Doctor Strange 2 Features A Scarlet Witch Power We Haven't Seen Since Age Of Ultron

Contains spoilers for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"

Poor Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). From her early years as a Sokovian war orphan to "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and "Avengers: Infinity War," she loses virtually everyone close to her. By the end of her heartbreaking "WandaVision" arc, even her fun sitcom family turns out to be a magically-created coping mechanism. Fortunately for her — but sadly for the rest of the Multiverse — she now wields the boundless powers of the Scarlet Witch. She's also decided that since this reality's cards are constantly stacked against her, it's time to bail for another universe where her precious kids actually exist.

"Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" finds Wanda in an even worse place than usual. It's been a while since "WandaVision" ended, and as Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) finds out, she's spent the intervening time studying the dangerous Darkhold and hatching her plans to exit Earth-616 ... by any means necessary. Just like that, Wanda's entire elaborate backstory turns into the origin story of a tragic villain.

Despite — or, rather, because of — her deep anguish, the "Multiverse of Madness" Wanda is a virtually unstoppable antagonist who's able to tear through everyone on her path. If the pre-Scarlet Witch Wanda nearly defeated Thanos (Josh Brolin) by herself in "Avengers: Endgame," this Darkhold-corrupted version of the character might just be the single most powerful person the MCU has introduced so far, giant cosmic entities notwithstanding. 

One of the earlier indications of Wanda's current power level comes when she absolutely mops the floor with the combined forces of Kamar-Taj. However, it's worth noting that it's not her destructive Scarlet Witch powers that turn the tide of the battle in her favor. Instead, she wins the fight by whipping out an old-school power that fans haven't seen in a good while.  

Wanda establishes herself as one of the MCU's true powerhouses in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," where she almost casually defeats the majority of the Avengers. This is a pretty impressive feat, considering the fact that these are people who stopped a full-on alien invasion during their first outing as a team. Yet, by deploying a cool magic trick where she appears behind them and influences their mind, Wanda is able to render Earth's mightiest heroes helpless. The only one who can counter the move is Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) — the Avenger Doctor Strange rather openly disrespects in "Multiverse of Madness," as it happens.

When Wanda challenges the forces of Kamar-Taj to find America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), she discovers that the sorcerers' combined defensive might is enough to block her path. So, she reaches deep down to her old, pre-Scarlet Witch bag of tricks, and starts mentally scanning the sorcerer troops, searching for a weak link. Once she finds one, she unleashes the same trick she used on the Avengers in "Age of Ultron," complete with the visual effect of appearing behind the poor victim. She tells the young sorcerer to run, and when the kid promptly panics and flees, Wanda is able to use the ensuing disarray to break through the ranks. In hindsight, perhaps Doctor Strange should have called Hawkeye after all.