Elizabeth Olsen’s fate in the MCU was thrown into flux after her nearly 10-year-long stint as Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch came to a screeching halt when the castle on Mount Wundagore crashed down upon her at the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Although it seemed self-explanatory, her death was never confirmed… until now.
Marvel Studios: The Marvel Cinematic Universe — An Official Timeline, a reference guide documenting every event in the MCU thus far, has officially declared the Earth-616 version of Wanda dead. “[Wanda] destroys Wundagore—and collapses it upon herself— ending two great threats to all of the Multiverse.”
The entry doesn’t necessarily say “Wanda dies,” but the accompanying icon above it does. Every event in the book comes with a series of related symbols, and the flower symbol above Wanda’s entry specifically means “Major Character Dies.” Someone might want to pass this message along to Elizabeth Olsen because, per her statement this past summer, she’s still operating under the assumption that she and Kevin Feige can bounce ideas off each other regarding Wanda’s return.
“And I think the reason why I am not calling Kevin Feige every day with ideas is because I’m really proud of what we were able to do,” she said in what felt like a formal confirmation of Wanda’s survival, or at least fuel for the ambiguity of her death.
Indeed, confirmation or not, the opinion at large among the Marvel fandom is that Wanda will return in some shape or form, even if it’s not Wanda from Earth-616. Anything is possible in the multiverse and with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars on the horizon, it would be hardly surprising, but no less exciting.
Coupled with the various projects Marvel has in the pipeline, such as the WandaVision spin-off Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, it truly feels like only a matter of time until Wanda returns, especially since her in-universe son Billy Maximoff is heavily rumored to appear in both Darkhold Diaries and Children’s Crusade, a Disney Plus project rumored to take the place of VisionQuest.
Be that as it may, an MCU return is hardly what Olsen’s looking for right now. “I really am just trying to figure out how to load up other films and characters so it becomes less about the Marvel of it all,” she said, and with good reason; more than half of the projects she’s worked on since 2014 have been Marvel related, seven in total.
Marvel’s reputation for secrecy precedes itself, so we’ll likely remain in the dark until either Olsen, Feige, or Marvel Studios confirm otherwise. Nevertheless, despite official confirmation, the mystery of Wanda’s fate has only grown more obscure.
