I’m going to start this off by saying that this review CONTAINS SPOILERS! It’s kind of hard to write about a film like Multiverse of Madness without talking about everything that went down in that movie theatre last night. So here we go.
I will preface this review by saying I am a Wanda Maximoff stan and support her in every way possible, which really makes me biased but I don’t care. When I tell you that my jaw was on the floor for the entire two hours and six minutes of run time. I, personally, thought this film was quite enjoyable. There has been a lot of debate on Tumblr, Reddit, and every other platform that has given this film very mixed reviews, and that’s because Marvel fans did what they do best: set their expectations way too high.
If you go into this film without crazy expectations, you’re going to think that this film is absolutely insane in the best way possible. The only problem I truly had with this film was that the plotline was kind of all over the place. And this is because this film was written by Michael Waldron, who wrote the Loki series that premiered on Disney+. This was the exact problem that the Loki series had. There was no one plotline, it was all over the place.
Sam Raimi, however, directed a visually stunning film and really went in on the horror aspect. If you didn’t know, the original concept for Multiverse of Madness was for it to be an R-rated horror film, and when Disney said it couldn’t be higher than PG-13, the original director left the project, leading to Sam Raimi taking over the Director chair. And I feel it was a good move on their part. While I do wish that the original concept could have been approved, Sam Raimi did the best he could with the terrible writing that he was given.
Now, on to what is seen on screen. Sexist Marvel fans rejoiced in theatres because the Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen, is the villain of this film. However, it is not Wanda Maximoff who is the villain. At the end of WandaVision, Wanda gets ahold of the Darkhold, which is the book of the damned. While astral projecting as the Scarlet Witch, the Darkhold takes hold of her soul, slowly turning her into one of the damned. Wanda is trapped in her own mind while the Scarlet Witch is running the show, leading to extreme gore and horror aspects. There is a lot of death, violence, and just pure shock that is elicited from the Scarlet Witch throughout the film. Her motivating factor throughout the entire thing is that she just wants to be with her children, Billy and Tommy, again.
This is where America Chavez, played by Xochitl Gomez, comes in. Her power is the ability to travel through the multiverse, which is exactly what the Scarlet Witch wants. So it’s a race against time to find the Book of Vishanti, the antithesis of the Darkhold, to defeat the Scarlet Witch. That proves to be unhelpful as the Scarlet Witch destroys the Book of Vishanti, leaving viewers questioning how she is defeated. Well, it’s actually America Chavez who saves the day. After some encouragement from Doctor Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, she can open a portal to the universe the Scarlet Witch desires to be in.
This universe is what defeats her. She scares her children, them calling her a monster. She kneels in defeat and the Wanda of that universe holds her cheek just like Wanda did with Vision in Infinity War, telling her “know that they’ll be loved”. Every Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff fan in that theatre felt their hearts shatter. Throughout the film, the Scarlet Witch’s suit gets darker and darker, showing how strong of a grip the Darkhold has on her. After this, her suit returns to the red we see at the end of Wandavision, showing that Wanda is back to make things right.
After the Darkhold is destroyed in the early minutes of the film, the Scarlet Witch drags Wong, played by Benedict Wong, to the temple of the Darkhold, which finds itself to be the throne of the Scarlet Witch. This is where Wanda rights her wrongs, destroying the temple and falling with it. However, everyone knows the rule. If you don’t see a body, they’re not dead. And we don’t see her body. Another confirmation of Wanda not being gone is the fact that Elizabeth Olsen has just renewed her contract for the next six to seven years. So this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Wanda Maximoff.
But it doesn’t make the ending hurt any less. Many theories have arisen from the exit of the theatre. And here’s mine. In the comics, Agatha Harkness, first seen in WandaVision and played by Kathryn Hahn, is Wanda’s mentor. And after her spinoff series, House of Harkness is announced, my theory is that this is where we will see Wanda next, searching for guidance after her actions in Multiverse of Madness.
Overall, I think that going in the direction of this infamous House of M comic was something extremely different and was actually super cool to see. This proves that Elizabeth Olsen had a lot of input in the way that the Scarlet Witch was being portrayed because that’s her favorite comic, as confirmed by a 2015 interview for Avengers: Age of Ultron. This is something refreshing to see since Michael Waldron gave Tom Hiddleston no input on the Loki series.
The only problem I have is that it gave the sexist Marvel fans who have been criticizing Wanda since WandaVision the power. They wanted her to be the villain, and that’s what they got. That’s what hurts the most. I was in a theatre full of men who cheered when that temple fell. So I will be counting down the days until Wanda Maximoff returns once again. And maybe, someday, she’ll get the happy ending that everyone else has gotten.