Doctor Strange 2 Has Scarlet Witch Variants, Confirms Sam Raimi

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness director Sam Raimi confirms the movie has multiple Wanda Maximoff variants. The upcoming MCU project is Raimi’s first time back in the director’s chair since 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful, and marks the filmmaker’s return to the superhero genre after having helped it achieve its current success with the 2000s Spider-Man trilogy. After experiencing some release-date shuffling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will hit theaters on May 6.

As a significant expansion of the MCU’s recent multiverse storyline, the film has already been shown to contain multiple Doctor Strange variants, including an Evil Strange that could be the movie’s main villain. However, Elizabeth Olsen is also returning to the big screen as Wanda Maximoff after the 2021 Disney+ series WandaVision saw her self-actualize as the Scarlet Witch, significantly increasing her power. The Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailers have teased a potential villainous turn for Wanda, whose use of the Darkhold spell book could prove corrupting.

Now, in a new interview with Fandango, Raimi confirms that multiple Scarlet Witch variants will appear in Doctor Strange 2. The footage released so far had made it difficult to tell if the Wanda seen confronting Strange could be distinct from the MCU version, but when asked if Olsen is tasked with playing multiple versions of her Marvel character, the director answers in the affirmative. Raimi notes that it was a challenge for both her and Benedict Cumberbatch to perform all the variants, and that he had a lot of fun directing them. Check out his full comment below:

Yes. The movie is a journey into the multiverse, so you do see different iterations of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, and even Lizzie Olsen’s character of Wanda Maximoff. So, the actors have to play that. It’s a great challenge for them and great fun to direct them playing these altered versions of themselves.

While Raimi’s admission opens up the possibility that the MCU Wanda fans know and love doesn’t give into darker impulses in Doctor Strange 2, there’s a reason fans didn’t initially jump to the variants conclusion. As WandaVision explored in depth, Olsen’s character has been through a lot, and the Disney+ show only compounded that with the losses of both a magically revived Vision and their two sons. Should she get tired of always being framed as the villain, as she says in one of the trailers, the audience could certainly understand her point of view.

Additionally, Wanda’s use of the Darkhold makes her uniquely vulnerable to corruption, particularly given that a popular Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness theory has Chthon emerging as the film’s true antagonist. The Elder God has seemingly appeared in recent promotional material, and since he is the author of the Darkhold in the comics, fans have wondered if he will be shown to actively take control of Wanda’s mind. With just a month left until the MCU movie’s release date, viewers don’t have too long to wait to find out.