WandaVision Just Set Up a Big Scarlet Witch MCU Power Retcon

A commercial for Hydra Soak in Tony Stark and Baron von Strucker, the commercials in WandaVision seemingly hint at Wanda's trauma; they are a means of her past haunting her, even in the idyllic fantasy world of Westview. The ad for a product called Hydra Soak continues that, further nodding towards the experiments Wanda and her brother, Pietro, underwent with Strucker and Hydra, but it may also be looking to her future too.

Since making her MCU debut in the post-credits scene of Scarlet Witch's powers developing in each MCU movie, WandaVision taking things further, and the right to the X-Men back under Marvel's control, things could be about to change.

In the commercial for Hydra Soak, the tagline is "find the goddess within." The advert itself ties quite overtly to WandaVision's fake reality, promising that it will allow the person to "escape to a world all your own," but the goddess tease may tap more into Scarlet Witch's powers. The idea of finding the goddess within could suggest that, rather than the Mind Stone giving Wanda (and Pietro) their powers, it instead simply unlocked or awoken abilities within them that had lain hidden or dormant. Given other parts of the commercial are seemingly about Scarlet Witch's world and powers, then it would make sense for the goddess line to be as well. The Hydra Soak is even colored in a bright blue, which links back to the gem that housed the Mind Stone in the Scepter.

If Marvel is retconning Scarlet Witch's powers in the MCU, then there are a couple of clear options on the table. One would be to truly lean into Wanda's alias, and make her a true sorcerer. Magic already exists in the MCU, and since Scarlet Witch will appear in Doctor Strange 2, then linking her powers to his isn't outside the realm of possibilities. Even bigger, though, would be Marvel finally making Scarlet Witch into a mutant, which is possible now that they have the rights. WandaVision has dropped teases of the House of M storyline from Marvel Comics and, while that featured Wanda saying "no more mutants," the MCU could be laying the groundwork for the opposite to be true, turning Scarlet Witch (and Quicksilver) into its first mutants, ahead of the arrival of the X-Men, Deadpool, and other Fox characters.

The Hydra Soak commercial in WandaVision isn't even the first time Marvel has hinted at a Scarlet Witch power change. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe Visual Dictionary, released back in 2018, the entry on Scarlet Witch mutant retcon.

Again, this is a logical route for the MCU to go down. WandaVision is only making Scarlet Witch more powerful, and introducing mutants as having been in the MCU all along, but with their powers simply latent, would be a canny way of retconning them into existence. Since Wanda is an existing character, then it's easier to do that with her first, setting the stage for more to come afterwards. WandaVision promises many twists and turns, but one of its biggest could be making Scarlet Witch into the MCU's first mutant.

Next: WandaVision: Every MCU Easter Egg In Episode 3