The MCU may have secretly revealed the multiverse and Scarlet Witch’s connection to it years before they launched the Multiverse Saga. Elizabeth Olsen first ed the MCU in Avengers: Age of Ultron as Wanda Maximoff, and the movie didn’t hesitate to show how chaotic and destructive her powers can be. Since then, they’ve only grown and become more refined to the point that she could’ve easily beaten Thanos in Avengers: Endgame had he not ordered his forces to bomb the battlefield.
Significantly, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness showed the wide scope of Scarlet Witch’s powers and expanded viewers’ understanding of the multiverse. It established dreams and nightmares as connections across the multiverse, linking variants together. Doctor Strange experienced a memory of one of his variants with America Chavez, while Wanda was plagued with dreams of her lost children. In tandem with Loki’s inclusion of the Dream Dimension, dreams’ multiversal link sets up a great deal for the futures of both Scarlet Witch and the MCU as a whole, but it also makes their past all the more complicated, including moments from Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Age Of Ultron’s Dream Sequences Are More Complex After Doctor Strange 2
The notion of dreams and nightmares was central to key moments in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and now they’re all more interesting to consider thanks to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Specifically, throughout the film’s first half, while Wanda and her brother, Pietro, were still antagonists, she enchanted the of the Avengers. Only Hawkeye was saved due to his quick wits, but the rest were haunted by dreams and visions. They were all intended to reveal the heroes’ deepest fears and insecurities so that they would eat away at them and the team from the inside. Yet, now these sequences could have an even deeper meaning.
Specifically, each member saw a potential past or future that would render them practically catatonic while Ultron and the twins accomplish their plans. Tony experienced a different outcome to The Avengers in which he was unsuccessful to stop the Chitauri invasion and his teammates and friends were all killed. This played into his fear of failure and set him on the path to creating Ultron. Thor, on the other hand, foresaw the tragic events of Asgard’s end - in a clever tease to Thor: Ragnarok - and even the Infinity Stones. This piqued his interest in the aligning cosmic forces pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Captain America envisioned the dance he never got to have with Peggy Carter at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger. While Captain America’s vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron did eventually become his happy ending in Avengers: Endgame, it taunted him with the life he never got to experience and the love he lost. Conversely, Black Widow’s visions stand out the most compared to the rest. Unlike the others, she does not see life as it could’ve been in another reality, but rather the traumatic memories from her past in the Red Room. It all highlighted her as a mad killer and different from her teammates.
Altogether these four visions laid the groundwork for the Avengers’ potential destruction, but their understanding following Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness makes them all the more complex. Wanda could’ve unlocked more than their memories and fears for the future, and inadvertently tapped into those from another reality instead. This complication is shared with other dream sequences throughout the Infinity Saga, and until the rules of this connection between dreams and the multiverse are formally defined, there will not be multiple ways to read such scenes.
Did Scarlet Witch Reveal The MCU's Multiverse To The Avengers?
Given her incredible powers even at the time, Wanda may have actually revealed the multiverse to the Avengers by inducing these visions. Such would mean that Avengers: Age of Ultron is retroactively the introduction of the multiverse into the MCU. This notion does have merit solely based on Scarlet Witch’s important link to the multiverse. Aptly, she is a nexus being - a person with the potential to reshape reality in some way who acts as an anchor point for their respective universe’s connection to the multiverse. Furthermore, Scarlet Witch is more than a moniker. She is the prophesied, legendary entity fated to either rule or destroy all reality.
Of course, Wanda would have no understanding of what she is really doing in this case seeing as she was still getting a hold of her powers. In a way, her spell in Avengers: Age of Ultron could function like involuntarily induced dreamwalking - the method in which Scarlet Witch was able to possess her variant in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Intriguingly, this would primarily apply to Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. They all saw events of another reality. Black Widow is the complication to this theory for, as stated before, she relived memories and there’s no clear indication they could’ve been one of her variants’.
This would be a fascinating new understanding of these dream sequences, but there are impediments to this being possible. It was the Darkhold that presumably taught her how to access the multiverse and dreamwalk, and Wanda hadn’t yet unlocked the full scope of her powers nor her connection to the Scarlet Witch yet. While it’s not entirely out of the question since Wanda is just so inherently powerful, altogether it just doesn’t seem likely that she actually showed them the multiverse. Instead, these visions are probably just what they were initially presented as - visions.
Scarlet Witch Must Still Be Key To The Multiverse In The MCU's Future
Whatever the case may be for Avengers: Age of Ultron’s complex dream sequences, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness proved one thing for sure - Scarlet Witch is essential to the MCU’s Multiverse Saga. That’s what makes her death all the more puzzling. As a character of such sheer power, she presents a problem for the MCU, so she had to get taken off the table. Although that’s certainly only temporary. There’s still no official word as to when audiences can expect to see Elizabeth Olsen return as Scarlet Witch, but some prospects are on the horizon.
Currently, Agatha: Coven of Chaos seems to be a safe and likely bet since it’s a WandaVision spin-off and Scarlet Witch’s use of chaos magic aligns with the title. However, expectations shouldn’t be for a significant role in that. It is still Agatha Harkness’ TV show, but it can surely bring her back or at least lay the groundwork for something else to do so. Aptly, if it isn’t Agatha: Coven of Chaos, then audiences may have to wait until Phase 6’s Avengers movie as Blade is the only other confirmed supernatural project coming down the pipeline and Scarlet Witch doesn’t really seem to be a good fit for that.
Upon her return, whenever it happens, it’s interesting to consider what role she’ll serve and especially how she’ll earn the redemption she deserves. A theory for Avengers: Secret Wars claims she’ll fulfill the Molecule Man role in reshaping and uniting the multiverse. This would play right into her important connection to the multiverse as a nexus being and her vast power set - similar to his reality-warping capabilities - and such, she would be instrumental in the final culmination of the Multiverse Saga. Scarlet Witch has been built up be one of the MCU’s most important and complex characters, and even in death, she’s pivotal to the franchise’s future.
