While Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness obviously serves as a sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange, it also acts as a follow-up to WandaVision, with Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch returning to the MCU for the first time since her starring role in the hit Disney Plus series. Wanda Maximoff looks to have a major arc in the film, as the heroine will further embrace her status as one of the most powerful beings alive i.e., the Scarlet Witch. And she’ll do that with a little help from a familiar MacGuffin.
WandaVision introduced the Darkhold, an ancient book of magic, that was owned by Agatha Harkness until Wanda defeated her and took it for herself. In WV‘s post-credits scene, we saw Wanda using the book to teach herself new skills, like astral projection. Sure enough, it’s now been confirmed that the Darkhold will play a much bigger role in Multiverse of Madness than it did in the Disney Plus show.
The MCU’s veteran prop master Russell Bobbitt reflected on his work on WandaVision while chatting on the Phase Zero podcast. Bobbitt confirmed that the Darkhold was designed in collaboration with the Doctor Strange 2 prop team due to its importance in the sequel’s storyline.
“100%. The Darkhold book came from [Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness’ prop team],” Bobbitt explained. “How we weighed that out is, [we asked] ‘Where is there more screen time for the [Darkhold]?’ And story-wise, it was going to have a bigger say in [Doctor Strange 2] than ours did in our show. So yes, we did collaborate. We made those together. In fact, they made it for me, sent it to me, I used it and got it back to them.”
The presence of the Darkhold in WandaVision caused a bit of a stir among diehard fans as it looked wholly different to its design in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Runaways, seemingly confirming those non-Marvel Studios series aren’t exactly MCU canon. Although no attempt was made to square WV‘s Darkhold with the AoS version, it’s interesting that pains were taken to make sure that the mystical tome gelled with its upcoming appearance in Doctor Strange 2.
So how will the Darkhold fit into the movie? Will Wanda be consumed by its secrets and turn to the dark side? We’ll find out when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness enters theaters on May 6.