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Thanks to characters like Doctor Strange and Loki, the MCU has made its rules when it comes to magic. However, WandaVision has Wanda breaking them all.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for WandaVision Episode 8, “Previously Activated,” now streaming on Disney +.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe hesitantly sidestepped its mystical side in its early stages, leaving Thor and the rest of Asgard in a mix of magic and advanced science. It wasn’t until 2016 Doctor Strange that the magical aspect of Marvel has finally earned its due. Now WandaVision dug deeper into the hidden rules that define witchcraft in this superhero world, giving Agatha time to show off as she torments Wanda. But Agatha’s elegant illustration of how magic works also creates a backdrop to reveal how Wanda’s powers break all of these rules.
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It’s no good that only Earth magic has fairly clear rules so far. Asgard has since accepted his magical nature in things like Frigga’s witchcraft, although it is not yet clear how his study compares to the witches of Earth. And Loki’s illusions are subtle enough, sometimes marked with a helping hand, sometimes not. A thousand or more years of study leaves these mages out of the world in a category of their own, with Krugarr, the devastating wizard seen in Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
Doctor Strange took his injured neurosurgeon to the Hidden Rooms of Kamar-Taj, a place of great magical study. The Masters of the Mystical Arts present a highly ritualized form of monastic magic. A lot of their skills are tied to the ancient artifacts they use, and even teleportation magic is tied to the magical rings that every wizard wears. The golden spells that Strange shows have geometric patterns, visually suggesting a regimented order behind how these spells work. But some of Strange’s magical powers are more practical, and the portal he creates in Thor: Ragnarok, his magical intention fueled by a lock of Thor’s hair.
Agatha Harkness gets a flashback reintroduction in this week’s episode of WandaVision, placing her at the heart of Salem. But his trial is not in the hands of frightened villagers. Instead, she turns against the women of her own clan, including her powerful mother. The scene is a great taste of witches’ wilder magic. Like Wanda, they use their hands to create a powerful flow of the magic they wield, although Latin spell chants provide additional structure to naturalistic movements. The choice of language is reminiscent of the Latin and sometimes Greek roots of Marvel’s comic book spells, details that often go back to hidden Atlantean roots.
Agatha’s anger at Wanda’s power puzzles leads her to sarcastic seminars. She uses Wanda’s imprisonment to illustrate runic magic and how she protects witches in their places of power, frustrated that Wanda does not know this basic skill. She shows illusions and transfigurations, and even discusses necromancy. There is also a powerful connection to Kamar-Taj’s magical methods as Agatha creates a portal from a lock of Wanda’s hair, a spell cast similarly to Strange’s portal in Ragnarok. This spell is instead imbued with Agatha’s darker powers. All of this is underscored by the centuries-old effort that Agatha has made to hone her skills. Wanda is breaking all of these rules, everything that Agatha and Strange – and to a lesser extent, Loki – have set over the years of the MCU.
The revelation that Wanda’s innate power comes from an Infinity Stone does not overwhelm Agatha in and of itself. She’s already seen the potential of a scared, bomb-trapped Wanda from Stark Industries, a fledgling witch in a world that hasn’t offered much room for magic. Agatha suspects that Wanda would never have achieved her magical awakening without meeting the stone. But the grief and emptiness that hollowed out the poor woman, in conjunction with the Infinity Stone and the promise she glimpsed within, unlocked something that had been waiting all along.
It’s not clear if Agatha witnessed the figure Wanda saw in her Hydra experimentation flashback. But at the end of the episode, that’s a moot point. Agatha recognizes that Wanda is a game-changer in a world of magic bound by orderly rules. Wanda’s power is pure chaos, a form given by intention, a unique magical entity like no other. It’s been a subtle build-up for the series, setting the rules only to reveal exactly how Wanda breaks them all. The Scarlet Witch, an avatar of pure chaos magic who can rewrite all of reality with just one word, is embodied in the MCU.
But with Wanda still under the thumb of Agatha, her twin children the Wicked Witch’s prisoners, it remains to be seen what the ultimate limits of Wanda’s new power really are. The most terrifying possibility of all is that he are no limits – and with Doctor Strange set to return to the big screen, the ramifications on the multiverse might be incomprehensible.
Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Kathryn Hahn in Agnes. New episodes air Fridays on Disney +.
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