Marvel Studios has seemingly confirmed that Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) did indeed perish at the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The new book Marvel Studios The Marvel Cinematic Universe An Official Timeline addresses Wanda’s ambiguous demise at the end of the Doctor Strange sequel. “She destroys Wundagore — and collapses it upon herself — ending two great threats to all of the Multiverse,” it reads. This wording ostensibly verifies that Wanda’s face turn resulted in her demise.
Since Multiverse of Madness hit theaters, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans have debated whether or not Wanda actually died at the end of the film. Many believe the character will return at some point. Some stand by the notion that Wanda survived Wundagore’s collapse, while others believe she will be resurrected (a feat not uncommon for Marvel characters). However, it’s likely that Marvel deliberately set up a Schrödinger’s cat-esque scenario — with Wanda’s ultimate fate dependent on whether Olsen decides to return to the role.
Notably, Olsen will reprise her role as Wanda Maximoff in the upcoming second season of Marvel Studios’ Disney+ animated series What If…?, which explores different realities across the multiverse. However, the actor’s future in the mainstream MCU remains up in the air. Reportedly, it is possible Olsen will appear in the upcoming Paul Bettany-led WandaVision spin-off series Vision Quest. Still, such an appearance remains unconfirmed.
Elizabeth Olsen and Kevin Feige on Scarlet Witch’s potential MCU return
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige seems optimistic that Olsen will return to the MCU at some point — despite Wanda’s apparent death. “I don’t know that we saw her under rubble?” Feige told Variety last year. “I saw a tower coming down, and a little red flash. I don’t know what that means.” The executive added, “I’d work with Lizzie for another 100 years if we could … Anything’s possible in the multiverse! We’ll have to see.”
While Olsen herself hasn’t ruled out a return to the Marvel fold, she does seem content to take her time. “I’m trying to figure out,” the actor said in an interview published this past August. “Because, specifically in the last four years, my output has been Marvel. I don’t want … it’s not that I don’t want to be associated as just this character. But I really feel like I need to be building other parts back up for balance. I so much want to do films right now. And I hope some of them come together in the way I feel like they can. But yeah, that’s something that I need. I just need more, other characters in my life. There’s no longevity in one character.”
Still, Olsen has also expressed interest in tackling the X-Men mythos as it’s integrated into the MCU. “I just want to figure out the whole mutant thing,” she said back in July. “…I just would love to explore that so much. I think X-Men was definitely my first experience with superhero-type films.”
Olsen made her MCU debut as Wanda Maximoff in the post-credits scene of 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. She subsequently reprised the role in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Multiverse of Madness.
