As WandaVision wrapped up, many viewers felt dissatisfied with the lack of justice for the residents of Westview. These people were held hostage with their very identities rewritten to be the unwitting actors in Wanda’s sitcoms. In an interview with TVLine, showrunner Matt Shakman and head writer Jac Schaeffer explained their thinking for the way they handled the issue, but their answer still left some disappointed.
But justice is coming for the residents of Westview.
Massive spoilers for WandaVision in the rest of the post. You have been warned.
Wanda will pay for her actions, we just didn’t see it by the end of the WandaVision show. What she did in Westview has opened her up to control by something far more powerful and far more evil. Those consequences will come in the upcoming Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness movie (Release date: March 25, 2022).
Wanda’s impossible choice
After Agatha frees the town’s people from Wanda’s control, they confront her in the town square. She learns the true impact of what her magic is doing. While at first she tries to defend herself and rationalize her actions, she comes to understand the pain she’s causing. She tries to close the Hex, but sees it will cost her the lives of her children. She wasn’t ready, at that moment, to make that sacrifice. After her battle with Agatha and her accepting of her true identity as the Scarlett Witch, she was ready. And she did close the Hex, at the cost of her children and Vision.
Wanda’s uncontrolled magic
Wanda didn’t choose to create the Hex. It happened as her grief interacted with her uncontrolled Chaos magic. In a way, her situation has similarities to Bucky “The Winter Solider” Barnes. As the Winter Soldier, Bucky does terrible acts, mind controlled by Hydra. But as he tells Captain America in Captain America: Civil War, “I still did them.” Even though Wanda didn’t choose to take Westview hostage, she still did it. The people there hold her responsible. As Monica tells her “They’ll never know what you sacrificed for them.” On some level, Wanda knows that even if they did, “It wouldn’t change how they see me.”
Wanda’s determination to learn
Wanda comes out of the events of WandaVision determined to never have her uncontrolled Chaos magic harm anymore else ever again. This is a good motive. Agatha showed her that she was untrained, but she’s resolved to fix that. She takes the book Agatha refereed to multiple times as the one she, herself, had studied, The Darkhold. At the end of the series, we see Wanda, in her fully empowered Scarlet Witch form, studying from it.
And that my friends is a really, really bad idea.
In the Marvel universe, The Darkhold is the source of black magic. It was written by the Elder god known as Chthon, the first practitioner of the darkest of magics. In ages past, Cthon was defeated and banished to a realm between the various multiverses. He’s sought a way back to the material plane (what we call reality) ever since.. Wanda has now opened herself up to Chthon’s influence (and possibly possession by Chton as happened to the Scarlett Witch in the comics), and I fear that will lead her to being someone Doctor Strange will have to stop.
Our intrinsic need to see justice done
As humans, we have an intrinsic need to see justice done. From our earliest age, an injustice disturbs our peace of mind. Whether its with a sibling or a friend, we seem to know a wrong was done and it should be redressed. That moment is coming for Wanda, and it will be up to Doctor Strange to bring her back.