The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been surprisingly coy about how some of its metaphysics operate. That’s more important than it may sound, considering it includes a mélange of tropes from science fiction, high fantasy, classic mythology and straight-up weirdness, all elaborately defined and each playing by its own set of rules. It’s functional, and the MCU is canny enough to avoid getting down into specifics since it gives creators maximum wiggle room to flash various powers. But it still all adheres to stated and sometimes confusing rules, which govern how it works in relation to everything else. Wakandan nanotech, for instance, looks and acts decidedly differently than Asgardian magic.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness looks to take the bull by the horns in that regard. The mystery of magic within the MCU has never been answered, save that it’s different than other types of powers and can be taught to those with aptitude. The arrival of Wanda Maximoff – and more specifically, the chaos magic she unleashed during the events of WandaVision – throws everything into a cocked hat. What is chaos magic, and can Doctor Strange use it? The new film will likely tell, but for now, a few details can be confirmed.
In the comics, chaos magic dates back to Avengers #128 in 1974. Not coincidentally, that same issue had Agatha Harkness arriving to teach Wanda the ways of magic, a thread that WandaVision made ample use of. The Scarlet Witch is deeply enmeshed in chaos magic: the Elder god Chthon used it to establish a realm on Earth, and he granted Wanda a fraction of his power upon her birth. He intended to use her as a vessel once she had grown to adulthood and learned to master her abilities.
As for what chaos magic could do, the sky was the limit. It allowed the wielder to reshape reality to their desires, often causing untold destruction in the process. If left unchecked, it could potentially destroy creation, something Wanda periodically flirts with during her tenure in the comics. It resulted in The House of M and similar reality-changing cataclysms, and again, it should sound very familiar to viewers of WandaVision.
The MCU ties chaos magic more or less to the power of the Infinity Stones, which helped its version of Wanda unlock her powers. She and her brother were initially exposed to energies from the Mind Stone, which was contained within the Scepter and controlled by Hydra, as revealed in Avengers: Age of Ultron. According to WandaVision Season 1, Episode 8, “Previously On,” the gem’s energies drastically affected Wanda's inborn ability to practice chaos magic, which would otherwise have withered and died in her. That was at least part of the power she used to create her sitcom reality, which led the MCU’s Agatha Harkness to brand her “The Scarlet Witch.” Her powers are tellingly red, matching that of the cosmos-warping Reality Stone rather than the yellow of the Mind Stone.
Regardless of its source, Wanda's powers were enough to scare Agatha and, depending on the specifics of The Multiverse of Madness, may set Wanda up as a cosmos-destroying villain. Chaos magic certainly has the ability, and with the Scarlet Witch last seen studying the Darkhold text in an effort to understand and master it, she may indeed be capable of unmaking the whole of creation or even worse. The question is, can Strange?
The obvious answer would be “no” since he’s evinced no aptitude for chaos magic, and Agnes strongly implied that Wanda was unique in that regard. And yet delving into the forbidden isn’t beyond him; he’s certainly arrogant enough, and the "desecration of reality" Mordo hints at in the Multiverse of Madness trailer that also teases the Illuminati could very easily come from something like chaos magic. The most telling sign is a brief shot in the trailer of Strange manipulating glowing balls of red energy – matching Wanda’s reality-bending powers – while stating in voice-over that he “did what he had to do to protect our world.” That’s enough to shift the “no” to a “maybe” and might leave the MCU’s most terrifying magic open to Strange’s less-than-cautious machinations.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens in theaters on May 6.