When we last saw Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. Scarlet Witch, in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it slooked like she’d sacrificed her life to both destroy Mount Wundagore and all copies of the book of spells known as the Darkhold across the multiverse. However, if a wild new rumor is to be believed, Wanda will have a big part to play in the upcoming conflict centered around Kang the Conqueror, a villain who already has a lot of fans in his corner.
Following Johnathan Majors debuting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Kang variant He Who Remains in the Loki Season 1 finale, the actor is debuting as the main Kang next month in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Just like Thanos in The Infinity Saga, Kang is serving as the overarching antagonist of The Multiverse Saga, with his schemes coming to a head in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. So what is he plotting besides causing general mayhem across time and countless realties? Well, starting off, The Cosmic Circus has heard that there’s a plan to reveal that either the main Kang or one of his other variants is the author of the Darkhold.
This on its own is interesting enough, because while Kang the Conqueror is one of the most powerful villains in Marvel lore, he usually carries out his schemes using science and advance technology. If this rumor is accurate, then either the MCU’s main Kang or one of his doppelgängers has also dabbled in magic. It’s also worth remembering that in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wong said that the demon Chthon carved his dark magic into Mount Wundagore’s tomb eons ago, and that magic was transcribed into the spells contained in the Darkhold. Now there’s the possibility that a Kang was the one who did the transcribing, and that the Darkhold has a deeper connection to the multiverse than we thought.
But here’s where things get especially intriguing. In the WandaVision finale, Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Darkness (who has her own Disney+ series on the way) revealed there’s a prophecy written in the Darkhold that Scarlet Witch, the mantle Wanda Maximoff now carries, is destined to either rule or destroy the world. That prophecy didn’t come to pass since Wanda destroyed Mount Wundagore and all of the Darkhold copies, but as Cosmic Circus pointed out, maybe that’s what Kang wanted to happen. If his goal is to rule all of existence across the multiverse, then he wouldn’t want someone like Wanda to steal his thunder. Just because Kang or one of his variants may have transcribed those spells doesn’t mean he’d be a fan of them.
So what does all this mean for Scarlet Witch? Well for now, we don’t know for sure if she’s still alive in the MCU or not, but Elizabeth Olsen hopes that her character is heading “towards some kind of redemption.” So for the sake of argument, let’s say Wanda Maximoff wasn’t crushed to death in Mount Wundagore. Because she didn’t fulfill the Darkhold prophecy, Wanda could simply resurface in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty as one of the heroes who fights back against Kang the Conqueror.
However, even though all versions of the Darkhold were wiped from existence, Kang is a time traveler, meaning he can easily go back and retrieve a Darkhold from prior to the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Keeping that in mind, I also envision a scenario where Kang somehow channels the power of the Darkhold in a way that works to his benefit, resulting in Wanda becoming his unwitting pawn. It’s not like Kang is lacking for power, but if he can find a way to harness her apocalyptic potential, that might all but guarantee his victory.
If one of the upcoming Marvel movies or Marvel TV shows reveal that Kang the Conqueror or a Kang variant is indeed the Darkhold’s author, we’ll let you know. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania opens in theaters on February 17, and you can use your Disney+ subscription in the meantime to rewatch WandaVision, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or nearly every other MCU entry.
