Her focus on the Time Stone made me finally realize how she was uniquely impacted by Strange’s decision: Thanos rendered her excruciating sacrifice moot using it. No wonder she’s so angry at him.
@@Ares99999I low-key call that BS cause out of sooooo many possibilities, that was the only one?? Other people in the avengers had issues from the snap but Wanda in general had it the most difficult. That's what people who make comics do to her, make her suffer. And then try to make her the villain even tho later on in recent comics, she is a hero waaayy past the "no more murants" line...
My favorite moment is how completely, utterly *shook* Wanda is when her 838 counterpart affords her some empathy. The absolutely destroyed look on her face, you can see her mind working behind her eyes, piecing together “I used to have that empathy, I used to be a selfless person, where did that go?” It’s only in seeing the kind of woman she *used* to be that she realizes how much she’s changed.
I think the scene is a fascinating contrast to Spider-Verse's scene. Miles wasn't directly responsible for showing Kingpin his family, but in fighting him, he allowed Fisk to see every version of his family, removing his agency to bring them back. Wanda's revelation was heightened by seeing who she used to be and how far removed she had become from that part of herself, in her efforts to bring back her boys. It's like poetry, it rhymes.
The most depressing thing to me is how at the end of the movie when she fully comprehends what she’s become. What she chose to do and what the darkhold made her do she’s so utterly disgusted by her actions. This leads her with self hatred and a bit of a heroic mindset to destroy the darkhold in every universe. Yet she could have left the castle but she stayed to let herself die. She finally gave up on everything and even herself accepting that she can’t get them back. She then wanted to die with her prophecy of the Scarlet Witch. She let herself “die” because it’s easier than facing the world alone. She did this in age of ultron where she decided not to leave sokovia and went to kill ultron and stayed to die with her country and her actions. In civil war she gives up at the end of the movie and refuses to fight anymore apologizing to vision and looking hopeless in the raft. Then in infinity war once again she gives up after she killed vision for no reason and accept her fate when she is dusted. She isn’t afraid she’s relieved. Yet I don’t think she’s dead based on how the producers and directors talk about her. It’s likely since her magic works on autopilot like Agatha says that her power or some subconscious part of herself, teleported away before being crushed by the rubble. I wonder where we’re gonna see her next in her character journey, cause honestly I have no clue. The only thing I can think of is her trying to move on from all the grief and the past. Trying to atone for her mistakes.
And a bit coincidental since this is the movie that introduces one of the X-Men to the MCU. And Sam Raimi got his start as a horror director, and one major rule of horror is that if you don't see a body, they ain't dead.
I disagree with the sentiment of character assassination that some people have concerning Wanda in MoM. I think that the Darkhold amplified something that was already there in Wanda; she no longer wanted to be alone. Over the course of all her appearances in the MCU she's had every companion she's ever had robbed from her, again and again. First it was her brother who was taken from her, the only person she had a connection with since the death of her parents. She had all the Avengers around her at this point to help her cope with this, Vision most of all. She then loses Vision in Infinity War (and very clearly blames Strange for his part in it), leaving her alone yet again. To cope, she conjures up a reality where she has the family she wanted with him, essentially enslaving a whole town to do it. This was all before she had the corrupting influence of the Darkhold, mind you, a book shown in MoM itself to corrupt everyone who uses it. Before she even has the use of the book, she's already shown the capacity to take what she wants. She then loses her conjured family; giving it up willingly because she knows that it isn't real. But what if... she could MAKE it real? This, I suspect, is the thought instilled within her by the Darkhold in her isolation away from everyone. It shows her the worlds where her wants and needs are a reality and the corrupting nature of the book encourages her to take it for herself, without any support network around her to help her cope with loss properly this time around. Isolation, self inflicted or otherwise, can already have detrimental effects to ones mental state... imagine that amplified by a book shown to corrupt all who use it.
Very good point. Although i agree with IP's take that recovering from trauma can sort of instill that isolation into a person. It becomes embedded in your psyche. Even if she had Avengers to support her through this process, she would've assumed that she'd lose them too. It'a a strange cycle. Healing doesn't always absolve you from the fear of reliving the trauma through some other shape or form. And when that happens another piece of you is broken, until nothing is left of the person you were. So going the route of detaching yourself before it is forced upon you again does make sense. I see it as an attempt at building a self-sustained comfort zone.
I think the movie could have used a scene showing her getting tempted by the darkhold, slowly convincing her that she can have her kids again, but for real this time. She would resist at first but the more she reads, the more she starts to believe that she deserves her kids back and can get that by any means. I know they wanted to do the, "you didn't tell me her name, did you?" fake out, but they could have had this new scene in a way that doesn't show her fully making the choice to accept the darkhold's temptations.
The thing about the Darkhold is that, even if you take just a peek at it’s pages, you’re already lost and corrupted, even a robot isn’t safe from its effects, it doesn’t have to amplify anything, it’s a book of pure evil
Wanda whole arc is just so tragic, showcases the result when one deals with grief and trauma in the wrong way. It makes me wonder why she never opened up to the avengers as she parallels Black Widow red room trauma in many ways , with Nat found a way to heal by finding a new calling as an avenger yet Wanda decided to contain all of that trauma.
Natasha looked like she was struggling at the beginning of Endgame, IMO It felt, to me, like the renewed hope of finding a way undo the snap brought her out of that (same hope she gave Clint to bring him out of his trauma response)
Honestly, after Wander the character that gives me that sense of hopelessness and and breaks my heart the most is Natasha. In between what we see in movies, she was pretty much alone and basically died without being able to have a happy and stable life for long. Thats why that little scene at the end of Endgame with Wanda and Clint devastates me.
On how much it was Wanda and how much it was the Darkhold in MoM, I really do think its both (as much of a cop out it is, haha). Doctor Strange uses the Darkhold too, and Wanda rightfully calls him out on his hypocrisy, but his intentions in doing so were entirely different. He knew he couldn't defeat Wanda, he wasn't using the Darkhold to empower himself, he was using it to empower America (accepting that he didn't need to hold the knife). Without that humility, we were shown what would have happened to him in the Illuminati's universe. Strange too would have fallen. So while both Wanda and Doctor Strange used the Darkhold with knowledge of how corrupting an influence it was, they made that decision with different goals. Wanda's motivation feels more selfish. In Wandavision she didn't save Vision, she wanted him back, so rebuilt him to play out a fantasy world (regardless of if it hurt other people). Her motivation is similar in MoM, only twisted and dialed up to 11. She wasn't trying to save her children, she wanted them back, and she pursued this however she could, regardless of who she hurt. So no, I don't think holding the Darkhold turns you into a different person, rather I think it can guide you into the worst version of yourself. I do love MoM, but damn is it tragic. I hope (and think) that Wanda's story isn't done. I want her to get some closure, heal, and find peace.
The Darkhold gives you exactly what you want or knowledge to acquire it. The downside: the Darkhold gives you exactly what you want or knowledge on how to acquire it. It's something discussed on season 4 of Agents of SHIELD. Aida, an LMD with a serious Pinocchio syndrome and big bad of the season, initially starts out as a helpful robot assisstant before reading from the Darkhold (because as a robot, she seemed like a good candidate that wouldn't be driven insane from looking at it and the team were racing against the clock to save Coulson and Fitz from being consumed in an alternate dimension). However, reading from the Darkhold corrupted her and gave her aspirations to find a way to become human, which she achieves in the season's final arc (after abducting each member of the team, trapping them in a fantasy world where their greatest wish was granted while also turning them into worse versions of themselves, running as head of an alternate HYDRA, and experimenting on Inhumans). So she becomes human in the final arc. Great! Problem being that while looks like an adult woman, everything from her senses and emotions are as fresh as a baby's: raw and intense. An even bigger problem is when she's rejected from the person she wanted to become human for: Fitz. When he said he still loved Simmons, Aida snapped, throwing a childish tantrum and looking like she was going to do something worse to make Fitz hers. And then she decided to make the world feel like how she feels through destruction.
@@NobodyC13 This is actually a neat connection between the 2 different iterations of Darkhold's we've seen from MCU properties. It's kinda cool how they still share a consistency in how they affect their users narratively despite the different teams and writers that worked on those individual properties. Good job behind the scenes people. 👍
@@NobodyC13 this is what I mean, if it can corrupt a literal robot, how can a regular human have any hope of not being corrupted? My theory is that Strange will eventually go dark just because he read the book
I don’t think Wanda knew how corruptible the Darkhold was, I think if she did, she wouldn’t have read it, or it would have taken her longer to read it. Meanwhile, Strange had literally no choice but to use it
I remember watching your WandaVision analyses last year, and this video is just a perfect reminder of how great your video essays are. Thank you for what you do
I also have mixed opinions about Wanda during the World of Madness. I felt that Wanda and Strange's characters could ended as foil/parallels of each other - at least on this movie - two powerful sorceresses yet unhappy people with their longings. Despite all the power of the world, neither of them gained what they actually wanted, to be with the people they loved. And even if they had accepted their new real roles and responsabilities with it -- Stephen as Sorcererr Supreme and Wanda as the Scatlet Witch -- they had to live with it. From a story standpoint, after Strange has witnessed so many alternete worlds, seeing the choices that his others self had done --- had taught him to rely on others, that he doesn't need to control everything and to live with those losses. But anyway, loved the review!
They definitely are parallels/foils, both fundamentally unhappy people, longing for love from figures they can’t have. The main difference is that Strange buries that longing, while Wanda let’s everything else be buried *by* it.
Wanda also parallels Black Widow, with both sharing traumatic childhoods and been subjugated by organizations thus denied the ideal life they desire. Yet nat becoming an avenger allowed her to make up for it and brought her closure.
I was a little disappointed with Wanda in multivariate of madness. I would have preferred a slower burn where she tries to trick America into abandoning doctor strange, and we get a good 20 min of them working together before it is revealed that Wanda is evil. By making Wanda all flashy and blasty, it depowers her, and flattens her characterisation.
Enjoyed this a lot! The danger of growing too cold after recovery is something I haven't seen a lot in media, but they did a great job with it for Wanda's arc through the movies/shows. Really hope it isn't over.
Yeah… Still technically a kids(ish) movie series. Never saw a Disney movie where the hero turned villain turned back to hero kill’s themselves. Even if it’s for a good cause.
It's not really about the message. It made sense for her character. In the end she didn't have anything left, and she'd murdered a couple entirely innocent people. I don't think there was really a better way to do it and have her face the consequences.
@@LGSN96 I guess, at least for me, I wish that there had been another way. There wasn’t and a heroic sacrifice was… okay. I guess I just wanted more for this character than we got.
@@nikihawthorne2616 Yeah its unfortunate because I really love the character too, and it'd be great if she could just have happiness for once without having it ripped away. Maybe we'll see more of her with the other, happier Wanda in the future.. But either way it's good to know there's a version (a lot actually) out there that has the family and life she wanted.
I honestly just loved the direction Wanda went in Multiverse of Madness because Elisabeth Olsen was really just given some good material and could show off what she was capable of. She wasn't 'bad' in the previous movies, but there was a sort of uncertainty with her character, like they didn't know how to place her and she was just committing to the material however she could. Here she's just on a different level completely and she walks away with the whole thing. I notice that the fans who call foul on this development seem to ignore that Wanda was basically introduced this way in Age of Ultron. She wanted revenge and she messed with Tony Stark's mind, as well as those of the other Avengers, because she wanted to make him suffer for the pain he indirectly caused her. The Avengers are protecting the world from all sorts of evil threats, and Wanda was content to mess with that if it would make her feel better. It's only when she realises Ultron will destroy the world that she comes around - and that there is the key thing about Wanda's character that's consistent across all installments is that she will draw the line at mass suffering for innocent people, but she's AOK with some suffering to those she believes wronged her. I mean in Endgame, she's confronted with a different Thanos who technically didn't do anything to her but she wants to make him suffer all the same. It wasn't a Daenerys situation - the Darkhold amplified a flaw that was already there and Wanda was still able to bring herself back once she realised that she was causing the very suffering she joined The Avengers to prevent. More superficially, I like that this film forces Wanda to actually face consequences for her actions, since she usually dodged them before.
You should do a comparison video on both Thor and Wanda's trauma. They both lost a brother, their parents, their home (Sokovia/Asgard), and their friends and coworkers. But Thor overcame his trauma and even got new friends along the way while Wanda drowned in it and became more isolated than ever. It's like Thor is an inspirational story about past trauma while Wanda is a cautionary tale.
You kinda miss the whole thing with Thor being able to get support from his "dead" parents - Odin peptalk during his fight with Hela (Odin had already turned to sparky dust by this point) and ofc his mother due to multiverse/timetravel. Not to mention all of those main losses (Loki, Odin, Frigga) happened when Thor was an adult. Wanda lost both her parents as a child, which has much more profound impact from attachment perspective.
First of all Thor is like 1500 years old so he should be able to deal with the grief Wanda is only 30 somewhat years old and lost everything in that time span also Thor still had his many friends to be there for him he was never ever alone while Wanda didn’t have anyone and mind you Thor is very loved by people everywhere where in contrast Wanda was always seen and looked at as dangerous and uncontrollable which made herself think that way which just led her into becoming what she did
I know it's already 2ys after your comment. But actually, I like this idea. It'll show (perhaps) how humans/people treat their trauma differently. (Sorry for bad english)
I just had a realization about what finally gets Wanda to stop. It's not just that she sees the two children terrified of her, thinking she's a monster. But that she herself realises how in possessing her variant, she nearly made the children experience what she and Pietro did. That to have what she wanted, she would be robbing two little boys of their mother, and she of course knows first hand what that feels like.
i always loved the Scarlet Wich, shes like the Superman of Marvel. Her superpower is that she can cast any spell without even thinking and learns them by seeing them once. Shes like Strange in god mode.
I love this breakdown, so intricate, so beautiful, like the film Multiverse Of Madness. I love this film to death as I am the craziest Doctor Strange fan ever, and a video essay dissecting Doctor Strange and his journey within the MCU - this film included, would be awesome to see from you. Great job on this as always. And I especially cannot wait for the THOR Vs. Genre video. 🔥🔥🔥
Honestly this is the closest argument I've seen in terms of compelling me to Wanda in MoM. First off, Elizabeth Olsen did actual wonders with the material, I don't think that should be in question. However, my problem is with the material itself. I haven't a problem with where Wanda ended up in theory, I have a problem with how we got there. I don't think Wanda at the end of her show is the same character as at the start of MoM, it's like an entire chapter is missing in my opinion. Yes I know there's the post credits tease but that is not enough for me honestly, I did a rewatch of WV ahead of MoM and honestly it did not fill in enough of the blanks for me. I also felt the film didn't 100% hang together despite loving Raimi's style being all over the thing, it's weird it's like the inverse of a normal MCU film for me, too short and not enough characterisation but dripping in style. I just don't have clear cut feelings on the film which is definitely interesting, I honestly think that this director lead approach is a good thing for the MCU, I just don't think this one quite got all the way there. Also whoever wrote the line 'I'm not a monster I'm a mother,' should have something really mildly annoying happen to them, like they step on 3 plugs in a row. It's so beyond cringey and made me want to crawl back up into myself.
Wanda's arc has been a slow burn, which I love, if only we saw her turn in Madness in a way that made sense and was more complex, then it would've hit harder, that moment when her variant comforts her was beautiful, I just wish that moment was backed by her mission to be disappointed by what she was fighting for, the loss of her children could've been a way of opening her eyes to the chaos she's done The sacrifice at the end doesn't fit her journey, if she surrendered and later allowed atonement for more stories, her and Strange could've finally seen EYE to EYE, as they've been fighting the same thing all movie....holding on to the past but not moving on, Strange should've been allowed to grow too and let go with HIS Christine, but that's another video essay This movie was a mess, an enjoyable one but still one
Interestingly for me, I always feel like Wanda and John Walker share a similar story of trauma and loss and anger - it’s just that she’s had the longer journey and more perspective and character history shown. But both of them really react a lot alike. In fact I feel like Wanda’s Age of Ultron arc is effectively a mirror of John’s TFATWS arc.
John never did anything as bad as Wanda. At most he killed an “unarmed” terrorist but that’s a lie unless we consider T’Challa and spider man unarmed at all times
5:04 She starts out understandably pissed at Tony because weapons built by his company killed her parents but after she finds out he's trying to make up for his past she helps against his insane rogue creation Ultron.
Oh I guess you wanted someone who grew up with hate go like "Oopsie I'm sorry, I was wrong, you have my help" She still didn't like Tony after AoU, she was only there because of Steve
wanda is not dead. she's under a pile of rubble but not dead. some villain is going to find her and force her to do awful things against her will until her sons come in to save her. there, she will start the path to redemption, reunite with vision, take a break in being a family woman, and then get back in the game when the bad guys return. i would like to see her talk with yelena and share some stories about natasha.
At this point, I’m jaded… while what I’m about to say was certainly the case from the start, at this point/phase, Marvel Studios is telling stories to create more opportunities for industry makers (i.e. writers, actors, directors, producers…) as opposed to aiming to bring to life meaningful narratives/stories/characters. Marvel Studios is basically founded on making “art” via hero mythology - and that art can aim to teach, shock, connect, or other things. Escapism art is valuable and can make billions of dollars. This choice of medium fundamentally depends on the ability for the audience to suspend disbelief. That is nearly impossible (from the audience perspective) when the characters and stories are inconsistent or not well developed. It can fall apart pretty easily and in a heartbeat, especially when choices are made without integrity or dedication to the characters/stories. For me, the storytelling for Wanda’s journey isn’t totally devoid of value/emotion/intrigue/etc., but it is getting really messy. I’m not happy at all with a magic evil book (Darkhold) causing her to be corrupted, and then drop an ancient castle on herself because of “reasons” that take place off screen… “just wait, the darkhold will be explained in an upcoming show/movie.” Waiting for backstory to clean up a mess is unacceptable, especially with this style of art/storytelling. This is primarily hero mythology escapism, not interpretive fiction. For context: Khaleesi/Dany from Game of Thrones was totally ruined, and so was Jon Snow’s character… and I don’t ever want to revisit those last two seasons of Game of Thrones, let alone the seasons that I loved earlier, prior to the collapse. It was a great show, maybe the best ever, only to end with a train wreck that tore down the whole thing. This needs to serve as a clear warning to Marvel Studios, and storytellers at large. Thanks for reading.
Amazing analysis of Wanda and, how trauma can change you when you attempt to move forward. You had me looking at myself sideways for a minute. Amazing work sir.
I have a bit of a bias as someone who read the comics but watching Wanda's arc I felt it was so well done that if MCU decides to do Phoenix I trust them.
This is a very similar thought to what I had after seeing Multiverse of Madness. How I’m suddenly hopeful for a good adaptation of The Dark Phoenix Saga.
By destroying the Darkhold in every Universe she saved countless lives from being affected or corrupted by that book. Specially since we saw that it basically screwed several Doctor Stranges and caused an Incursion. In one act, Wanda did more good than just helping defeat Thanos in one Universe. People saying she's unredeemable are the same people who still root for Kratos in God of War, a man who slaughtered countless innocent for revenge, Omni-Man in Invincible, a man who killed thousands just to prove that human life is meaningless for them, Loki who killed thousands because apparently his adopted and had a rough past, and Sinister Strange who destroyed his entire Universe to get his love one back.
I think the scene where America shows Wanda her family is a fascinating contrast to Spider-Verse's scene. Miles wasn't directly responsible for showing Kingpin his family, but in fighting him, he allowed Fisk to see every version of his family, removing his agency to bring them back. They would always be horrified by him and any attempt he took to bring them back through fighting Spider-Man would ultimately drive them away. Wanda's revelation was heightened by seeing who she used to be and how far removed she had become from that part of herself, in her efforts to bring back her boys. It stings, but in the end, all she has is the knowledge that they would be cared for. Sometimes that isnt enough, but sometimes it is all we have. Wanda had to see that using America, using the Darkhold to bring them back would lead to them seeing her as the villain . It's like poetry, it rhymes. Still salty it doesn't tie into AIDA, the framework and the whole LMD arc, but that's a comment for another video.
U said that “from every self perception we make from every recovery can bring us capability in dealing with pain but it can also detach us” what was Wanda’s self perception after wanda vision and during multiverse of madness? That she deserved more than she had?
Really enjoyed this video. I think we’ve gotten enough MCU movies that we are going to see people think that their criticisms are absolute, and I saw a lot of criticisms that Wanda’s character got ruined by MoM. This video really succeeded in defending the fact that Wanda’s character wasn’t finished developing by the end of WandaVision, and she wanted more. I think casual fans got used to Wanda being the “cool magical girl avenger” but MoM showed us how easily she can flirt with villainy, especially when it’s connected to her own personal stakes in life. Really excited to see when we see her again.
Hey Leo, how would you re-write the story (MOM) to help articulate Wanda’ arc clearer; or at least highlight some of the points you make so that the general audiences can cue into the nuances you expertly pick up on?
I never realized until now that Wanda actually lost Vision partly because of Dr Strange’s decision to give up the time stone. That rendered her sacrifice useless and Strange knew that. And just 838 existing proves that there were other options, where Strange dies or something, but again, he had to be in control so that’s why he chose that option.. Just a thought.. she is justified in being angry for that
838 existing doesn’t prove that 616 Strange had other options, I think you’re forgetting that 838 also has other characters existing and a different world set up. 616 Strange could only work with what they have in their universe. And 616 Strange did die, he was also affected by his own choice, and had to trust that the others would find a way.
Wanda is honestly my favourite character in the Marvel cinematic universe. Her journey has been the most interesting and an excellent view on how trauma has a heavy impact on a person’s psyche. Great video essay as always.
I really like your videos and don't often comment, but I thought the music was a bit loud in this specific video and competes with you talking. Maybe it's just me personally who thinks the sound mixing is distracting in this video but I thought I'd comment just incase others do as well to help improve your content in the future.
Would be really interesting to see you compare/contrast Wanda and MCU Peter Parker, with regards to loss and grief. They both lost SO much. But in the end they took different paths (though we may yet see Wanda turn that around somehow). Just a thought.
Interestingly, there is another character whose reaction to loss and grief can also be compared/contrasted with Wanda and Peter - John Walker - in fact Peter actually has two scenes that parallels Walker, especially when Peter almost kills Osborne.
Bro yawl really acting like they got the same power as her as if they can take over a town just using their mind on accident trust me if they could bring back their loved ones they would
OMGC, this might be yer masterpiece. 👐* I needed to take a moment, because honestly I should be taking as many moments as there are probable multiverses, to thank you for crafting these. Because of the safety of linking these to the universes in other franchises you create a safe space where others can explore their trauma. You are one of the people that has made me aware of what mine is, and now I have a Stormbreaker level item in my mental toolkit to combat it. Thank you 3000!💖 *I’m trying to applaud in American Sign Language in emoji here
Oooh, looking forward to the Telltale Batman video. It does a LOT of interesting things and I'm a little sad it isn't more prominent in the "Batman discourse."
I feel like the only option for her is a sacrifice play. She slaughtered a lot people in the last movie. Of course to be fair she got plenty killed in various other movies so maybe she can just carry the dead with her in that sense. I just feel like they'll save her for something big that only she can handle and let her go out well.
She knowingly heldheld an entire town hostage/enslaved in Wandavision. In MoM she sadistically murdered countless magicians that pose no real threat to her, she also murdered the iluminati, assaulted and harmed countless others, and put the fabric in reality I'm jeopardy due to an incursion. I don't know if a lifetime of community service can redeem that much red in her ledger.
She never got closure, everytime something big and sad happens to her it sounds like she’s on a road to a new arc of acceptance and Justice.. it just gets ruined with something sad before she can grow.. and when it seems the cycle is about to repeat again, it goes all SIKE how about we kill her off without any closure or acceptance… just more sadnesss and destruction.. none of the other retired or dead avengers got that same treatment. Captain America retired whilst being able to live what he missed, Natasha completed her life goal and didn’t need anything more in life, and tony stark ended his arc of not being a selfish douche and instead a noble man…. Wanda just got butchered
reed richards: wanda, blackbolt can destroy you with his Zup. wanda: what Zup? blackbolt: wazzzzzZup reed richards: wazzzzzZup, yo prof X pick up the phone prof X: yo reed richards: wazzzzzZup prof X: wazzzzzZup, yo billy, tommy pick up the phone billy & tommy: mommy wazzzzzZup wanda: oh my boys, i gotta get back, sorry guys for the mess THE END
I understand Wanda's pain. She lost her parents. She lost her brother. The man she loved. She did what she did in Multiverse of Madness because she just wanted a family.
There is a question that somehow is ignored by everybody, in universe and by critics. Why is this Wanda the only one that doesn't have kids? Vision is back, somehow. Have she even tried to get kids the regular way?
You shouldn't apologize for talking about trauma! We all have trauma, and looking at movies with the lens to understand trauma is a great way to gain insight into our own. Even though super hero trauma is itself fantastical, it gives us a way to safely consider how trauma could/does shape us.
So I had an idea for an essay, if you’re interested: the advent of the entire MCU, phases 1-3 and how it worked with global events and changing generations. Phase 4 isn’t hitting well because it’s…not as perfect a fit now, both with MCU changes and audience generational shifts, I think. Is that an implicitly pretentious enough idea.
I think Wanda's descent into cackling villany would be much more accepted and beloved if ot weren't for all the times characters just let her excuse herself or justify herself. Kidnap and torture thousands? They'll never know what you did for them... b what??? In MoM she flat out says it's not fair that strange gets a pass... except... she enslaved thousands for her own dellusions and faced zero consequences. She's an insanely arrogant and selfish villains, but the story keeps trying to tell us we should feel bad for her, that she is a victim. When she is the oppressor at every turn. IF THE STORY TREATED HER AS A VILAIN, she would work.
I think Wanda's descent into villainy would be much more accepted and beloved if it actually made any sense. I mean, I honestly would say something's gone pear-shaped when Elizabeth Olsen herself wasn't convinced by _WandaVision's_ scripts that Wanda was being set up to be the villain. Her reaction to finding out she'd be the villain in DSMoM (which she only found out three months before she was to begin shooting on the movie, and while she was in the home stretch of filming WV) was "OMG, how'm I going to weave this into WandaVision?" "In MoM she flat out says it's not fair that strange gets a pass... except... she enslaved thousands for her own dellusions and faced zero consequences." For you to come up with that conclusion, you would have to ignore the context behind Wanda creating the Hex (she created it in a grief-induced breakdown), and how she was in denial over how she was hurting people. Also, I'm going to guess that when you say Wanda "faced zero consequences," what you REALLY are saying is "she wasn't PUNISHED for what she did". And by the way, I can count numerous MCU heroes who've done far worse deeds than anything Wanda's done and never faced any sort of consequences/punishment for it. Like Tony Stark, who built an AI that destroyed a country, and later built a Project Insight 2.0 that he left in the hands of a teenager. Or Valkyrie, who sold thousands of people into slavery. Or Clint Barton, who killed thousands of people in his five years as a serial killer. Or Natasha Romanoff, who was willing to kill a little girl just to get to said girl's father.
There are many opinions saying how powerful Wanda is. My opinion? I say she is the weakest magic user. She doesn't wield Chaos Magic. Chaos Magic wields her. For me the strongest magic user is Ancient One. She only harness bare minimum of Dark Magic and she also avoid using infinity stone. She has the strongest will fighting temptation of power.
The 383 version of Wanda is way more honorable and heroic than Scarlet Witch, she was being a bit of a hypocrite in saying what she said to dr strange because she didn't break the rules for selfless reasons to save the universe the world she did it to get her kids back to get her family back to get Vision back, that's not the same reason why strange broke the rules he did it to save reality to save the world the universe from the dark dimension from dormammu or in this case thanos therefore naturally he's going to be viewed as the hero due to the fact that he did it for selfless reasons, she was willing to kill a child to obtain her power and throw the entire Multiverse into chaos just so she could get her kids back that wasn't selfless that was selfish, she learned absolutely nothing from her time spent with Captain America, vision and Hawkeye therefore she had no right to gripe about the difference of treatment she was getting she allowed her grief her anger and her rage for what she lost to enslave an entire town something that Doctor Strange and all the other Heroes never did and they experience pain and loss on the daily basis so she gets no pass on that one with me in fact she deserves the same fate that the character Ruby from the series Lovecraft country got a brain-dead comatose vegetative state, needless to say her character arc should serve as a cautionary tale rather than be viewed as an empowerment/ revenge porn arc !💯😉👍
Not so much a character assassination, but more like "the writers of Wanda Vision and Strange 2 just didn't talk to each other". They both had great takes of this character, they just didn't make it cohesive for me
No, it's character assassination. Though you're right about the lack of cohesiveness. What we got was essentially, well...imagine if we had Anakin Skywalker go straight from slaughtering sand people in _Attack of the Clones_ to where he is as Darth Vader at the start of _A New Hope_ without the events of _Revenge of the Sith_ being shown on screen. Or imagine if one Lord of the Rings movie ended with Frodo staring ominously at the One Ring, and the next movie opened with him leading Sauron's armies to lay waste to Middle Earth.
Is Wanda the best MCU villain? Imo yup! And honestly, as much as I understand why some fans don't think how she was portrayed in MoM was correct I kinda don't care? Why? Because the film is damn fun. Raimi's style alone makes MoM a massive breath of fresh air in the stylistically stagnant MCU. It's kinda sad just how refreshing a dose of style in this franchise is and how it automatically makes MoM so much better. Goes to show just how inert the filmmaking in these films has become.
You/the editor put that damn repeating tone in the background again starting around 1m. It is extremely distracting; I literally cannot focus on whatever you're discussing. I hope you don't make future videos with that in there.
This is why I actively avoid modern entertainment. Those gremlins have been chipping away at morality for years to the point the line is no longer just blurred its practically non-existent and the so called bad guys and good guys are replacable flavors of the week for them.
@@ThePonderer BIG CHANGES STARTS small and slow. The dramatic stuff that we see are either at best the surface of whatever that has been brewing outside of our perceptiont, at worst it is astroturfed .
Her focus on the Time Stone made me finally realize how she was uniquely impacted by Strange’s decision: Thanos rendered her excruciating sacrifice moot using it. No wonder she’s so angry at him.
Why? Strange did this because it LITERALLY was the only way to prevent ALL of reality from being destroyed and remade.
@@Ares99999 And you think she knew that? And even if she did, you think she'd care?
@@Ares99999 We know that's bs after watching MoM, they defeated Thanos in MoM using a different method
@@Ares99999I low-key call that BS cause out of sooooo many possibilities, that was the only one?? Other people in the avengers had issues from the snap but Wanda in general had it the most difficult. That's what people who make comics do to her, make her suffer. And then try to make her the villain even tho later on in recent comics, she is a hero waaayy past the "no more murants" line...
My favorite moment is how completely, utterly *shook* Wanda is when her 838 counterpart affords her some empathy. The absolutely destroyed look on her face, you can see her mind working behind her eyes, piecing together “I used to have that empathy, I used to be a selfless person, where did that go?”
It’s only in seeing the kind of woman she *used* to be that she realizes how much she’s changed.
it’s absolutely devastating seeing her realize how much of herself she lost in pursuit of her children
I think the scene is a fascinating contrast to Spider-Verse's scene. Miles wasn't directly responsible for showing Kingpin his family, but in fighting him, he allowed Fisk to see every version of his family, removing his agency to bring them back. Wanda's revelation was heightened by seeing who she used to be and how far removed she had become from that part of herself, in her efforts to bring back her boys. It's like poetry, it rhymes.
I laughed at this part when I saw it, in a depressing "I'm so sorry you got what you deserve" kind of way.
@@luisflores9677 "Imaginary children"
ACTING🎉
The most depressing thing to me is how at the end of the movie when she fully comprehends what she’s become. What she chose to do and what the darkhold made her do she’s so utterly disgusted by her actions. This leads her with self hatred and a bit of a heroic mindset to destroy the darkhold in every universe. Yet she could have left the castle but she stayed to let herself die. She finally gave up on everything and even herself accepting that she can’t get them back. She then wanted to die with her prophecy of the Scarlet Witch. She let herself “die” because it’s easier than facing the world alone. She did this in age of ultron where she decided not to leave sokovia and went to kill ultron and stayed to die with her country and her actions.
In civil war she gives up at the end of the movie and refuses to fight anymore apologizing to vision and looking hopeless in the raft.
Then in infinity war once again she gives up after she killed vision for no reason and accept her fate when she is dusted. She isn’t afraid she’s relieved.
Yet I don’t think she’s dead based on how the producers and directors talk about her. It’s likely since her magic works on autopilot like Agatha says that her power or some subconscious part of herself, teleported away before being crushed by the rubble. I wonder where we’re gonna see her next in her character journey, cause honestly I have no clue. The only thing I can think of is her trying to move on from all the grief and the past. Trying to atone for her mistakes.
Elizabeth talked about wanting to see an older Scarlet Witch, so maybe in an X-Men movie set in a dark future timeline.
In the comics, Scarlet Witch can resurrect herself, which might happen in the movies, she’s ridiculously powerful in the comics
And a bit coincidental since this is the movie that introduces one of the X-Men to the MCU. And Sam Raimi got his start as a horror director, and one major rule of horror is that if you don't see a body, they ain't dead.
That's probably going to happen
Wanda'a character is actually so sad...And I love it. She's becoming my favourite character slowly.
I disagree with the sentiment of character assassination that some people have concerning Wanda in MoM.
I think that the Darkhold amplified something that was already there in Wanda; she no longer wanted to be alone. Over the course of all her appearances in the MCU she's had every companion she's ever had robbed from her, again and again. First it was her brother who was taken from her, the only person she had a connection with since the death of her parents. She had all the Avengers around her at this point to help her cope with this, Vision most of all. She then loses Vision in Infinity War (and very clearly blames Strange for his part in it), leaving her alone yet again. To cope, she conjures up a reality where she has the family she wanted with him, essentially enslaving a whole town to do it. This was all before she had the corrupting influence of the Darkhold, mind you, a book shown in MoM itself to corrupt everyone who uses it. Before she even has the use of the book, she's already shown the capacity to take what she wants. She then loses her conjured family; giving it up willingly because she knows that it isn't real.
But what if... she could MAKE it real? This, I suspect, is the thought instilled within her by the Darkhold in her isolation away from everyone. It shows her the worlds where her wants and needs are a reality and the corrupting nature of the book encourages her to take it for herself, without any support network around her to help her cope with loss properly this time around. Isolation, self inflicted or otherwise, can already have detrimental effects to ones mental state... imagine that amplified by a book shown to corrupt all who use it.
Very good point. Although i agree with IP's take that recovering from trauma can sort of instill that isolation into a person. It becomes embedded in your psyche. Even if she had Avengers to support her through this process, she would've assumed that she'd lose them too. It'a a strange cycle. Healing doesn't always absolve you from the fear of reliving the trauma through some other shape or form. And when that happens another piece of you is broken, until nothing is left of the person you were. So going the route of detaching yourself before it is forced upon you again does make sense. I see it as an attempt at building a self-sustained comfort zone.
I think the movie could have used a scene showing her getting tempted by the darkhold, slowly convincing her that she can have her kids again, but for real this time. She would resist at first but the more she reads, the more she starts to believe that she deserves her kids back and can get that by any means.
I know they wanted to do the, "you didn't tell me her name, did you?" fake out, but they could have had this new scene in a way that doesn't show her fully making the choice to accept the darkhold's temptations.
The thing about the Darkhold is that, even if you take just a peek at it’s pages, you’re already lost and corrupted, even a robot isn’t safe from its effects, it doesn’t have to amplify anything, it’s a book of pure evil
@@deadpooldan9862 a book beyond the demonic level.
We’ll you’re wrong
Wanda whole arc is just so tragic, showcases the result when one deals with grief and trauma in the wrong way.
It makes me wonder why she never opened up to the avengers as she parallels Black Widow red room trauma in many ways , with Nat found a way to heal by finding a new calling as an avenger yet Wanda decided to contain all of that trauma.
Nat had Clint tho, but Wanda lost Vision.
Very different characters though
@@recoveringintrovert717 absolutely, but Clint was the"lifeline". Wanda was healing and opening up too until Dr Stranges action lead to Vis death.
Natasha looked like she was struggling at the beginning of Endgame, IMO
It felt, to me, like the renewed hope of finding a way undo the snap brought her out of that (same hope she gave Clint to bring him out of his trauma response)
Honestly, after Wander the character that gives me that sense of hopelessness and and breaks my heart the most is Natasha. In between what we see in movies, she was pretty much alone and basically died without being able to have a happy and stable life for long. Thats why that little scene at the end of Endgame with Wanda and Clint devastates me.
On how much it was Wanda and how much it was the Darkhold in MoM, I really do think its both (as much of a cop out it is, haha).
Doctor Strange uses the Darkhold too, and Wanda rightfully calls him out on his hypocrisy, but his intentions in doing so were entirely different. He knew he couldn't defeat Wanda, he wasn't using the Darkhold to empower himself, he was using it to empower America (accepting that he didn't need to hold the knife). Without that humility, we were shown what would have happened to him in the Illuminati's universe. Strange too would have fallen.
So while both Wanda and Doctor Strange used the Darkhold with knowledge of how corrupting an influence it was, they made that decision with different goals. Wanda's motivation feels more selfish. In Wandavision she didn't save Vision, she wanted him back, so rebuilt him to play out a fantasy world (regardless of if it hurt other people). Her motivation is similar in MoM, only twisted and dialed up to 11. She wasn't trying to save her children, she wanted them back, and she pursued this however she could, regardless of who she hurt. So no, I don't think holding the Darkhold turns you into a different person, rather I think it can guide you into the worst version of yourself.
I do love MoM, but damn is it tragic. I hope (and think) that Wanda's story isn't done. I want her to get some closure, heal, and find peace.
The Darkhold gives you exactly what you want or knowledge to acquire it. The downside: the Darkhold gives you exactly what you want or knowledge on how to acquire it.
It's something discussed on season 4 of Agents of SHIELD. Aida, an LMD with a serious Pinocchio syndrome and big bad of the season, initially starts out as a helpful robot assisstant before reading from the Darkhold (because as a robot, she seemed like a good candidate that wouldn't be driven insane from looking at it and the team were racing against the clock to save Coulson and Fitz from being consumed in an alternate dimension). However, reading from the Darkhold corrupted her and gave her aspirations to find a way to become human, which she achieves in the season's final arc (after abducting each member of the team, trapping them in a fantasy world where their greatest wish was granted while also turning them into worse versions of themselves, running as head of an alternate HYDRA, and experimenting on Inhumans). So she becomes human in the final arc. Great! Problem being that while looks like an adult woman, everything from her senses and emotions are as fresh as a baby's: raw and intense. An even bigger problem is when she's rejected from the person she wanted to become human for: Fitz. When he said he still loved Simmons, Aida snapped, throwing a childish tantrum and looking like she was going to do something worse to make Fitz hers. And then she decided to make the world feel like how she feels through destruction.
@@NobodyC13 This is actually a neat connection between the 2 different iterations of Darkhold's we've seen from MCU properties. It's kinda cool how they still share a consistency in how they affect their users narratively despite the different teams and writers that worked on those individual properties. Good job behind the scenes people. 👍
@@NobodyC13 this is what I mean, if it can corrupt a literal robot, how can a regular human have any hope of not being corrupted? My theory is that Strange will eventually go dark just because he read the book
I don’t think Wanda knew how corruptible the Darkhold was, I think if she did, she wouldn’t have read it, or it would have taken her longer to read it. Meanwhile, Strange had literally no choice but to use it
I remember watching your WandaVision analyses last year, and this video is just a perfect reminder of how great your video essays are. Thank you for what you do
“What mouth?”
👁️ 👄 👁️.
👁️ ? 👁️
queen
yass queen slay fr fr ong😁 SHEEEEEEEESH
What comment?
Coldest take down of the killer voice boi I’ve ever seen
Illuminati can't beat her, that's the job for Illumi-aunties.
I also have mixed opinions about Wanda during the World of Madness. I felt that Wanda and Strange's characters could ended as foil/parallels of each other - at least on this movie - two powerful sorceresses yet unhappy people with their longings. Despite all the power of the world, neither of them gained what they actually wanted, to be with the people they loved. And even if they had accepted their new real roles and responsabilities with it -- Stephen as Sorcererr Supreme and Wanda as the Scatlet Witch -- they had to live with it.
From a story standpoint, after Strange has witnessed so many alternete worlds, seeing the choices that his others self had done --- had taught him to rely on others, that he doesn't need to control everything and to live with those losses.
But anyway, loved the review!
They definitely are parallels/foils, both fundamentally unhappy people, longing for love from figures they can’t have. The main difference is that Strange buries that longing, while Wanda let’s everything else be buried *by* it.
@@ThePonderer Oof. That, is actually right. You have a sharp eye.
Wanda also parallels Black Widow, with both sharing traumatic childhoods and been subjugated by organizations thus denied the ideal life they desire.
Yet nat becoming an avenger allowed her to make up for it and brought her closure.
I was a little disappointed with Wanda in multivariate of madness. I would have preferred a slower burn where she tries to trick America into abandoning doctor strange, and we get a good 20 min of them working together before it is revealed that Wanda is evil.
By making Wanda all flashy and blasty, it depowers her, and flattens her characterisation.
Enjoyed this a lot! The danger of growing too cold after recovery is something I haven't seen a lot in media, but they did a great job with it for Wanda's arc through the movies/shows. Really hope it isn't over.
That tribute song was amazing, I need to find that song. I really loved this. Thank you for making it
Never fail to make me tear up. Great as always.
Editing is on point.
Ending Wanda with "suicide = redemption" seems like a really bad message, I hope they bring some version of her back.
Yeah… Still technically a kids(ish) movie series. Never saw a Disney movie where the hero turned villain turned back to hero kill’s themselves. Even if it’s for a good cause.
It's not really about the message. It made sense for her character. In the end she didn't have anything left, and she'd murdered a couple entirely innocent people. I don't think there was really a better way to do it and have her face the consequences.
@@LGSN96 I guess, at least for me, I wish that there had been another way. There wasn’t and a heroic sacrifice was… okay. I guess I just wanted more for this character than we got.
@@nikihawthorne2616 Yeah its unfortunate because I really love the character too, and it'd be great if she could just have happiness for once without having it ripped away. Maybe we'll see more of her with the other, happier Wanda in the future.. But either way it's good to know there's a version (a lot actually) out there that has the family and life she wanted.
@@LGSN96 here’s hoping
The part where X dives in and we see SW screaming before we actually get to see her true self trapped is so haunting. Way too relatable.
I honestly just loved the direction Wanda went in Multiverse of Madness because Elisabeth Olsen was really just given some good material and could show off what she was capable of. She wasn't 'bad' in the previous movies, but there was a sort of uncertainty with her character, like they didn't know how to place her and she was just committing to the material however she could. Here she's just on a different level completely and she walks away with the whole thing.
I notice that the fans who call foul on this development seem to ignore that Wanda was basically introduced this way in Age of Ultron. She wanted revenge and she messed with Tony Stark's mind, as well as those of the other Avengers, because she wanted to make him suffer for the pain he indirectly caused her. The Avengers are protecting the world from all sorts of evil threats, and Wanda was content to mess with that if it would make her feel better. It's only when she realises Ultron will destroy the world that she comes around - and that there is the key thing about Wanda's character that's consistent across all installments is that she will draw the line at mass suffering for innocent people, but she's AOK with some suffering to those she believes wronged her. I mean in Endgame, she's confronted with a different Thanos who technically didn't do anything to her but she wants to make him suffer all the same. It wasn't a Daenerys situation - the Darkhold amplified a flaw that was already there and Wanda was still able to bring herself back once she realised that she was causing the very suffering she joined The Avengers to prevent.
More superficially, I like that this film forces Wanda to actually face consequences for her actions, since she usually dodged them before.
You should do a comparison video on both Thor and Wanda's trauma. They both lost a brother, their parents, their home (Sokovia/Asgard), and their friends and coworkers. But Thor overcame his trauma and even got new friends along the way while Wanda drowned in it and became more isolated than ever.
It's like Thor is an inspirational story about past trauma while Wanda is a cautionary tale.
You kinda miss the whole thing with Thor being able to get support from his "dead" parents - Odin peptalk during his fight with Hela (Odin had already turned to sparky dust by this point) and ofc his mother due to multiverse/timetravel. Not to mention all of those main losses (Loki, Odin, Frigga) happened when Thor was an adult. Wanda lost both her parents as a child, which has much more profound impact from attachment perspective.
First of all Thor is like 1500 years old so he should be able to deal with the grief Wanda is only 30 somewhat years old and lost everything in that time span also Thor still had his many friends to be there for him he was never ever alone while Wanda didn’t have anyone and mind you Thor is very loved by people everywhere where in contrast Wanda was always seen and looked at as dangerous and uncontrollable which made herself think that way which just led her into becoming what she did
I know it's already 2ys after your comment. But actually, I like this idea. It'll show (perhaps) how humans/people treat their trauma differently. (Sorry for bad english)
I just had a realization about what finally gets Wanda to stop. It's not just that she sees the two children terrified of her, thinking she's a monster. But that she herself realises how in possessing her variant, she nearly made the children experience what she and Pietro did. That to have what she wanted, she would be robbing two little boys of their mother, and she of course knows first hand what that feels like.
Perfection, just perfection. I love ur style. Keep it up!!!!! MORE TRAUMAAAAA!!! :)
Your analyses are so amazing; I just love listening to your videos! Thank you for this fabulous work.
another amazing video! I'm glad you did a video on wanda!!
i always loved the Scarlet Wich, shes like the Superman of Marvel.
Her superpower is that she can cast any spell without even thinking and learns them by seeing them once.
Shes like Strange in god mode.
"What self destruction?"
I love this breakdown, so intricate, so beautiful, like the film Multiverse Of Madness. I love this film to death as I am the craziest Doctor Strange fan ever, and a video essay dissecting Doctor Strange and his journey within the MCU - this film included, would be awesome to see from you. Great job on this as always. And I especially cannot wait for the THOR Vs. Genre video. 🔥🔥🔥
Honestly this is the closest argument I've seen in terms of compelling me to Wanda in MoM. First off, Elizabeth Olsen did actual wonders with the material, I don't think that should be in question.
However, my problem is with the material itself. I haven't a problem with where Wanda ended up in theory, I have a problem with how we got there. I don't think Wanda at the end of her show is the same character as at the start of MoM, it's like an entire chapter is missing in my opinion. Yes I know there's the post credits tease but that is not enough for me honestly, I did a rewatch of WV ahead of MoM and honestly it did not fill in enough of the blanks for me.
I also felt the film didn't 100% hang together despite loving Raimi's style being all over the thing, it's weird it's like the inverse of a normal MCU film for me, too short and not enough characterisation but dripping in style. I just don't have clear cut feelings on the film which is definitely interesting, I honestly think that this director lead approach is a good thing for the MCU, I just don't think this one quite got all the way there.
Also whoever wrote the line 'I'm not a monster I'm a mother,' should have something really mildly annoying happen to them, like they step on 3 plugs in a row. It's so beyond cringey and made me want to crawl back up into myself.
I heard the writer didnt watch WandaVision. It really feels that way
@@carly7522 wtf?
Wanda's arc has been a slow burn, which I love, if only we saw her turn in Madness in a way that made sense and was more complex, then it would've hit harder, that moment when her variant comforts her was beautiful, I just wish that moment was backed by her mission to be disappointed by what she was fighting for, the loss of her children could've been a way of opening her eyes to the chaos she's done
The sacrifice at the end doesn't fit her journey, if she surrendered and later allowed atonement for more stories, her and Strange could've finally seen EYE to EYE, as they've been fighting the same thing all movie....holding on to the past but not moving on, Strange should've been allowed to grow too and let go with HIS Christine, but that's another video essay
This movie was a mess, an enjoyable one but still one
Interestingly for me, I always feel like Wanda and John Walker share a similar story of trauma and loss and anger - it’s just that she’s had the longer journey and more perspective and character history shown. But both of them really react a lot alike. In fact I feel like Wanda’s Age of Ultron arc is effectively a mirror of John’s TFATWS arc.
John never did anything as bad as Wanda. At most he killed an “unarmed” terrorist but that’s a lie unless we consider T’Challa and spider man unarmed at all times
5:04 She starts out understandably pissed at Tony because weapons built by his company killed her parents but after she finds out he's trying to make up for his past she helps against his insane rogue creation Ultron.
Oh I guess you wanted someone who grew up with hate go like
"Oopsie I'm sorry, I was wrong, you have my help"
She still didn't like Tony after AoU, she was only there because of Steve
wanda is not dead. she's under a pile of rubble but not dead. some villain is going to find her and force her to do awful things against her will until her sons come in to save her. there, she will start the path to redemption, reunite with vision, take a break in being a family woman, and then get back in the game when the bad guys return. i would like to see her talk with yelena and share some stories about natasha.
At this point, I’m jaded… while what I’m about to say was certainly the case from the start, at this point/phase, Marvel Studios is telling stories to create more opportunities for industry makers (i.e. writers, actors, directors, producers…) as opposed to aiming to bring to life meaningful narratives/stories/characters. Marvel Studios is basically founded on making “art” via hero mythology - and that art can aim to teach, shock, connect, or other things. Escapism art is valuable and can make billions of dollars. This choice of medium fundamentally depends on the ability for the audience to suspend disbelief. That is nearly impossible (from the audience perspective) when the characters and stories are inconsistent or not well developed. It can fall apart pretty easily and in a heartbeat, especially when choices are made without integrity or dedication to the characters/stories.
For me, the storytelling for Wanda’s journey isn’t totally devoid of value/emotion/intrigue/etc., but it is getting really messy. I’m not happy at all with a magic evil book (Darkhold) causing her to be corrupted, and then drop an ancient castle on herself because of “reasons” that take place off screen… “just wait, the darkhold will be explained in an upcoming show/movie.”
Waiting for backstory to clean up a mess is unacceptable, especially with this style of art/storytelling. This is primarily hero mythology escapism, not interpretive fiction.
For context: Khaleesi/Dany from Game of Thrones was totally ruined, and so was Jon Snow’s character… and I don’t ever want to revisit those last two seasons of Game of Thrones, let alone the seasons that I loved earlier, prior to the collapse. It was a great show, maybe the best ever, only to end with a train wreck that tore down the whole thing. This needs to serve as a clear warning to Marvel Studios, and storytellers at large.
Thanks for reading.
Amazing analysis of Wanda and, how trauma can change you when you attempt to move forward. You had me looking at myself sideways for a minute. Amazing work sir.
I have a bit of a bias as someone who read the comics but watching Wanda's arc I felt it was so well done that if MCU decides to do Phoenix I trust them.
This is a very similar thought to what I had after seeing Multiverse of Madness. How I’m suddenly hopeful for a good adaptation of The Dark Phoenix Saga.
By destroying the Darkhold in every Universe she saved countless lives from being affected or corrupted by that book. Specially since we saw that it basically screwed several Doctor Stranges and caused an Incursion. In one act, Wanda did more good than just helping defeat Thanos in one Universe.
People saying she's unredeemable are the same people who still root for Kratos in God of War, a man who slaughtered countless innocent for revenge, Omni-Man in Invincible, a man who killed thousands just to prove that human life is meaningless for them, Loki who killed thousands because apparently his adopted and had a rough past, and Sinister Strange who destroyed his entire Universe to get his love one back.
I don't think she's irredeemable, but I also think they'll botch up her potential redemption arc, considering the current state of writing in the MCU.
I think the scene where America shows Wanda her family is a fascinating contrast to Spider-Verse's scene. Miles wasn't directly responsible for showing Kingpin his family, but in fighting him, he allowed Fisk to see every version of his family, removing his agency to bring them back. They would always be horrified by him and any attempt he took to bring them back through fighting Spider-Man would ultimately drive them away. Wanda's revelation was heightened by seeing who she used to be and how far removed she had become from that part of herself, in her efforts to bring back her boys. It stings, but in the end, all she has is the knowledge that they would be cared for. Sometimes that isnt enough, but sometimes it is all we have. Wanda had to see that using America, using the Darkhold to bring them back would lead to them seeing her as the villain . It's like poetry, it rhymes.
Still salty it doesn't tie into AIDA, the framework and the whole LMD arc, but that's a comment for another video.
The channel is just the best.
Wanda went full cray cray.
Congrats on 100k
U said that “from every self perception we make from every recovery can bring us capability in dealing with pain but it can also detach us” what was Wanda’s self perception after wanda vision and during multiverse of madness? That she deserved more than she had?
"Mr Nice guys long gone but the show must go on!"
"I can do anything!"
"Hey [ [ Little Sponge ] ]"
Really enjoyed this video. I think we’ve gotten enough MCU movies that we are going to see people think that their criticisms are absolute, and I saw a lot of criticisms that Wanda’s character got ruined by MoM. This video really succeeded in defending the fact that Wanda’s character wasn’t finished developing by the end of WandaVision, and she wanted more.
I think casual fans got used to Wanda being the “cool magical girl avenger” but MoM showed us how easily she can flirt with villainy, especially when it’s connected to her own personal stakes in life.
Really excited to see when we see her again.
Hey Leo, how would you re-write the story (MOM) to help articulate Wanda’ arc clearer; or at least highlight some of the points you make so that the general audiences can cue into the nuances you expertly pick up on?
Wanda’s story really breaks my heart so much :(
Man, I love this channel.
You’d have a field day with analyzing the mental health themes of Amazon’s The Tick
I never realized until now that Wanda actually lost Vision partly because of Dr Strange’s decision to give up the time stone. That rendered her sacrifice useless and Strange knew that. And just 838 existing proves that there were other options, where Strange dies or something, but again, he had to be in control so that’s why he chose that option.. Just a thought.. she is justified in being angry for that
838 existing doesn’t prove that 616 Strange had other options, I think you’re forgetting that 838 also has other characters existing and a different world set up. 616 Strange could only work with what they have in their universe. And 616 Strange did die, he was also affected by his own choice, and had to trust that the others would find a way.
Wow. Phenomenal character analysis!
I'm a big fan of your many MCU videos and I think this one may be your best.
Wanda is honestly my favourite character in the Marvel cinematic universe. Her journey has been the most interesting and an excellent view on how trauma has a heavy impact on a person’s psyche. Great video essay as always.
Thor vs Genre sounds DELIGHTFUL!!!
I really like your videos and don't often comment, but I thought the music was a bit loud in this specific video and competes with you talking. Maybe it's just me personally who thinks the sound mixing is distracting in this video but I thought I'd comment just incase others do as well to help improve your content in the future.
Would be really interesting to see you compare/contrast Wanda and MCU Peter Parker, with regards to loss and grief. They both lost SO much. But in the end they took different paths (though we may yet see Wanda turn that around somehow). Just a thought.
Interestingly, there is another character whose reaction to loss and grief can also be compared/contrasted with Wanda and Peter - John Walker - in fact Peter actually has two scenes that parallels Walker, especially when Peter almost kills Osborne.
Bro yawl really acting like they got the same power as her as if they can take over a town just using their mind on accident trust me if they could bring back their loved ones they would
In the MCU I don’t believe a death until after the autopsy. And even then…
OMGC, this might be yer masterpiece. 👐*
I needed to take a moment, because honestly I should be taking as many moments as there are probable multiverses, to thank you for crafting these.
Because of the safety of linking these to the universes in other franchises you create a safe space where others can explore their trauma.
You are one of the people that has made me aware of what mine is, and now I have a Stormbreaker level item in my mental toolkit to combat it.
Thank you 3000!💖
*I’m trying to applaud in American Sign Language in emoji here
Oooh, looking forward to the Telltale Batman video. It does a LOT of interesting things and I'm a little sad it isn't more prominent in the "Batman discourse."
Now my question is: Can she be redeemed? And if so, how?
I feel like the only option for her is a sacrifice play. She slaughtered a lot people in the last movie. Of course to be fair she got plenty killed in various other movies so maybe she can just carry the dead with her in that sense. I just feel like they'll save her for something big that only she can handle and let her go out well.
She knowingly heldheld an entire town hostage/enslaved in Wandavision. In MoM she sadistically murdered countless magicians that pose no real threat to her, she also murdered the iluminati, assaulted and harmed countless others, and put the fabric in reality I'm jeopardy due to an incursion. I don't know if a lifetime of community service can redeem that much red in her ledger.
What song was that at the end, not the very end but the one prior to the ending breakdown.
She never got closure, everytime something big and sad happens to her it sounds like she’s on a road to a new arc of acceptance and Justice.. it just gets ruined with something sad before she can grow.. and when it seems the cycle is about to repeat again, it goes all SIKE how about we kill her off without any closure or acceptance… just more sadnesss and destruction.. none of the other retired or dead avengers got that same treatment. Captain America retired whilst being able to live what he missed, Natasha completed her life goal and didn’t need anything more in life, and tony stark ended his arc of not being a selfish douche and instead a noble man…. Wanda just got butchered
And when she died.. at the end of her villain movie.. what did she change.. inadvertently cause strange to get a power up?!??!?
@@insertnamehere1398 she's not dead. They confirmed she is coming back for multiple projects
Meanwhile white vision is chilling in the woods
Thank you for this. I still don't like the movie, but this made me feel better about her arc.
The title made me want to watch the video, damn
Implicitly pretentious should release his playlist
wanda is one of my favourites in the mcu her character arc and fall is so interesting and sad
reed richards: wanda, blackbolt can destroy you with his Zup.
wanda: what Zup?
blackbolt: wazzzzzZup
reed richards: wazzzzzZup, yo prof X pick up the phone
prof X: yo
reed richards: wazzzzzZup
prof X: wazzzzzZup, yo billy, tommy pick up the phone
billy & tommy: mommy wazzzzzZup
wanda: oh my boys, i gotta get back, sorry guys for the mess
THE END
I connected so much with what u said at 15:15
What I don't understand is who is the father of variants of Wanda's kids? Even if he lived, Vision is a machine
She made her kids out of magic, in the other universe they were naturally conceived
@@brianm3160 yes that's my point. Who knocked her up in those universes since Vision is a machine?
I understand Wanda's pain. She lost her parents. She lost her brother. The man she loved. She did what she did in Multiverse of Madness because she just wanted a family.
This man’s favorite word: trauma
There is a question that somehow is ignored by everybody, in universe and by critics.
Why is this Wanda the only one that doesn't have kids?
Vision is back, somehow.
Have she even tried to get kids the regular way?
PLEASE, don't start videos like this - with loud screeching noises. But if you must at least put a noise warning up for a few seconds.
You shouldn't apologize for talking about trauma! We all have trauma, and looking at movies with the lens to understand trauma is a great way to gain insight into our own. Even though super hero trauma is itself fantastical, it gives us a way to safely consider how trauma could/does shape us.
Please never stop
Well done
While I'm still so disappointed with the writing of multiverse of madness this video was still very fun thnx
Super Nice
So I had an idea for an essay, if you’re interested: the advent of the entire MCU, phases 1-3 and how it worked with global events and changing generations. Phase 4 isn’t hitting well because it’s…not as perfect a fit now, both with MCU changes and audience generational shifts, I think. Is that an implicitly pretentious enough idea.
Meant to end that as a question, not a statement.
I think Wanda's descent into cackling villany would be much more accepted and beloved if ot weren't for all the times characters just let her excuse herself or justify herself. Kidnap and torture thousands? They'll never know what you did for them... b what???
In MoM she flat out says it's not fair that strange gets a pass... except... she enslaved thousands for her own dellusions and faced zero consequences.
She's an insanely arrogant and selfish villains, but the story keeps trying to tell us we should feel bad for her, that she is a victim. When she is the oppressor at every turn.
IF THE STORY TREATED HER AS A VILAIN, she would work.
I think Wanda's descent into villainy would be much more accepted and beloved if it actually made any sense.
I mean, I honestly would say something's gone pear-shaped when Elizabeth Olsen herself wasn't convinced by _WandaVision's_ scripts that Wanda was being set up to be the villain. Her reaction to finding out she'd be the villain in DSMoM (which she only found out three months before she was to begin shooting on the movie, and while she was in the home stretch of filming WV) was "OMG, how'm I going to weave this into WandaVision?"
"In MoM she flat out says it's not fair that strange gets a pass... except... she enslaved thousands for her own dellusions and faced zero consequences."
For you to come up with that conclusion, you would have to ignore the context behind Wanda creating the Hex (she created it in a grief-induced breakdown), and how she was in denial over how she was hurting people.
Also, I'm going to guess that when you say Wanda "faced zero consequences," what you REALLY are saying is "she wasn't PUNISHED for what she did". And by the way, I can count numerous MCU heroes who've done far worse deeds than anything Wanda's done and never faced any sort of consequences/punishment for it. Like Tony Stark, who built an AI that destroyed a country, and later built a Project Insight 2.0 that he left in the hands of a teenager. Or Valkyrie, who sold thousands of people into slavery. Or Clint Barton, who killed thousands of people in his five years as a serial killer. Or Natasha Romanoff, who was willing to kill a little girl just to get to said girl's father.
Wanda Maximoff is the definition of a tragic character.
More like Wanda: Broken Vibrator
And?
There are many opinions saying how powerful Wanda is.
My opinion? I say she is the weakest magic user. She doesn't wield Chaos Magic. Chaos Magic wields her.
For me the strongest magic user is Ancient One. She only harness bare minimum of Dark Magic and she also avoid using infinity stone. She has the strongest will fighting temptation of power.
The 383 version of Wanda is way more honorable and heroic than Scarlet Witch, she was being a bit of a hypocrite in saying what she said to dr strange because she didn't break the rules for selfless reasons to save the universe the world she did it to get her kids back to get her family back to get Vision back, that's not the same reason why strange broke the rules he did it to save reality to save the world the universe from the dark dimension from dormammu or in this case thanos therefore naturally he's going to be viewed as the hero due to the fact that he did it for selfless reasons, she was willing to kill a child to obtain her power and throw the entire Multiverse into chaos just so she could get her kids back that wasn't selfless that was selfish, she learned absolutely nothing from her time spent with Captain America, vision and Hawkeye therefore she had no right to gripe about the difference of treatment she was getting she allowed her grief her anger and her rage for what she lost to enslave an entire town something that Doctor Strange and all the other Heroes never did and they experience pain and loss on the daily basis so she gets no pass on that one with me in fact she deserves the same fate that the character Ruby from the series Lovecraft country got a brain-dead comatose vegetative state, needless to say her character arc should serve as a cautionary tale rather than be viewed as an empowerment/ revenge porn arc !💯😉👍
A história dela é muito triste.
Dude go ahead talk about trauma until the cows home! I’m here for it!
This poor girl needs a break.
The most distracting background music I’ve ever heard
She didn’t die. She more or less put herself under and until we see her dead body like all the other marvel movies, we can’t say she’s dead
Not so much a character assassination, but more like "the writers of Wanda Vision and Strange 2 just didn't talk to each other". They both had great takes of this character, they just didn't make it cohesive for me
No, it's character assassination.
Though you're right about the lack of cohesiveness. What we got was essentially, well...imagine if we had Anakin Skywalker go straight from slaughtering sand people in _Attack of the Clones_ to where he is as Darth Vader at the start of _A New Hope_ without the events of _Revenge of the Sith_ being shown on screen. Or imagine if one Lord of the Rings movie ended with Frodo staring ominously at the One Ring, and the next movie opened with him leading Sauron's armies to lay waste to Middle Earth.
What's good homie?
Is Wanda the best MCU villain? Imo yup! And honestly, as much as I understand why some fans don't think how she was portrayed in MoM was correct I kinda don't care? Why? Because the film is damn fun. Raimi's style alone makes MoM a massive breath of fresh air in the stylistically stagnant MCU.
It's kinda sad just how refreshing a dose of style in this franchise is and how it automatically makes MoM so much better. Goes to show just how inert the filmmaking in these films has become.
Would it have been so hard to find love somewhere else?
You/the editor put that damn repeating tone in the background again starting around 1m. It is extremely distracting; I literally cannot focus on whatever you're discussing. I hope you don't make future videos with that in there.
🤟🤟🤟
Trauma!!!
"Another bloody trauma essay" 🙃🙃
I bet you this essay is about trauma.
Yo
.........spoiler alert......
......TRAUMAA!!!
I keep coming here mostly for the trauma
What (dat) mouth (do)?
I hate it when writers are morally illiterate and make a good MC pure evil
It happens more than you think
Star vs the forces of evil
This is why I actively avoid modern entertainment. Those gremlins have been chipping away at morality for years to the point the line is no longer just blurred its practically non-existent and the so called bad guys and good guys are replacable flavors of the week for them.
@@luciferpyro4057 it’s not that dramatic dude.
@@ThePonderer BIG CHANGES STARTS small and slow. The dramatic stuff that we see are either at best the surface of whatever that has been brewing outside of our perceptiont, at worst it is astroturfed .
@@luciferpyro4057 take a walk, buddy
@@ThePonderer We arent buddies. So use that word sparingly.