Marvel fans were thrilled when WandaVision started exploring the full range of the Scarlet Witch’s powers in its final episodes, with the Disney Plus show pulling various concepts from the comics in the process. But, in one case, it ended up clashing with previous MCU series. Wanda Maximoff got her hands on an ancient spell book previously owned by Agatha Harkness, the Darkhold. The problem is, though, is that the Darkhold already appeared in both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Runaways and it looked completely different.
The question of whether Marvel Television’s output is actually canon with Marvel Studios’ offerings, despite various crossovers, is one that’s been troubling fans for years now, and WandaVision‘s Darkhold discrepancy only casts more doubt on whether everything actually is connected. From the point of view of those making the show, though, it seems they essentially disregarded AoS and Runaways from continuity for the sake of simplicity.
Head writer Jac Schaeffer was asked by ScreenRant about this point and admitted that she doesn’t have all the answers, but her comments seemed to suggest that WandaVision‘s Darkhold is the only version of the book that counts in the MCU.
“I’ve been getting that question, and I don’t have a hard and fast answer,” Schaeffer said. “We were not looking at that book. This was the Darkhold for this story.”
This response echoes something even more conclusive that Schaeffer told Yahoo! in a previous interview. On that occasion, the showrunner said: “It’s my impression that this is the MCU Darkhold.” Once again, this seems to confirm that AoS and its offshoots are only tangentially related to the core MCU. As such, WandaVision’s Darkhold is the one that will exist in canon from now on.
The WandaVision finale’s post-credits scene featured Wanda’s astral form reading the Darkhold, before she was interrupted by the sounds of her twin sons calling out to her on the astral plane. This heavily implies that the book will be back, maybe in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Will that be where the prophecy contained in the Darkhold, that the Scarlet Witch will destroy the world, comes to pass? We’ll have to wait and see.