN OF INNOCENT PEOPLE! Your moral compass is f@#$ed if you still think Hayward is the bad guy here.

2) yes they did. Hence this from Wanda just stopping the hex



You wonder why I call you an mcu fanboy. This is the sh!t you defend.
SATW42
SATW42 - 2/8/2023, 10:01 AM
@Origame - I understand the confusion. I said Agatha and Hayward were the villains. Then went on to explain how Hayward was a villain and said "they" when I meant him and SWORD, not him and Agatha.

Hayward is a government official who falsified video footage so he would have a reason to have a an unlawful super powered weapon. He didn't care about the town, the end game was him having his weapon without oversight, and you think that's the good guy? lol
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 2/8/2023, 10:06 AM
@SATW42 -

Trust me, it's not worth it.



That user's whole spiel is "I'm not an MCU hater but the MCU sucks".
Origame
Origame - 2/8/2023, 10:06 AM
@SATW42 - 1) yes, its very confusing when you don't use proper grammar in the slightest. But admitting you're wrong about anything is beyond you

2) never said he was the good guy. Just that it's ridiculous to paint him as the bad guy in a show where the "hero" enslaved an entire town to the point the citizens beg her for death so she could play house. At least with Hayward there's a moral gray area in using said super weapon to save people. And I trust him with that more than Wanda, the hero you think is the good guy. Lol.
SATW42
SATW42 - 2/8/2023, 10:09 AM
@Origame - Hayward literally tortured putting him together and tearing him apart MILLIONS of times. They actually say that on the show. Then when he gets remnants of the mind stone finally ressurects Vision, against visions wishes mind you, and wipes his memory and sends him to kill Wanda and a version of himself. Hayward also tries to KILL KIDS. He literally has no idea how they exist, he has no way of knowing. If monica didn't stop him, he would have willingly KILLED CHILDREN. My moral compass is [frick]ed? You think that is the good guy?
SATW42
SATW42 - 2/8/2023, 10:11 AM
@Origame - I never said she was good. I quite clearly said she enslaved a town and they were terrified of her.

Hayward tried rebuilding vision BEFORE the events of Wandavision. I know the show was told out of order but I think youre missing the timeline here. He didn't try to rebuild vision to stop wanda, he tried SECRETLY AND ILLEGALLY rebuilding vision BEFORE the events of WandaVision.
SATW42
SATW42 - 2/8/2023, 10:13 AM
@SATW42 - He used the events of Wandavision opportunistically to justify his already illegal acts. You keep trying to say "eh, he created white vision to kill wanda". No, he had the body parts and was trying to make him well before that. You're quite literally either using revisionist history to prove your point, or forgot the true timeline of the show.
MochaKing
MochaKing - 2/8/2023, 10:15 AM
@FilmGuy7878 - Movie was great and Olsen did pretty great job. My only gripe about movie, it was too rushed. They didn't take little more time to certain characters. I guess it's Bob Chapek idea to trim runtime for DS MOM and Thor L&T. He made some weird choices to increase profit and care less for quality
Origame
Origame - 2/8/2023, 10:35 AM
@SATW42 - ...how could he torture vision if they couldn't even power him up? He was effectively dead the entire time. You seem to remember the frame job, but forgot that he needed the hex magic to power him on.

Also, context. Those kids were created by the hex. They weren't real, and didn't even exist before a few days ago. They needed to die to save the town of people, including all those real children. But if you wanna argue the kids were real, then Wanda actually killed them and vision when she took down the hex. So by your own logic, she actually murdered them AND tortured many other kids for weeks. And you still think Hayward is the bad guy?
Origame
Origame - 2/8/2023, 10:39 AM
@SATW42 - yeah, really don't care if it was illegal. I'm speaking about morals. All avengers have broken laws. But morally it's all good. Wanda took over a town and the bad guy of that show was a government agent who just wanted a super weapon to deal with the next Thanos 🙄

As a counterpoint, breaking bad. Walter white wasn't a good guy. But the show knew if they were making a villain, they would have to be morally worse then him. Hence gus and the neo nazis.
SATW42
SATW42 - 2/8/2023, 11:13 AM
@Origame - Hilarious you don't realize the dangers of a dude illegally wanting to acquire a super weapon and then assume his reasons are altruistic. I'm sure in other message boards you're probably a libertarian who doesn't trust the government, but when it comes to your tv shows, the government secretly creating illegal weapons are the good guys lol
dagenspear
dagenspear - 2/8/2023, 11:23 AM
@FilmGuy7878 - I could've engaged with the character as a villain (it's something I'd been anticipating happening at some point), if her as a villain was at all any natural extension of her character within the universe. But it wasn't.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 2/8/2023, 11:23 AM
@TheBlueMorpho - She was kinda a nonsense crazy villain.
SATW42
SATW42 - 2/8/2023, 11:26 AM
@Origame - I'd argue that Walter, morally, is much worse than Gus, but it seems like nuance isn't exactly your thing here right now, so I'm not sure it's worth my energy to explain why.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 2/8/2023, 11:28 AM
@DrReedRichards - It doesn't make perfect sense, within the developed context of the character as developed, because of all that. WandaVision's conclusion is so at odds with where she's at in MoM it's maddening. Yes, she did bad things, but the show doesn't paint it that way. For goodness sakes, be consistent with yourself MCU. If you wanted villain Wanda, maybe have her become a villain in that show at the end in a mental breakdown of not separating reality from her illusion! Instead they just end it with her at 30-40 and come back to her in MoM and she's at like 95!
dagenspear
dagenspear - 2/8/2023, 11:30 AM
@SATW42 - They were antagonists to Wanda. They were, in reality, no more villainous than Wanda was. Wanda takes a whole town hostage, and knowingly keeps it that way.

The show literally goes out of it's way to handwave her actions and Wanda gets off scott free for what she did.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 2/8/2023, 11:31 AM
@DrReedRichards - You can't possibly realistically defend the idea that Hayward and Agatha were somehow more of a villain than Wanda was.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 2/8/2023, 11:32 AM
@SATW42 - No. Gus is developed to be willing to have children murdered.
Origame
Origame - 2/8/2023, 11:33 AM
@SATW42 - and it's hilarious you think someone just casually trapping and torturing an entire town with reality warping powers to pretend she's in a sitcom isn't morally worse.
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 2/8/2023, 11:33 AM
@dagenspear -

Where exactly did I?
Origame
Origame - 2/8/2023, 11:34 AM
@SATW42 - how tf is Walter morally worse than gus?
SATW42
SATW42 - 2/8/2023, 11:38 AM
@dagenspear - so was Walt. It's like everyone forgets about Brock.
SATW42
SATW42 - 2/8/2023, 11:40 AM
@dagenspear - I didn't say one was worse than the other, this all started because Origame said the only villain of the show was someone trying to stop wanda from kidnapping a town, completely hand waving agathas entire existence and Hayward being an evil government entity trying to illegally build an atomic level weapon
SATW42
SATW42 - 2/8/2023, 11:43 AM
@Origame - again, point me in the direction where I said one was worse. Your original comment ignored the existence of Agatha and hand waved away the government entity trying to create an atomic level weapon in secret. I was arguing your conceipt that the villains were just trying to stop her from taking over a town. That was never Agatha's intention at all and Hayward was doing shit before the events of the show. again.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 2/8/2023, 11:47 AM
@DrReedRichards - In consideration to your post being against seemingly the person criticizing this, writing it off as a hater, to me, I interpreted it that way. I'm sorry for my assumption, and I'm sorry if it was incorrect.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 2/8/2023, 11:49 AM
@SATW42 - I'd argue those elements aren't that meaningfully comparable to what Wanda does. They're actions can be wrong and that not matter in regards to who they're against. They have every logical reason to be against Wanda here, but they're still treated like the bad guys who need to locked up.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 2/8/2023, 11:50 AM
@SATW42 - While Wanda walks free.
Origame
Origame - 2/8/2023, 11:52 AM
@SATW42 - well I didn't ignore them. I literally said what they did morally wasn't nearly as bad as what the supposed hero did. The only morally wrong thing with what Hayward did is that it most likely would lead to bad things later on. And understandable since the government needs an atomic super weapon like vision to deal with the potential next Thanos. What Wanda did was morally bad now. And the only justification being her emotional state, which means she needs to be contained. Not only that but she already showed to be more powerful than vision, while being unstable, then decided to grow her powers with the darkhold. You know, making herself a beyond atomic super weapon. And in secret too.

Also, for someone claiming I'm ignoring them, you still never mentioned anything Agatha did.
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