The following article contains minor spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in theaters now.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness screenwriter Michael Waldron defended the choice to make Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch the villain of the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In an interview with Variety, Waldron explained that he would not change the way Wanda's arc panned out in the Disney+ series, WandaVision, to make it more clear that the Scarlet Witch was heading into villain territory, despite claims from fans that the transformation was out-of-character.
"No, I don't wish WandaVision had done anything differently. I wouldn't change a thing about what they did," Waldron said. "My interpretation of WandaVision is that she confronts her grief and she lets go of the people she has under her control, but I don't think she necessarily resolves her grief in that show, and I don't think she resolves her anger. Maybe she's able to say goodbye to Vision, but I think she's really just fallen in love with those kids."
Waldron justified the decision to make Wanda Multiverse of Madness' villain by citing a certain ominous book seen near the end of WandaVision. "I think that all of those hanging threads are the things that the Darkhold preys on when she gets the Darkhold from Agatha," he said. "You see in the final scene of WandaVision, that tag--— the mistake that our Wanda makes is she opens the Darkhold. She starts reading, and I think it preys on her desire to have those children and have them for real this time. So yeah, that was how I arrived there. It made sense to me and it made sense to our teams because we built the story."
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is directed by the original Spider-Man trilogy's very own Sam Raimi and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the former Sorcerer Supreme. Doctor Strange and his allies embark on a mind-bending journey into the multiverse when a new threat endangers the barrier separating alternate realities.
The film stars an ensemble cast featuring Benedict Wong as Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez and Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, alongside Cumberbatch and Olsen. Cumberbatch, Olsen and Gomez's performances in the film have especially been praised by critics, who also lauded Raimi's direction, the visual effects and the musical score.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is currently showing in theaters.
Source: Variety