Where Were Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver During Ultron’s Multiverse Attack?

Warning: Contains spoilers for Marvel’s What If…? episode 8.

The multiverses started to collide in What If…? episode 8, “What If…Ultron Had Won?” but Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were missing from the whole episode. Pietro Maximoff has yet to make an appearance in What If…? at all, even though a strange portrayal of him cropped up in WandaVision. Wanda Maximoff’s only appearance in the series was as a zombie in an earlier episode. With Ultron as a central figure, this episode would have seemed the logical location for the twins to appear, so where were Wanda and Pietro?

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ultron teamed up with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, motivated by their shared quest to take down Tony Stark. In the original movie, Ultron tried to upload his consciousness into a synthetic body but was stopped. The Avengers then stole the cradle that contained the body and used it to create Vision. What If…? assumed that Ultron was successful in that upload which suggested that he completed it before the Avengers could steal the cradle.

The action that allowed the Avengers to steal the cradle in Age of Ultron was a betrayal by Scarlet Witch. Dr. Cho was hypnotized by Ultron into helping him to execute the upload. Once the upload had started, Wanda was able to briefly read Ultron’s mind in his new body and saw his intentions to destroy life on the planet. Before fleeing, she took a moment of Ultron being distracted to free Dr. Cho of her hypnosis, who then paused the upload. This suggests that the flashpoint for this What If…? episode was related to Wanda not being in a position to free Cho and stop the upload.

Their presence within the story would still be necessary for Ultron to have been able to get to this point. While Iron Man might have been able to claim the Mind Stone from Strucker and create Ultron without Wanda interfering, she was instrumental to the successful acquisition of the vibranium that Ultron needed for his body. Therefore, the most likely situation is that Ultron foresaw their betrayal or acted quickly when Wanda had her vision and was able to kill both of them when they weren’t prepared. Disposing of them when they no longer seemed helpful to him would fit with Ultron’s view of humanity, particularly in this more ruthless depiction of the character who is intent on creating peace not just on Earth but across the whole universe and multiverse.

Given their strength, it is possible that the two would have escaped from Ultron or otherwise left earlier but weren’t in a position to free Dr. Cho. However, based on what is shown of the characters, once the threat from Ultron became more apparent, it is unlikely that they would not have tried to help to stop him. The fact that What If…? does not show them being defeated alongside the other Avengers suggests that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were already dead.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver not being in What If…? could signify future plans for the MCU. Marvel does not like to repeat plotlines, so it is possible that their almost complete absence from the multiverse-based series is hinting at their upcoming stories. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness is known to include Wanda Maximoff, and after the Evan Peters role as Ralph Bohner in WandaVision, there may be a Pietro Maximoff appearance as well.

Marvel’s What If…? releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.